Crab Bucket Mentality: Shannon Sharpe’s Interview of Amanda Seales and micro-aggressions within the Black community
The late Dr. Maya Angelou once said, “Let’s tell the truth to people. When people ask, ‘how are you?, have the nerve to answer truthfully.” Sometimes, being seen as a truth teller has an unintended impact in social conversations and interactions. It can sometimes have one ostracized when their values and opinions differ from the collective.
What happens when, as a member of the Black community, one can feel shunned or ostracized by the Black community? Whose responsibility is it to address and advocate for better interpersonal interactions between members of the Black community?
Recently, actress, comedian, and entrepreneur Amanda Seales has been making headlines surrounding reports coming out referring to her as “mean”, “too aggressive”, etc. Specifically, well–known Black publications such as The Root, The Grio, BET News, were spearheading these claims, much to the NAACP Image Award nominated multi-hyphenate’s chagrin. Seales was finally able to address these claims as well as past occurrences throughout her career and life in a viral interview on formal football player Shannon Sharpe’s podcast Club Shay-Shay.
In Sharpe’s interview, Seales touches on the question of how Black people protect other Black people in Black Spaces. She referred to a much spoken-on incident at a 2018 Emmy’s party featuring members of the Black Hollywood community where she was attacked by security guards due to her dispute with fellow Black actress and comedian’s Issa Rae’s publicist Vanessa Anderson. Seales discusses how Anderson’s words of “I don’t like you” exposes the animosity Black people have with other Black people.
“So… I’m promoting my book [Small Doses]… this hits me… because now the press is canceling…this is now affecting me professionally… ‘I don’t like you’ is not a sufficient reason to stick four security guards on me and remove me from a Black space, which also begs the question of what is a Black space… we like to claim they are safe spaces and it is for us but…now it is just Black faces”.
What is it that Black people don’t feel the need to protect each other in Black spaces? Despite what one’s interpretation of Seales is, she begs a good question. Her own life and career has largely made her a pariah in these spaces when in actuality, her knowledge and insight as a holder of a Master’s degree in African American Studies makes her very educated on how to recognize and address micro-aggressions.
Seales’ discussion of her mistreatment in Black Hollywood spaces during her interview with Shannon Sharpe demonstrates elements of crab bucket mentality within the Black community. Crab bucket mentality refers to individuals within a community or group who try to undermine or criticize others’ success or progress out of envy, insecurity, or a sense of competition. In this case, Seales’ mistreatment was a result of others feeling threatened by her success, talent, or perspective and as a result, she has become largely dismissed in Black media spaces.
The conversation between Sharpe and Seales sheds light on the diverse experiences and perspectives within the Black community. It emphasizes the need to recognize that not all individuals within a racial or cultural group have the same experiences or face the same challenges, and it’s crucial to listen to and validate different voices and viewpoints.
