Essay blasting reality shows’ portrayal of black Atlantans goes viral
Metro Atlanta native Kelly Smith Beaty, herself a former reality show personality, has gone viral with a sharply worded essay skewering how reality shows set in Atlanta portray African Americans.
The piece, titled “Will the Real Black People of Atlanta Please Stand Up?,” has claimed prime real estate on the Huffington Post site. It’s been “liked” more than 4,000 times on Facebook and generated hundreds of comments on Twitter and under the post itself.
An excerpt:
“How is it that a city which was once the crowning jewel in the story of black America has allowed itself to be positioned as the melting pot of black affliction? The Atlanta that I knew and grew up in was one of great pride and self-respect. Our achievements were known across the globe, as people from far and wide would often respond, ‘Wow, I hear that black people are really doing their thing down there,’ when I would tell them I’m from Atlanta. Today that assertion is often met with, ‘Yoooo….I hear Atlanta’s got them bangin’ strip clubs.’…Really?!?”
Without naming shows, she makes thinly veiled references to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and “Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta.”
“If you’d like to make a reality show about prominent housewives, I’d suggest doing a retrospective on the wife of Alonzo Herndon – a former slave turned businessman who went on to found the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, became the city’s largest black property owner by 1900, and made history as Atlanta’s first black millionaire,” Beaty wrote. “His first wife’s name was Adrienne Herndon and she was a teacher at Atlanta University.”
She also suggested a reality show called “Love and Hard Hats,” noting that “Herman J. Russell successfully built one of the nation’s most profitable minority-owned business empires whose construction and real estate projects include the famed Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the Georgia Dome, Phillips Arena, and Turner Field.”
Lovette Russell would love to meet Kelly Beaty. Photo credit: Jim Fitts
Beaty noted that “Lovette Twyman Russell, wife of the company’s current CEO, Michael Russell, is stylish, sassy, and savvy. I’ve never met her, but I’d bet she’s brimming with reality-worthy one-liners and sound bites.”
Russell told us that she started getting emails about the piece yesterday and had a chance to read it last night.
“Ms. Beaty sharply articulates the way most black Atlantans feel about how these reality shows portray us,” Russell said. “I was incredibly flattered by her remarks but even more impressed that she swiftly put pen to paper after watching such a degrading show. I would LOVE to meet her!”
In 2010, Beaty landed a spot on “The Apprentice.” (Here’s a link to an article my colleague Rodney Ho wrote about her at the time). Although she didn’t win, she said Donald Trump’s business oriented reality show was a good experience.
“Having been on ‘The Apprentice’ makes me interesting to some people so I get to have conversations that I may not have been able to before,” Beaty told the AJC. “I’m thankful for that. My life’s goal was never to be famous, but to be impactful, and slowly that is beginning to happen.”
A Spelman College alumnae who grew up in Fayetteville, Beaty now lives in New York and is vice president for marketing and communications for Dress for Success Worldwide, which provides professional attire and career help to disadvantaged women. She had no idea the response her piece would generate.
“At first it was mostly Atlantans saying, ‘Thank you for standing up for us.’ Now people who don’t even live in Atlanta are reaching out to me,” Beaty told us. “I’m definitely surprised by the response but I was literally just writing my frustrations. Apparently many people agree. Most people value decency, integrity, and pride and I think those who do, based on the responses, are ready to be heard.”
She wrote the piece after being fed up with how reality television portrays her hometown.
“People believe what they see on TV so to put Atlanta’s name on (such shows) is an affront to our city,” she said. “I don’t know what the laws are about usage of Atlanta’s name, but that should be illegal. It’s defamation.”
Beaty said she is working to relaunch a New York-based organization called Black Women for Black Girls, and keeps in touch with friends from home, including the head of an organization called Living Water for Girls, which serves girls who have been sexually abused or exploited.
“Much in this world that needs to changed so many causes that need to be championed,” Beaty said. “It’s a great privilege to help move what matters to me.”
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445 comments Add your comment
Former Reality TV Star Blasts "Real Housewives" & "Love & Hip-Hop" For Portraying Atlanta In A Negative Way! | Gyant Unplugged
June 22nd, 2012
7:37 am
[...] Though, Beaty never mentions “Love and Hip-Hop ATL” or “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” it’s becomes very clear that she’s aiming her gripe directly at these types of shows. Per AJC: [...]
YUUUUP
June 22nd, 2012
7:47 am
It is what it is… We live in a time that nothing is personal or private. Everyone shares their business on Facebook & Twitter like its the thing to do. Too many followers of BS in this world and not many people following greatness.. Wth I look like following someone on twitter? But a TON of people are ok with it. The state of this world disgust me just like women and men like Mimi & Stevie J. Grow up & get some self respect and stop having kids that will just repeat the cycle!
I wonder what Mrs. Twyman Russell acted liked when she found out her husband acted like a got damn fool at the PDC… Things that make you go hmmm
T
June 22nd, 2012
7:48 am
This isn’t just an issue that affects Atlanta; it’s the general problem with reality television in that “high drama” makes anyone rich and famous now, particularly women. If pulling hair and engaging in non-stop cat fights is the ticket to fame and short-term financial success then I would rather the women in my life be unknown and earning their money the right way.
How is it that the ENTIRE Kardashian family has become so rich and so famous? The only two members of that family, Robert Kardashian (famous lawyer) and Bruce Jenner (famous Olympian), are the least famous and endeared by the public.
It’s all disgusting.
bamabelle2000
June 22nd, 2012
8:08 am
I’m always amused when people take reality shows too seriously. It’s entertainment,that’s all it is. To be honest the Real Housewives of Atlanta is one of the few franchises that actually show these women WORKING for a living. I’ve seen ONE physical altercation between characters. Do they argue? yes I’ve seen more violence on New Jersey Housewives and Mob wives then RHOA. And when they act up, it’s not a poor reflection on the city of Atlanta as most of you seem to be more concerned about, it’s a poor reflection on them. As an AA woman, let me tell you black folks what has hurt our image is not these shows, these same people who complaining about these type of shows are the same one’s who will go out and buy or download rap cd’s that call black women b*tches and ho’s but then want to complain about this. When we as black folks stop supporting that mess first, then we can talk about the RHOA.
YUUUUP
June 22nd, 2012
8:08 am
Why don’t black people see a problem with all the black on black crime? Everyday ALL day! People stand up & put marches together when a white person kills a black person BUT it is ok for black people to kill themselves? Black people baffle me! Reality TV is the very LEAST of your worries! Trust me!
Atlanta was a HOT MESS way befor
Rick
June 22nd, 2012
8:18 am
As a Black man that was college-educated in Atlanta in the 1980’s, I found it an insult to all the professional educated Black women in Atlanta to have the women in ‘The real Housewives of Atlanta” to be a reflection of them. I have always been SURPRISED NO PROFESSIONAL BLACK WOMEN GROUP IN ATLANTA HAS SPOKEN OUT AGAINST THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA!
rock hard
June 22nd, 2012
8:20 am
natasha, that was well-said.
ATLANTA....THE NEXT DETROIT
June 22nd, 2012
8:22 am
Thanks ABE! Get it?
almost atlanta native
June 22nd, 2012
8:38 am
I have lived in Atlanta since 1985. Watching the reality shows based in Atlanta I can honestly say they accurately portray the real inhabitants (majority) of people that I see in Atlanta. I don’t go to strip clubs so I am not sure how the people are there, either do I go to bars/clubs so not sure there either. But walking down the street, in the park, in the shopping mall, driving around in my car, movie theaters, the gym, the people portrayed in these TV shows are exactly like the people I encounter. Atlanta is full of lazy, inconsiderate of others, pretentious, irresponsible, uppity, uncaring, no future, no education, blame everybody else for their problems, chips on their shoulder people, there is no denying it. The people that complain about it are a good example of these people, people with nothing more important to do other than whine and complain. Nothing really comes from this behavior, nothing will change. Maybe some volunteer work might make a difference; the whiners probably think themselves above that though. Change comes from within, whether it is yourself or a community. It is what it is. Telling the truth isn’t racist, and the truth hurts sometimes.
badbob2
June 22nd, 2012
9:04 am
My favorite Atlanta reality show is 48 hours.
TDY
June 22nd, 2012
9:07 am
If minorities ever remove themselves from the groups and sub-groups the politicians have put them in, all of us will be able to focus on the difference between good and bad and right and wrong. Because that’s what this and almost everything is really about.
ScaredOfTv
June 22nd, 2012
9:08 am
Beaty wrote” Most people value decency, integrity, and pride and I think those who do, based on the responses, are ready to be heard.”
“… I say Thank you sister… Preach Beaty… PREACH..
MountainMan
June 22nd, 2012
9:19 am
Maybe they should have a show called The Real Golfers of Piedmont Driving Club. Now that would be funny. There are idiots in every segment of society and that is what reality shows prey on.
Lakeisha Jackson
June 22nd, 2012
9:31 am
I hear where Kelly’s coming from, and I applaud the sistah’ for speaking out.
But isn’t that really a TV thing? Don’t they always just portray people based on the most outrageous stereotypes? I used to laugh myself silly watching those old CBS shows on reruns…Bevery Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres…and none of my white friends acted like that. Do we really expect TV to be an accurate portrayal of life here in the U.S.?
MM
June 22nd, 2012
9:34 am
** TYLER PERRY IS JUST AS BAD **
julie
June 22nd, 2012
9:34 am
The reality shows are truly embarrassing because as a educator in North Georgia. We have young
(white ) adults and ( students) thinking this is how successful African-Americans live/act this
way. I have young (African -American ) female students that want to go to college and
married a rich guy in (Atlanta ) and become a house wife. It’s terrible that African- American women
are shown as women that use profanity and fight constantly on national television. As a educator these shows do not help us in the classroom. They are truly a insult to all the hard working African
Americans that i see working hard in Atlanta that believe in ( Black Pride and Dignity).
DaTruff
June 22nd, 2012
9:35 am
The bottom line is that Americans love a train wreck and there is no better train wreck than the RHOA. Times have changed and the black culture, particularly in Atl, is flooded with NeeNee’s and in need of more people like Ms.Beaty. Hopefully Ms.Beaty doesn’t run into NeeNee anytime soon; bitch might knock her out….now that would make for good reality tv,
VV
June 22nd, 2012
9:38 am
When the African American community quits making heroes out of criminals, all of this will change.
PJT
June 22nd, 2012
9:39 am
I certainly agree with the author, but I recently had a similar conversation with an outraged New Jersey native on the subject of Jersey Shore. It’s unfair, it’s untrue, but it’s television. As a white Georgian who has lived with the caricatures of The Dukes of Hazzard and similar shows, all I can say is, welcome to the party.
headlines?
June 22nd, 2012
9:40 am
This made the headline for AJC.com? Really? Who cares, except this one lady????
Truth Hurts . . .
June 22nd, 2012
9:45 am
doesn’t it . . . if you can find one lie in her article, then please point it out to me. Different strokes for different folks, but it’s sad when just for a buck we defer to the lowest common denominators of our culture and race. I’ve felt this way forever, but people justify all kinds of madness existing today because it makes money. Too bad freedom in America also means the freedom to be dumb, indecent, illogical, unreasonable, unethical, immoral. When true freedom means power with responsibility. At long as you are deferring to the almighty dollar, people will continue to be mentally enslaved. Yes, so take that money, make that money and make sure you spend that money because you’re gonna have to drop it off before you get to where you’re going justifying this madness and nonsense. People who stand for nothing will fall for anything. Anybody think that bad behaviour and dysfunction are entertainment are mentally ill — yes with your millions, you are still mentally ill and a liar. There’s nothing entertaining about negativity and dysfunction. Nowhere . . .where did this start? MTV AND JERRY SPRINGER!!! Grow up already and bring back the values of the 20th Century because this 21st century nonsense is leading you all down the wrong paths . . .
Dubd
June 22nd, 2012
9:46 am
Keep in mind no one is forcing these women to join this show and act they way they do. The real disgrace is that there seems to be no shortage of people willing to watch this garbage – no matter what color they are and no matter where they come from – Atlanta, New Jersey or New York.
Waldo
June 22nd, 2012
9:49 am
One thing we have to remember is that there is very little that is “REAL” about any of those “REALITY” shows. Those people know that there are cameras filming them all the time and they have to do or say whatever makes the show interesting. They will probably argue about something while filming an episode and then go out and have a celebratory drink afterwards. They have to keep the ratings up or the show fails. It’s that plain and simple. They don’t represent anyone but themselves, and viewers should not thake the whole thing so seriously. These people are laughing all the way to the bank. It reminds me of how viewers first reacted to soap operas. Many people thought that garbage was real life, and some still do and never miss an episode.
PJ
June 22nd, 2012
9:49 am
I’ve never watched Real Housewives of Atlanta or any other city, but they certainly can’t be any worse than The Kartrashians.
Bluto
June 22nd, 2012
9:50 am
I hear the Crabs are upset at how they are portrayed on deadliest catch. The stupid crabs being caught in the pots do not represent the smart crabs who avoid such traps.
CG
June 22nd, 2012
9:51 am
I agree, great article! I think it’s a shame that a station such as V103 is promoting that trashy show Love, hip hop. It’s a disgrace to the black race………….period. In times like these we need more positive shows, enough of the trash!!!
foodfight
June 22nd, 2012
9:52 am
Well said. Very positive ..and I am white.
freakyD
June 22nd, 2012
9:53 am
Y’all just hatin’, so stop. Y’all a bunch a bougie, highfalutin’ types that ain’t down. Y’all some sellouts. I likes my reality shows, because they keeps it real.
woodrow
June 22nd, 2012
9:54 am
I experience black people in Atlanta all the time. I ride Marta and walk the streets. I think things are a lot worse here than people wish to admit. Maybe this lady complaining is one of the nice people in Atlanta. But I think she is a minority nice person.
Reality Check
June 22nd, 2012
9:55 am
Reality TV is the dumbing down of America. It is targeting to people who are on the bottom level of human intelligence. If you love reality TV and read this thread you may be offended, that is, if you can even comprehend what you’ve read.
JT
June 22nd, 2012
9:56 am
NEWSFLASH: REAL folks DO NOT DO reality tv shows… celebrity-wannabes do reality tv shows and they do not represent AT ALL the city in which the show is taped.
CPG
June 22nd, 2012
9:57 am
@ Natasha…That was one of the most eloquent posts about ’80s to early ’90s Atlanta I’ve ever read. Well done!
Ill add a few of the “you aint from black ATL, if you don’t remember” list.
1. When the public library was in the basement of Greenbriar
2. When B.E. Mays was one of the best public schools in the US
3. When Maynard let out the big sigh in ‘90 when we won the Olympic games.
NOT
June 22nd, 2012
9:57 am
Leave it to the AJC to gin up a limp controversy about something so vapid and useless as Reality TV and then slap it on the front page as if it is an important story. This “news” paper has become a huge joke. Just shut it down already and save yourselves anymore embarrassment.
Atlanta
June 22nd, 2012
9:57 am
They should change the name of The Real Housewives of Atlanta to The Trashiest Trailer Trash and Ghetto Housewives of Atlanta.
MountainDawg
June 22nd, 2012
9:58 am
They can (do) have “tha ATL”. I’d not live down there for a million bucks. Furthermore, “reality” TV is for sheeplized lemmings.
L. Hill
June 22nd, 2012
9:58 am
With all the problems facing black America, it’s disturbing the things we focus on. I don’t know who this woman is and I haven’t read the essay, nor did I have to go into counseling, to turn the trash off. Turn off trash TV! This goes for Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, and on and on including the “Wives” shows. We are raising a generation of children on JUNK! And when they behave shamefully in the world it’s a disgrace? But on TV, people get paid big bucks to act a fool! Turn it off! And their ratings will plummet.
Rose
June 22nd, 2012
10:01 am
I don’t mean this in a racist way at all, but why should Real Housewives of Atlanta be exclusively about blacks(except for that idiot Kim)? I hate how Bravo is trying to brand Atlanta as black. Sorry people – the city and the suburbs are at least half white. And, the RHOA is not even set in the city! I live in the city, and that tv show has nothing to do with the city. I’m white, so I don’t know, but does it irritate the black ladies of the city that Bravo has picked Atlanta to be its token African American housewives show? It irritates me.
blazerdawg
June 22nd, 2012
10:01 am
PJT – well said.
As a native Atlantan, and a whitey, I have always been proud of the people in my town, especially the leadership through the 60s to the late 80s, white and black. Proud of Dr. King, proud of Ivan Allen, proud of Hosea, proud of Billy Payne. Natasha is right, the Atl I remember was Southern, not country, and well educated. (still mostly correct)
Two things have always bothered me though, when I travel north people always commented about Hee Haw redneck Atlanta (what little there ever was of it I actually miss), and that non-leadership black folks in Atlanta have always made the city 100% about blackness, black this, black that. Atlanta needs folks coming together right now -sure was great back in 1990 when everyone was on the same page, not just black Atlanta/white Atlanta.
2ruff4u
June 22nd, 2012
10:03 am
It’s a sad commentary about the direction Atlanta has taken since this person moved from the city she grew up in.
Maybe she should come back to Atlanta and become reaquainted with the “new” Atlanta.
It has changed over the past twenty years and it is NOT pretty. So much violence and hip-hop wannabes.
Come back and visit but don’t go to the exclusive highend areas. Visit the real Atlanta.
Your eyes will be opened and you will be very disappointed by the lowering of standards and personal morals..
G Reon
June 22nd, 2012
10:05 am
ON POINT MS BEATY!
US Census
June 22nd, 2012
10:05 am
Rose,
Metro Atlanta is 60% white, 30% black, 7% hispanic, 3% asian/pac isl – about the same as NYC (more hispanic) & Washington (more black/asian).
SUCK - IT
June 22nd, 2012
10:06 am
So i am confused, why is it that RHWOA is all black women again? Not really sure what started that maybe because all the white women have enough to do with out going on national television to be portrayed as a idiot or trash for a couple of dollars! This is Atlanta – we are a melting pot of people here. Look at the big picture any time there is crime or problems in Atlanta (it is automatically associated with THE BLACKS). You will never have it your way and no one will ever agree with you, “Blacks are really doing there thing down there.” Why do you think all the Blacks live in the heart of Atlanta? I will tell you why. As Atlanta has grown the city has become trash, so what did we do…. Lower the cost to live in the city and hire the blacks to do all the BS work around it. You can have the over crowded broken run down streets of Atlanta, You can have the shi*ty public transportation system (we made it so you can commute out of the city and work the BS jobs in our suburbs, you can have your cheap old homes and run down city parks. We as a whole are going to move to the suburbs all around the city and build our mini castles and make it as a whole impossible for the majority of the TRASH to join us outside of there normal day to day begging for money, standing in a government line of some sort, and shopping at WALLY WORLD. It is what it is – Atlanta is beautiful except for how dark it is here all the time. Hate me because i am better than you in every way – and i will hate you because you are a damaged race ruining society!
FN_Jerk
June 22nd, 2012
10:07 am
Isnt if funny how people who claim to deplore racism always seem to desire to be collectively judged for the good deeds of their self appointed racial identity group? Try just being yourselves or just a plain old American. It opens many more paths than the narrow identification you are giving yourselves. Another interesting point is Blacks that are not native (Africans, Jamaicans, European Blacks)to the US but became US citizens usually take it as an insult to be called African-American. They usually just prefer American. I found this out the hard way but it was a lessoned learned.
PR
June 22nd, 2012
10:07 am
As long as people and stupid enough to watch reality Tv that portrays Atlanta balck as hootices and hugs the show will continue. Just like Jersey Shore…reality TV is not real. ITs fake, made up bullshit, for midless idiots who will sit and watch it. Turn if off, watch the rating go in the crapper and the shows will end. The producers are mindless idiots with no imagination.
brk
June 22nd, 2012
10:07 am
I have an idea of a reality show, RHOM, real hoes of Metro, saw it a birthday party for a child that had 3 other “baby mamas” there that had slept with the same man & had his children too and they all were best friends that live off my dime. White women are trashier than black women in my book
Chicago
June 22nd, 2012
10:09 am
2ruff – come visit me for a real gangsta time – I am the king of public cursing, gold teeth, and bustin slack.
Chris
June 22nd, 2012
10:10 am
The problem with Ms. Beaty’s essay is that it implicitly assumes “reality” shows are meant to portray something like reality. They do not. They are not about ordinary people; they are about people who entertain us, either because they are celebrities or simply dysfunctional. The problem lies not with what the reality shows portray, but in the misguided assumption people make that the reality shows portray anything like the reality of what they portray.
ATAlien
June 22nd, 2012
10:11 am
I am so glad she has written her piece. It was well needed, many of wanted to say it. Unfornately, it barely scratches the surface. There are those that get entertainment out of this and actively work to portray the black community in this negative fashion. And there are many in the community that are willing to take the money (current ATL Housewives) from Bravo or whomever that will pay. That isssue is clearly two-fold. Kind of why Boondocks and Chappelle show are no longer around. Although funny at times, too damaging to the Black community image. The Black community/culture of Atlanta I know and and am proud of is far above this reality show and has so much more inspiring success to show the world.
Ed
June 22nd, 2012
10:13 am
The people on this show are all HAS BEENS who at one time were married to people with money, and almost all of them are dead broke now. REAL Georgians and Atlantans would never be on that show.
Judy
June 22nd, 2012
10:14 am
I would definitely like to see the media provide better representation of all colors. I certainly don’t want my kids watching teen mom and one of the best shows ever was the Cosby show. Granted that wasn’t reality television, but why not have a reality show that shows a glimpse into the life of a black doctor and/or lawyer and some other profession. Might help change the image.