Friday, June 28, 2013

Lolo Jones Mocks Rachel Jeantel On Twitter: ‘Madea Goes To Court’ (Newone Opinion)

Track poster girl Lolo Jones mocked Trayvon Martin’s friend, Rachel Jeantel, on Twitter by comparing her to Tyler Perry’s alter-ego ‘Madea.’


As previously reported by NewsOne, Jeantel, 19, was the last person to speak with Martin on the night of February 26, 2012, 5 minutes before he was gunned down by George Zimmerman, 29.

In addition to the usual racists, some classist, elitist, colorist, Talented Tenth, miseducated Black people have taken to social media to voice disgust at her inability to code-switch and her “ghetto” demeanor. They have also ridiculed her skin color and weight, in addition to laughing at her inability to read and write cursive English — even though Creole and Spanish are her first languages.

The conditioned hatred is pronounced.

Now Lolo Jones, who, as previously reported by NewsOne, went on an extended “poor little pretty girl I don’t know why my teammates hate me’ routine last year after Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells couldn’t hide their disgust with her attention-grabbing antics, has joined Jeantel’s petty critics.

Wallowing in light-skin, attractive and thin privilege, she used her platform to compare a young woman to an overweight, stereotypically ignorant and “sassy” Black woman — at the height of an intense murder trial.

Keep it classy, Lolo – if you can.

There are many cultural critics and scholars who tackle the dysfunction inherited from Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. And the same people rallying around Rachel Jeantel are the same community activists fighting against injustice and inequity from a structural standpoint.

Then we have Jones, who by tearing a page from the ‘Miseducation of the (House) Negro,’ managed to, in 140-characters or less, alienate and offend people who previously supported her.

Note to Ms. Jones: Rachel Jeantel is not the stereotype; you are. From now on, when people make assumptions about light-skin privilege and lack of empathy for women who don’t meet the standard acceptability criteria, you will be pointed to as the perfect example.

Perhaps you should focus on solidifying your position in the track world, instead of as an unfortunate cliche.

Source

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