OPINION:
Megyn Kelly is multi-talented and, for the most part, pretty awesome.
But this recent segment she did on her new NBC “Today” show just has to go.
It’s one of those pieces that actually makes you, as the viewer, squirm in embarrassment. And who wants to watch a show that makes you squirm?
The gist was this: Kelly interviewed four black women from the South who rose — some, through some dire personal circumstances — to the ranks of police chiefs of their respective communities. Kudos to these women — they deserve praise and acknowledgement for their accomplishments. But the ratings draws are obvious — which, incidentally, is part of the problem.
First off, these four guests are women — and Kelly’s new show is time-slotted for the woman viewer. That’s fine, no squirming there. Second, these women are black — showing, of course, that Caucasian-of-all-Caucasians Kelly is nonetheless down with the sistahs. That’s fine, too — no squirming, just a bit of a smile at the stark contrast of Kelly’s utter whiteness.
Third — and here’s where one starts to really wonder about the focus group studies that maybe led to this segment in the first place — these black women are police chiefs. The subtle innuendo? Well, as everybody this side of the globe knows, particularly those who watch the NFL, blacks are neither police officers nor police chiefs, but rather the targets of white police gunfire.
About now, a viewer might start to get the idea he or she is being manipulated, yes? But wait — there are more stereotypes to bust.
It appears that not only are these women women, but they’re also black women and black women who serve as police chiefs — gasp! — get ready for this, it’s a real head-shaker, in the South.
You know, the Jim Crow South, the place where blacks traditionally go to be hung. And dutifully playing into that perception, Kelly manages to draw out a tale or two of racism these black women police chiefs say they’ve suffered in yes, even today’s modern days.
It’s not that Kelly’s segment was un-newsworthy, or even that uninteresting. And it’s certainly not that these four guests weren’t deserving of cheers for their service. It’s just that this segment seemed the sort of piece you’d expect on a progressive propaganda channel — one that regularly trotted out, say, the drug-addicted black men forced to live on the streets of New York City to showcase the effects of Republican economic policies. Only in Kelly’s world, the drug addicts would be a former Wall Street executives, and the film crew would make sure and video the cardboard boxes they call home against the backdrop of the famous bronze Bowling Green Bull.
Well, sorry to say, that’s how this Kelly segment played. It’s like the hunt to bust stereotypes was the paramount goal; the women were just the fillers.
But are we really to believe that women can’t be cops, that black women in the South can’t be police chiefs?
OK, so maybe it’s not as common as, say, white men in the South serving as chiefs of police departments. But it’s not as if women just won the right to vote or something.
Yet this is how Kelly played the segment. She went for earth-shattering, when she should have gone level-toned. And in the process, she came off as radical feminist.
“Yessss!” Kelly cried, shaking her raised arms and fists in the air, several times as the four women took the stage and their seats. “That’s how you make me feel … That feeling of like, Yesss! Anything is possible. Anything is possible.”
Umm … OK. But note to Kelly: We know this already. Women have been serving in all kinds of so-called manly positions for years. Heck, it’s been whispered some have even run for president. And on this story, less would have been more. At the least, it would have been less squirmy to watch.
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