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
Ga Baptist Hospital Born
June 22nd, 2012
10:16 am
This is how I felt when Jimmy Carter was president and the nation thought everyone from Georgia was uneducated and wore overalls!
Gee...
June 22nd, 2012
10:17 am
Get rid of cable TV, switch to NetFlix for $7.99/month, add a ROKU device for more choice, if wanted, and use an over-the-air antenna for free local TV stations and watch only those shows you like whenever you like. This will also help you control the content your children view. I’ve never watched any one of those “Housewives” show and it appears I’ve missed nothing.
Statick
June 22nd, 2012
10:19 am
I get what she’s saying, and I agree to an extent, however, let’s put the blame where it’s due and that’s on the viewers of these reality shows. If they viewers weren’t there, then they wouldn’t exist. Reality shows make stars out of people with bad attitudes and worse morals. Look past all of the flashy clothes and the sketched-out drama, and you can see these shows for what they truly are: human car-wrecks. It’s human nature for people to want to watch car wrecks.
About Life
June 22nd, 2012
10:19 am
These show make people that watch them believe that atlanta really is the place for them…….But the reality is that growth has slowed down in the city and metro because people are being dissapointed after staying and realizing that everyone is moving to larger cities like Houston and Dallas where there is more to offer the average person. That is why they are the fastest growing cities in the nation in population and jobs.. If you haven’t been ……………..ask someone who has moved from ATL to TX and they will tell you, how they should had moved years before.. Google the facts if your in doubt.
Real
June 22nd, 2012
10:20 am
For men in their early thirties, African-Americans are about 7 times more likely to have a prison record than whites.
In his book The g Factor (1998), Arthur Jensen cites data which shows that, regardless of race, people with IQs between 70 and 90 have higher crime rates than people with IQs below or above this range, with the peak range being between 80 and 90.[86] Jensen and others have claimed that the average IQ of African Americans is 85, to be compared with 100 for White Americans and 106 for Asian Americans.
Ms. Atlanta
June 22nd, 2012
10:20 am
If you don’t like what comes on television, don’t watch it. The main one’s down grading the shows or the main one’s giving it rating. Clearly, no one has put a gun to anybody’s head and said watch these shows or act a certain way. Yes, she is right everybody from Atlanta doesn’t act like they are thugs or “hoochie moms”. But than who’s to Judge anybody’s way of living or how they make thier money. I say keep your husband/mates out of Onxy/Magic City (just to name a few) and you wouldn’t be bitter about strip clubs. These things have been going on in Atlanta for how long? But now that they are reality shows it’s a problem that they are keeping it real. It’s a big difference between Atlanta and Fayetteville we lived this all of our life. If you don’t like it move to New York like she did and you want have to fake it.
Get It Right
June 22nd, 2012
10:21 am
Many of the reasons listed above detail exactly why I do not tell people I live in Atlanta. I tell them in which state I was born and in which community I live – (NOT Atlanta!). To identify with Atlanta would be to identify with all the racism and bigotry espoused by ALL the races. I claim no “Black”, “African-American”, or “Minority” friends, relatives or co-workers, rather I have Friends, Relatives and Co-workers. Isn’t that the dream that MLK Jr. told us about?
jaye
June 22nd, 2012
10:23 am
I sooooo totally agree. Atlanta and the women of Atlanta is so much more than these programs. Can’t wait until they are removed from television. I don’t watch either.
Gone Fishin'
June 22nd, 2012
10:23 am
Well said, Bluto. Those smart crabs will live on to produce more smart crabs until eventually no more will end up in the pots.
Kingfish
June 22nd, 2012
10:23 am
There are many fine and successful black men, women and families in Atlanta with wonderful stories to tell, but do you think they are foolish enough to be on a reality television show? Whether you are black or white, only opportunistic people who want to appear differently than they truly are, (although their true inner self comes out) appear on these shows to further their own selfish agendas and egos. The people who appear on these shows are not the ones who quietly perform charitable deeds,belong to the finer clubs, have substantial wealth and are mannered and refined. Whether they are black or white, these shows attract low brows and wannabe’s.
Jeffrey
June 22nd, 2012
10:24 am
Folks, these shows are “entertainment”–not documentaries! These people are paid, they get scripts and they TRY to act. That reality sometimes overlaps with these scripts is incidental, but that does not make these shows “reality”. Do you really believe that all Italians in New Jersey are identical to the “Jersey Shore” cast? Do you think “Professional” Wrestling is real? It’s all entertainment, because the executives know there are LOTS of people in America that love this mindless form of entertainment. If it makes you laugh, then I suppose they’re doing their jobs. If it doesn’t make you laugh, then turn the channel.
Jane
June 22nd, 2012
10:26 am
I agree with everything that she is saying in her article. We as a nation need to boycott all of these crazy reality shows. They make us look bad as a country. Our morals have dropped so low that its a shame. It doesn’t matter the color of the people doing the reality show, all reality shows need to be taken off the air. We can only accomplish this by not watching them and boycotting the advertisers. If we hit them in the pocket and demand a better type of show they will have to comply if they are not making any money.
bearcrazyman
June 22nd, 2012
10:28 am
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN!!! Unless you were born in Africa and then moved to the USA and became a citizen you cant claime to be one.
This is only a term to distinquish your ethnicity. So if you are so hung up on your own ethicity that you want to proclaim it everytime you speak of yourself then arent you in turn discriminating yourself?
Ingor Please!
C
June 22nd, 2012
10:30 am
Reality weaves of Atlanta?
Chicagojeff
June 22nd, 2012
10:30 am
She puts it right on point. Excellent essay.. and I completely agree with her. You can’t sit back and watch these modern day minstel shows and then carry on about the state of the community. It’s like sitting around in Berlin in 1936 and saying.. ahhh its got nothing to do with me!!!
MissV
June 22nd, 2012
10:31 am
Trash sells. Look at the portrayal of black women in most black rap videos. Look at the NAACP ‘image’ awards given out – even to someone who gave a lap dance to a married man.
Maybe TV is trying to make up for not having blacks on Dallas.
NOT
June 22nd, 2012
10:33 am
If you want to know how blacks REALLY act in the “ATL” just watch this video posted on the AJC today of four black guys mugging and car jacking a woman who coming home from work:
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/youtube-video-shows-atlanta-1462300.html
Morally Bankrupt
June 22nd, 2012
10:35 am
Ms. Beaty’s comments are noteworthy and for the most part correct. A question to consider is why is she correct? Is it because people will do just about anything for a few bucks? The individuals in the reality shows have to know their representation is degrading (for themselves and others); yet, they do it anyway. The networks have to know the shows perpetuate negative stereotypes, yet, they show it anyway. All in the name of making a few bucks. Even worse, a large percentage of the population is watching; otherwise, the networks would show something else. Society is morally bankrupt with no bailout!
Chi-lanta
June 22nd, 2012
10:35 am
People, we are forgetting something. Television is a business. They make profit off of viewership. Americans (not just blacks) love drama. However, it is sad that black culture fits the bill. If I was the CEO of VH1, I’d make money off of money hungry, trashy black chicks and “all-we-do-is-sports-music-sex-and-babies” black men too!
Then I’d go home to my beautiful wife and kids who live somewhere nice like Canada, and train my children to make money off of lazy Americans and trashy, money mismanaging blacks just like everyone else does.
Sad. But true. And I’m black.
Ronnie 62
June 22nd, 2012
10:35 am
Preach! When I moved to Atlanta,GA in 1994 it was the place to be for college educated blacks.Coming from the NC/NJ area, it was time to move.Post hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the beginning of the end for Atlanta, GA boom. Between the downed economy, crime, rappers, models,stippers,Pookie,Bey Bey and want to be ballers. It was time to move on. The end of the road was watching thousands of people on section 8 waiting in the hot sun for 30 section 8 apartments.Now, we have women with $5,000 pocketbooks,$2000.00 weaves fighting over a man who maybe on the down low and doesn’t give a damn about them in the first place…wake up people!
Curious
June 22nd, 2012
10:36 am
I wonder what the response would have been if all references in the original article to blacks/african americans were changed to white/caucasion? Seems to me that instead of yet another black/white story, why not just say people in general? Pretty much everyone is portrayed poorly on reality shows to some degree. I’m just tired of seeing everything be a black or white issue. I am constantly confused as to whether I should accept everyone, or make EVERY issue black or white.
#Occupy My Desk
June 22nd, 2012
10:38 am
I totally agree – unfortunately, people only want to see dumb, ignorant people on these shows. How else can you explain how the Kardashians & Paris Hilton have careers?
truth hurts
June 22nd, 2012
10:40 am
“Will the real Atlanta please stand up?”
Lets hope not. Black on black crime topped by no other city.
Atl Fan
June 22nd, 2012
10:44 am
Ronnie 62 – interesting point about Katrina – that storm did not just devistate NO
RCH
June 22nd, 2012
10:44 am
I have sampled the other Real Housewife’s and seen nothing but thuggary,chaos and trash. With this type of show , what did you expect for Atlanta. You wanted equality, you got it.
Ayn Rand was Right
June 22nd, 2012
10:46 am
It’s nice to see a black woman voice these opinions. When I publicly voiced my opinion that RHOA was bringing down the national perception of our city, I was colored with the racist brush. Needless to say, the issue for me was not that the RHs were black, but that they acted like BAPs. It’s nice to know that class does cross skin hues, and that other citizens of Atlanta care more about the success of their city than the success of a silly show, with a big fat pay-check dragging everyone down to the ghetto.
janet
June 22nd, 2012
10:46 am
Actually if you go back far enough , we are all African Ameicans.
East_Point
June 22nd, 2012
10:46 am
I agree with Ms Beaty. I am a white guy that lives in a very diverse neighborhood and my neighbors are wonderful. I only wish Ms Beaty had addressed the non-reality portrayal of African Americans as exploited and perpetuated by Tyler Perry.
DW
June 22nd, 2012
10:47 am
More and more women in Atlanta now act and behave like the fools portrayed in these reality shows. Over the last 2yrs I have seen more women having in your face arguments in public,and act and treat others like they are queen bitch divas. Yet they are all broke have the worst credit and lost their homes trying to copy those fools. Atlanta the home of financially broke phonies acting rich bwaaaah.
kdog
June 22nd, 2012
10:49 am
If she purports to speak for the accomplished Black America, she should first start by editing her own writing to get rid of the grammar and spelling mistakes.
Realitydoesntsell
June 22nd, 2012
10:52 am
I agree with her comments but the problem is Good Quality Reality doesn’t sell! THE PUBLIC demands trash so the problem isn’t with the participants but with the viewers! Put on quality and the show wouldn’t even make it past the first 6 weeks
sara
June 22nd, 2012
10:52 am
There are two kinds of blacks in Atlanta. The nose-turning uppity that goes to church every Sunday and go to work on Monday to be “mean”. They’re usually educated from one of the Black colleges and carries a chip on their shoulders. They’re the “meanest” people I have ever met in my 60 years. They appear very Robotic and Ridgit without a sense of humor, flexibility or kindness. It’s all about “them” and materialistic gains. They are usually “superficial” and their “word” isn’t important to them.
Then there’s the “wanna be” who drives a 10 year old Lexus, Benz and BMW’s. Works at a retail or at the Grady Health center that are “angry and lazy and moves like an 80 year old woman that is senile”. These are the ones who rents a $2,500 a month home and “make believe” they’re buying it or own it. They’re angry, mean and “snooted”…remember this attitude comes from the ones I described above and this group “thinks” this attitude means “class”.
Kevin
June 22nd, 2012
10:53 am
The truth hurts doesn’t it? This is the world that you people have created and glorified. The show doesn’t scratch the surface. It’s much worse. The same types of people committing the crimes and bringing down this city are the same ones that run it. Very sad.
Rick Hunter
June 22nd, 2012
10:53 am
I’ve lived in Atlanta for over 20 years and I have seen it change from a peaceful place to live to a crime ridden trash heap. True there are nice places still and good people in it, but you have to be real about the true ‘reality” of the city and the trash that now resides in it. There are plenty of proud and outstanding blacks that live here but lets be real about the fact that the majority of blacks are of the hip hop culture that now reside here. Why else would they call Atlanta the ‘dirty south”? They revel in ignorance and cheap thrills at the expense of others. It’s a sad truth that definitely gives the intelligent blacks a bad name and the city.
But lets not forget that hip hop trash blacks are ‘real’ too and you can be stupid enough to close your eyes and pretend they don’t exist and are ’scripted’ that way as an attack on Atlanta blacks. They are real! And they are abundant!
mz
June 22nd, 2012
10:54 am
A reality show that would hit a nerve would be Detroit flushing a giant toilet and the contents landing in Atlanta….because from the perspective of most transplants, that is exactly what happened… and the toilet keeeps flushing….
Bob
June 22nd, 2012
10:54 am
The “fake” housewives of Atlanta have place the notion in many viewers minds across the nation that Atlanta is that kind of town. Look at the “real” housewives of Atlanta: Buckhead wives that actually are wealthy and do great benefits to raise money for charities, Professional women black and white are some of the top lawyers, doctors and many other professions that make high dollar salaries. These “wantabees” wives on Bravo is just a joke. Most of them “rent” their homes and pretend to be wealthy just for the show. Now I will say it is very entertaining but that is where it stops for me. If they want “real” housewives they should look at the successful women around this town.
Chuck Oliver
June 22nd, 2012
10:54 am
Since the Real Trailer Trash of Atlanta went on the air I’m ashamed to say I’m from Atlanta anymore. just call me Chuck from Lilburn.
Walter Little, Jr.
June 22nd, 2012
10:54 am
I totally agree with Ms. Beaty’s comments regarding reality shows filmed here in Atlanta. I would like to take it a step further and offer my explanation of why these shows depict what they do. From my experience, successful people – be they black OR white – do their best to stay under the radar and out of the limelight. By contrast, as Clarence Collins stated in his comments, the “hoochies and the thugs” tend to seek out the media because they think their lifestyle is something to be proud of. Sad, but true.
ricci carson
June 22nd, 2012
10:56 am
Good article. But don’t get too analytical about it.
Justice does not drive our culture anymore.
If sterotypes are profitable, they will be extended. The marketplace for sensationalism abounds with our culture. The sexualization of our youth seems to ever-end.
Skip
June 22nd, 2012
10:58 am
I believe the writer need to look up the definitin of defamation. At worst it shows a skewed view but still a real one.
suga
June 22nd, 2012
11:04 am
@Natasha
You said a mouth full………… Alot of people dont’ even know the real Atlanta, and it’s sad they don’t even the History of our Town. SomETHINK THE STREET MLK HAS ALWAYS BEEN MLK, THE REAL NAME IS HUNTER ST. SOME DON’T EVEN KNOW WE HAD A BLACK HOSPTIAL OFF CHAPPELL RD. OR A BLACK DENTIST OFFICE ON HUNTER ST. YEARS AGO. Yes i’m a real GRADY BABY…It’s so sad how this mess on TV MAKE OUR CITY LOOK MESSES.
Morris Brown College HOMECOMING WAS A BIG EVENT, NO FIGHTING JUST FUN.
Riding the Bus downtown to pay bills and shop, yes we had some drunks on the corning, but no problem.
Our parents catching the buses going to work everyday, and still ran the house and had rules.
Friday night, Jelly Bean hear we come, a fuss break out hear and their, but no problem.
The REAL OLD SCHOOL ATLANTA FAIR GROUND
THE REAL WESTSIDE YMCA ON OLLIE ST.
Zayre’s, Otasco, Woolworth , THE REAL KESSLER, Richies & The REAL Davison, These place ment alot to Atlanta.
I will say DRAMA, SEX & BEING FAKE REALLY DO SELL, And you wonder why our children or all messed. Parents raise your kids, stop letting them look at mess like that on TV, TALK TO THEM ABOUT GOING TO COLLEGE AND EDUCATING THERE MINDS. WE got more Mothers & Grandmothers in the club than at home. RHWOA IS NOT REAL……….!!!!!!!!!! FAKE FAKE FAKE.
WE GOT TO EDUCATE OUR YOUNG MEN & LADIES.
live97
June 22nd, 2012
11:04 am
I agree with her but, the reason realty shows like this thrive is because that’s what people want to watch. They won’t admit it but it’s true. Atlanta just like the rest of the country has succumbed to whatever it takes to make money and earn that fifteen minutes of fame.
That Dude Says...
June 22nd, 2012
11:06 am
I went to high school with Kelley Smith Beaty at Sandy Creek.
Why
June 22nd, 2012
11:07 am
Why are all black women on the personal ads on Craigslist fat?
overthetop.com
June 22nd, 2012
11:07 am
It is really not that serious. If you are educated in the A you know what the A Town is about. Most of the people they are showing are well off people so you see the success that happens here. But when I sit down to be entertain do I want to see a lawyer working on her cases or do I want to see a little drama? It is just entertainment.
baako
June 22nd, 2012
11:08 am
@KDAWG
I’m almost positive that Ms Beaty is well aware the Mr Herndon is dead. In fact, I’m sure of because she suggested they do a retrospective on her life… Learn the language before you try to rip someone.
Will
June 22nd, 2012
11:10 am
The reality is Bravo and other networks are in the business of MAKING MONEY with the shows that they broadcast. They have a formula for making the show successful. That formula consists of casting personalities or characters that are confronational, loud and obnoxious. They are not going to cast a bunch of laid back individuals or “normal” folk to star in these shows; that would be a total snooze-fest. You cannot look to these shows to be shining examples of your hometown, these shows are meant to shock and somehow entertain people.
Joshua Dixon
June 22nd, 2012
11:13 am
I must admit that I watch the Atlanta Housewives with both amusement and sadness. On the one hand…I wish these women were more concerned with the negative images and stereotypes they promote. On the other hand…they keep me laughing. I think it was Malcolm X who said, “If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” You girls need to get up!
TRUTH
June 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
About time the true feelings of Black Atlantans are voiced. I now live on the West Coast but lived in the ATL for 15 years. When I arrived there during the boom (the Olympics), Atlanta WAS hip, and hop, a Black professional’s dream. Everyone was working, money was to be made…. Then came the recession and predatory lending, foreclosure, UNEMPLOYMENT. The Black Dream turned into a nightmare and now the wannabes have taken control. We must admit that fact. Our once proud and prideful positions and incomes and degrees faded and now the “fast” money has replaced it. With that, crime and under-achievement are king and with that comes this attitude. Our past professional successes are that, unfortunately, in the past. Amazingly, the article stresses the importance of depicting successes, and most would agree fully agree with that, however, we have allowed our current millionaires to be fodder for hate. They are surely not going to show the true lives of Black millionaires or successes. They prefer a minstrel show. Pay attention Atlanta.
alex
June 22nd, 2012
11:16 am
detroit, new orleans,cleveland,ny…..we get their garbage.