If you don’t know, don’t sweat it. Dash is an actress known for her role in the 1995 movie “Clueless,” and for her newest role as a Fox News contributor (which by itself probably says it all).
She recently called a proposed black boycott of the Academy Awards “ludicrous” after critics called attention to the lack of any black nominees for the second straight year. Dash also said there should be no BET and no Black History Month– and no, she’s not white.
Actress Gabrielle Union asked the question recently after being questioned buy a reporter about Dash’s comments.
“Is she like, related to Dame Dash? Was she on Roc-A-Fella?”
Who’s Stacey Dash?” could have been legitimate question. It could have just as easily been a form of last year’s mild teasing– “What are those?”– targeting people’s choice of footwear. More likely, though, it was Union’s way of dismissing Dash’s comments on Black History Month and other things black-oriented as irrelevant.
The question may sound harsh to some, but Dash keeps begging for someone to push back against her anti-black institutions rhetoric She got her wish a few days ago. And she just might have to live with it for a long time.
The question ranks up there with Ronald Reagan’s jibe of Jimmy Carter during their election debate when he said “You, sir, are no (President) John F. Kennedy.” It’s about as deafening a roar as Gov. Chris Christie’s recent statement to Marco Rubio in their last debate after Rubio repeated for the fourth time an obviously canned campaign phrase: “There it is,” Christie said.
Yep, there it is, Ms. Dash. There it is.
And its making the internet rounds: #WhosStaceyDash.
This all started when Dash appeared on “Fox & Friends” to talk about the call for a boycott of the 2016 Oscars because of the lack of diversity in the nominations. She took the opportunity to vent.
“There shouldn’t be a Black History Month…. We’re Americans, period. That’s it. I think it’s ludicrous because we have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don’t want segregation then we need to get rid of channels like BET. And the BET Awards. And the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black. If it were the other` way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard.”
Uh, yeah, “[w]e are all Americans,” Whoopi Goldberg responded to Dash on The View, “but we are not all treated like Americans and one of the reasons that there is a BET is because networks wouldn’t take a lot of the shows that have an all-black cast,” she said.
What’s sad is that despite her age (she’s 50 years young– looking a whole lot younger) and her expensive education, Dash doesn’t seem to understand the history of her people– or of the nation. Or maybe she just pretends not to understand that black institutions only became necessary because white institutions rejected us. After being thoroughly integrated on the plantation, segregation was forced on black people. They did not volunteer.
“If you don’t see yourself reflected in mainstream awards, you tend to create your own,” Union explained. “And until there’s no longer a need for that, I celebrate the ALMAs the same way I celebrate the Country Music Awards and the same way I celebrate the BET Awards and the Image Awards.”
Maybe the problem is that Dash does see herself reflected in mainstream awards. She certainly wouldn’t be the first non-white person to lose focus. (“I’m not black– I’m O.J.”) Like O.J. Simpson, Dash’s identification with whites, and rejection of things black, belies a more deeply-seated problem than either of them understood. The late Malcolm X (El Hajj-Malik Shabazz) described it as the “Massa, is we sick” syndrome where the house Negro more closely identified with the master than he identified with himself.
Two years ago Dash called all black people in Louisiana government freeloaders who don’t work. She was apparently upset that 95 percent of blacks in the state voted for President Obama.
“They have a plantation mentality,” Dash said. “As long as they [Democrats] give you this much money, you’ll stay right there. You don’t need to know too much because if you do, you might start thinking for yourself.”
Back to her recent comments, Dash has attempted to defend herself by saying Morgan Freeman has also been critical of Black History Month. But Freeman’s opposition was based not on the need to get rid of black history, but on his view that Black History should not be condensed into a one month observation.
“You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” Freeman asked Mike Wallace during an appearance he made on 60 minutes.
Maybe the firestorm she created will cause the 50-year-old Dash to reassess her remarks. But then, again, she’s no spring chicken (although she still looks good), and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. (Nothing literal intended.)
