The Want to Protect ‘Proud Mary,’ Critiquing The Choir and How We Judge Black Art

“I’m rooting for everybody Black.” It’s hard to articulate all the ways in which Issa Rae’s now infamous quote both summarized and galvanized the sentiments of Black folks when she calmly delivered those words during the 2017 Emmy Awards. Black people do this, often to our dying breath. Whether it be with TV awards or Black quarterbacks in the playoffs, seeing a Black person compete in a realm that is not necessarily populated by Black people can often be the tiebreaker when there’s no previous vested interest. It is the very American adage (ironically) of everyone loves an underdog story. But with Black people because of how often we are the underdog. While I do believe that Issa’s quote is not qualified in its intent, that everybody does, in fact, mean everybody, what’s also important to note is where she said it. At an awards show. Where TV shows and movies had already been recognized for their quality. And from that pool, she wanted everybody Black to win. It’s an important distinction, as it flies in the face of assuming well-intentioned Black art equates to Black art excellence. So then the question is, what do we do with bad Black art? How do we manage it and acknowledge it? And ultimately, what is our commitment to it?

This is, most recently, of course, accelerated by the release of Proud Mary, the Taraji P. Henson spec-ops type action movie that released last week. When the trailer and art for the movie dropped last year, there was a great deal of excitement for an …