Many rejoiced in the first black bachelorette, jumping an an opportunity the prove how far we’ve come. 

So how far have we come? 

We’ve gone from nude black women sold to white men as concubines guised as domestic workers, to black Women hypnotized by the sorcery of white supremacy willingly engage in sexual relationships with white men. 

Some call it progress. Others call it romance or love. I call it collective amnesia, by an individual who has not only forgotten her history, but who has seemingly forgotten that she is black.   

Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay is black only in skin color. Therefore, she is just another vessel to increase the self-esteem of white men. I’m not sure there is any greater glory for the genetically inferior white man to “win” the Black woman over a black man–especially one with everything going for him. This choice, although intertwined with what ABC portrays as “love” functions to substantiate the fictive superiority of white men. 

Furthermore , the first black bachelorette was not for the black female collective. No, Rachel Lindsay existed as a vessel, a bridge for white men to manifest the destiny of their ancestors as they always have–through the body of a black Woman 

Lindsay, bearing conventional success, attractive wardrobe, enviable physique, poise, and class, seemingly unravels a caricatured black female identity as realistic version of popular television show (and network sister)  Olivia Pope. However she functions to represent blackness in color only as her accolades and conventional success consummate her journey to an illusive whiteness. This was an essential component to Lindsay’s casting as the network has about as much interest in featuring black love, as it does black people. The network hired Lindsay as an predictable black body controlled by the sorcery of white supremacy, who when placed in the pan-optican of the small screen will become her own oppressor in a gesture many perceive as liberating and advancing. 

Lindsay maintains white superiority while placing black Women further into the ditch   of cyclical disenfranchisement rendered in prime time television. The contemporary manifestation of an age old cycle, exploits black female desire to consummate a journey to womanhood–to be visible as woman not as a subjugated body. The contemporary implication is that sexual proximity to white men constitutes black female civility. 

But Lindsay is anything but civil. Yes she has a career, and a face millions have grown to love—but all this is made possible because Lindsay has no collective love for herself. She’s an individual who sees herself as empowering  “women” not those who share her rich lineage. It is this misplaced allegiance that allows Lindsay to walk away from a beautiful, loving and able black king for the fictive white prince of her childhood.

Eric is there to reel in the black female gaze, and curious white female guys–issuing his
functionality a strategic duality. On one hand, his rejection proves hopeful to the white woman seeking a black man, even promoting her friendship with  woman like Lindsay who will cast aside an extraordinary black man to consummate their journey to gender. On the other end, Eric’s rejection tells black female viewers that no matter how good the black man, there’s always a white man who is a “better” pick. 

But choosing that white prince will never make you a princess Miss Lindsay. As a mate to your oppressor, you will always be a courtesan when you could have been a Queen besides your natural mate–a black man. 

May you live happily every after in the bliss of ignorance. 

Black Power