Wrong Hands: Joanne the Scammer and Racial Misogyny
A number of years ago, I was working a night arraignment shift. Criminal defense attorneys are required to work periodic night arraignment shifts where we defend people that are being charged with crimes. An arraignment is the first time a client sees the Judge after an arrest. On a particularly busy night, I had just interviewed one of my clients, a young black woman who was charged with some minor offense. In the well of the courthouse there is a Judge, a couple of District Attorneys ready to prosecute, court officers and a court reporter. I, as the defense attorney, am in the well also, standing next to my client as she is brought out of the pens. I noticed the kinds of looks my client received as she entered the area. Her hair was understandably unkempt after being held in central booking for over a day, and her clothes were disheveled. In addition to defending my clients, I am often called upon to change the negative perceptions formed about my clients through my advocacy. The need to do so on this particular night was painfully clear. And I did just that. My urgency and intensity was fueled by my knowledge of how significant moments like these are. One does not have to search far to find negative narratives and perceptions of black women in this society.
Racial misogyny describes misogyny that is steeped in history — the history of racism. Racial misogyny is misogyny that stems from racist stereotypes and biases that focus its lens on women. Cisgender and transgender black women (cisgender is a gender identity that matches the gender assignment at birth; transgender is a gender identity that does not match the gender assignment at birth) have often been the targets of racial misogyny. This kind of misogyny has been addressed by Moya Bailey, a queer black feminist scholar who coined the term misogynoir, to describe the intersection of racism and sexism faced by black women specifically. Trudy of Gradient Lair, a black womanist scholar, coined the term transmisogynoir to describe transphobia, misogyny and anti-blackness, against transgender black women. Here, I use the term racial misogyny to describe the intersection of misogynoir and transmisogynoir, and note that even though there are non-black women of color that have been affected by the intersection of racism and sexism, by and large black women have borne the brunt of this particular brand of misogyny.
The black woman is stereotyped, fetishized, commodified, and constantly portrayed as less than the various ideals set out in the mainstream. An area where racial misogyny is readily apparent is in comedy, specifically comedy by black men, where the black woman is the butt of the joke. This kind of comedy is often performed by the man dressing as a black woman. Historically, successful black cisgender male comedians have dressed as black women for comedy on TV and nowadays this can be seen more often done by young comedic hopefuls on social media. Comedic racial misogyny is a malignant cancer that has a myriad of real consequences for black cisgender and transgender women. Racial misogyny continues to perpetuate and bring to the forefront stereotypes and negative perceptions already embedded in society’s psyche.
Joanne the Scammer is a female character created and played by Branden Miller, a cisgender black male. Joanne the Scammer’s comedy provides ample examples of racial misogyny. Branden Miller’s character is portrayed with a black or blonde straight wig and a fur coat, and speaks in a “Caucasian” accent. In one Instagram post he describes a heist against a rich elderly couple that needs ‘4 ethnic girls’.(@iambranden August 1) In another post, his character describes his hair (naturally straight) and compares it to the undesirable synthetic ponytail of ethnic haired girls with weaves (a “dried up ghetto ass brown synthetic ponytail’, his character calls it). (@iambranden July 26) Branden Miller is talented, no doubt, but the fact that we are all laughing gives me serious pause. One of the issues with this kind of comedy IS that we are all laughing — including people who are racist or ignorant and/or narrow-minded; stereotypes are perpetuated by such people and is helped generously by comedic racial misogyny.
This is nothing new. It should be noted that even though the racial identity of Joanne the Scammer is ambiguous at best, racial misogyny is still a component of Branden Miller’s comedy. The character Joanne the Scammer relies on stereotypes of black women and therefore the actual ‘race’ of Branden Miller’s character becomes irrelevant. There is a long history of black male comedians creating and playing black female characters for comedy. Miller’s character is the most recent in a long line of characters created and played by black male comedians where stereotypes of black women are used as fodder for jokes. From Flip Wilson’s Geraldine to Martin Lawrence’s Sheneneh, this kind of comedy builds on the ills of society — namely racism — and lands squarely at the door of unsuspecting black women. In The Flip Wilson Show, a popular variety show in the 70s created to showcase the talents of Flip Wilson, there is a scene where Flip Wilson’s character Geraldine meets Bill Cosby in a hospital and interacts with a white nurse. The nurse says to Geraldine that she has a date. Geraldine asks her how she gets all these dates. The nurse gestures to herself and says that she tells them, “What you see is what you get”. Geraldine looks confused and muses out loud as to why that line doesn’t work for her. The audience laughs in response. The subtext of the video is that in the interaction between Geraldine and the nurse, it is implicitly understood and implied that the nurse is desirable, and Geraldine is not. Martin Lawrence created a popular character Sheneneh in his 90’s sitcom Martin. Sheneneh Jenkins, with the character’s nails and hair and mannerisms, etches yet another stereotype of black women firmly into our consciousness. The show Martin and Martin’s character Sheneneh were both widely popular, continues to be referenced even today and remains an iconic part of black pop culture.
One of the consequences of having these negative narratives in pop culture is that black women who are deemed to have any of the characteristics of these stereotypes (certain hairstyles and hair colors on black women, certain styles of nails, mannerisms, etc.) are immediately categorized. This creates a minefield for black women to traverse. It is extremely difficult to maneuver through these expectations and categories without losing freedom of the expression of self. I am a black woman and an attorney, and I have a penchant for large afros, and brightly colored hair. I am currently rocking raspberry fuchsia shoulder length braids, and outside of work I get unfriendly, curious stares by people who don’t know me at all. People express surprise when they discover that I am an attorney. I have a project for young black women where we use art therapy to explore self-image and raise self-esteem, and we challenge and discuss stereotypes. Recently I asked them (a group of young women) what stereotype do they see when they look at me and my hair, and ‘ghetto girl’ was the unanimous answer.
The way black women are perceived, in part determines how people — including people with authority - interact with us, and this makes comedic racial misogyny extremely dangerous. The “ghetto girl” trope, and the “angry black woman” stereotype are just examples of the foundation of comedic racial misogyny, and the undercurrent of this kind of comedy is that black women are undesirable — either in appearance or personality. In addition, there is often an inherent disdain for transgender women afoot when a black man dresses as a black woman for laughs.
Having worked for years as a criminal defense attorney, I have seen firsthand how these stereotypes negatively affect cisgender and transgender black women in the criminal justice system. It’s not ‘just comedy’. We find comedy funny because there is something familiar within the joke — and even though we may be familiar with the references that come with jokes about black women, our acquaintance with those ideas mean different things to the various kinds of people who are laughing. These comedic narratives set off a chain reaction of self-esteem issues for black women. In the wrong hands, these narratives also facilitate very present and real injustices against black women. The concept of “wrong hands” is not limited to adamant racists; and it includes anyone (black or white) who consciously or unconsciously accesses these stereotypes in their daily interaction with black women. Make no mistake; there are millions of wrong hands.