Slave Dust and Tyler Perry

Once again, the latest series of social media attacks on Tyler Perry is in full swing. Following household name Monique’s release of a recorded conversation between the two, the cyber bullies have once again reared their ugly heads.

For some reason, Monique and her manager/advisor/husband saw fit to release to the public what Tyler Perry probably thought was a private conversation. When I first listened to the conversation (or argument/debate) the first two questions I asked myself were:

1. What, if anything, did Monique and company hope to achieve now by making that conversation public knowledge?
2. What’s the driving force behind Black people opting to take her side?

Personally, I don’t believe Monique hoped to achieve anything besides bring Mr. Perry down a notch. I’m sure she’s well aware of what her career has become/failed to become ever since that Precious debacle. I’m also going to assume that’s something she’s okay with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, but if it’s already broke, then break it some more, eh?

She’s known to speak up and speak out, regardless of the consequences. She’s had a stellar career and who knows, perhaps she’s willing to risk it all by continuing to stand her ground… even if said ground is sinking sand. Not many people in the cutthroat entertainment industry have the balls to do that and maybe that’s where kudos should go to her.

My issue, however, is with all these people, people of color especially, "coming for" Tyler Perry, without facts or any clear understanding of how the industry or Perry’s relationship with Monique works. In fact it’s as if they don’t care to know, They’re just happy someone has started a fire they can now help to stoke. People are taking time out of their busy schedules to write inflammatory articles and even put together YouTube checklists titled "The Shady Side of Tyler Perry," while I’m over here with a Donald Glover face asking, what is happening?

The used-to-be-pauper-turned-billionaire is actually human and doesn’t do perfect all the time. So let’s drag him down from that lofty place he’s worked his ass off to get to. Why? Is it plain ole jealousy and envy?

Some people say Mr. Perry has changed, not for the better, since he became a movie, theater, and television mogul. But why work that hard, endure what he endured, and survive what he survived just to stay the same? Of course he changed! If he didn’t, there’s a chance he’d have been assassinated long ago whether by a bullet or a scandal or a crime that would make him the penal system’s bitch for the rest of his life.

Because he’s a man. A once-poor black man who rose to heights even black people don’t think he has a right to be at. How dare he make something of himself and protect that something from the snares of those who wish for him to self-destruct?

Tyler Perry’s horrendous childhood is sadly not foreign to many black men and women. He's been dirt poor, having an absent or abusive parent, feeling at a young age like death is the only escape. Too many of us know all about that.

In truth, Tyler Perry had an upbringing that should’ve made him the perfect candidate for a life of crime and violence. Had he grown up to be a gangbanging, drug-dealing hustler turned rapper, we’d all be rooting for him. We’d all be glaring in Monique’s direction with fangs bared, insisting that he only did what he had to. He survived the only way he knew how. We’d laud him and call him a boss had he chosen to become a notorious gangster.

Instead he chose another route, one that worked too well for him. He did what he had to do to get to where he had to get. Now he’s doing what’s necessary to ensure he stays at the top of a game he created.

Somehow that makes his own people mad. I’m sure there are many, many Black men and women who believe it’s his duty to give them a shot. In Georgia and its environs, whosoever fancy themselves a singer or actor think that because they’re both Black, it’s his duty to "put them on." Two years ago when I moved to Georgia and would tell people I was a writer, they all said contact Tyler Perry as if he’s some sort of Black Santa Claus whose purpose is to make every Black creative’s wish come true.

These rappers don’t put anybody on. They put on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of chains instead. Then they show it off on social media and their fans eat it up. They bow down and worship these rappers, but they don’t actually expect any sort of help from them. So why treat Tyler Perry any differently? He writes dialogue for his characters, rappers write lyrics for their songs, then they both make millions. We don’t hate them for not tossing out opportunities left and right. So I’d suggest people don’t take sides solely on the basis of their low key jealousy of this man’s success.

Us dragging each other down like crabs in a barrel is sad and harmful. It’s the slave dust mentality, a way of thinking that was forced and beaten into us. We inherently limit our individual selves and inadvertently place that same limit on another person who looks like we do. In Black culture, it’s all about getting out the hood. It’s about "coming up" but don’t come up too far. Mr Perry May have come up too far, beyond his own people’s imagination and such, so they feel affronted. Hence, the reason many conspire against him.

Monique might actually deserve some things she hasn’t gotten. I hope she gets them. Perhaps then she’ll get closure and move on from Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels, etc, for good.