S--t Black Girls Say

Recently, The Root featured an article on the youtube spoof "S--t Black Girls Say," a spinoff parody of the popular "S--t Women Say." Almost needless to say, some of the real Black girls is pissed.

But, after watching the video, I can't say I share the sentiment. I don't want to skew views so I suggest you watch it, then read.

Identity formation is tangled in perceptions. Within this messy mix are our perceptions of ourselves, the perceptions of others, and our reactions to immediate and global environments. Of course, add to the recipe the myriad other elements.

It would be foolish and nearsighted to miss the inherent relationship our self-perception has with exterior entities. Jacques Lacan, a psychoanalyst that a crazy professor at Rutgers made us read, points to this phenomenon in babies, marking it "the mirror stage." He notes 

               The mirror stage is a phenomenon to which I assign a twofold value. In the first place, it has historical value as it        marks a decisive turning-point in the mental development of the child. In the second place, it typifies an essential libidinal relationship with the body image(Lacan, Some reflections on the Ego, 1953--snagged from wikipedia, check it out)

The mirror provides a visual identity, reconciling the tension with the infant's "fragment[ed]" identity. Lacan argues that this moment of visual identification occurs before babies achieve bodily coordination. Seeing the image in the mirror essentially grounds the child, giving him or her in some cases a moment of happiness, as they have accomplished a crucial hurdle in identity formation and a step toward "wholeness"- corporal recognition.

Using pieces of Lacan's premise, I argue the same is true with generalized representations in the media. Good, bad, indifferent, the images we see in the media that claim broad representation offer points of identification. When we see ourselves, in the mirror, in photos, through others, we immediately store it, putting the image into the mix of ingredients that surge identity formation. Now I would like to think that as we get older, wiser,  and more aware, these depictions don't easily infiltrate the psyche. But, how many of us have already prescribed to these representations? Why do comedians like Chris Rock and Chapelle get laughs when they start their "Black people do this, White people do this" skits? Yes, because it's funny. But, also because they've held up a similar mirror that we saw as babies during the mirror stage- a mirror that reconciles some piece of our imaginary wonderings with our reality. We might be able to imagine it just as he's portraying it and poof, we laugh- just like the baby pointing indiscriminately at her smiling face in the mirror.

But, when do we look at the images pushed our way and say, that's not me. When are these images fun-house mirrors?

I have to challenge the diatribe against this video simply because I don't think it's so cut and dry. Just like Toure quotes Henry Louis Gates writing, if there are 40 billion Blacks in the world, then there are at least 40 billion ways to be Black, we have to recognize the multiplicity of identity and the heterogeneity of all groups.

I also have to admit that I laughed as I watched because yeah, it's funny, but also because this in many ways is me and in more ways isn't.