To Sharita, with Love... An Open Letter

Commercial Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHlGT-KT-p0

 

This letter is in response to Sharita Wilson who appeared in the ‘Minimum Wage’ commercial endorsing Rahm Emanuel for mayor of Chicago and responded to me directly via Facebook.

Dearest Sharita,

Sister, know that when I write these words, they come from a place of love and the fact that we are more alike than you may know…

I do not think I am any better than you. I do not judge you or make assumptions about who you might be as a person or mother, but in some areas, and being 6 years your senior, I may have more life experience and can speak to some things you might not yet fully understand. It is not my intent to disrespect or demean you, but I am a straight shooter. That being said, you were used…

 I'm not proud of it but I’ve been used before, so I know it when I see it, in spite of whether or not a check is attached. You are a single mother and you do need help, support, opportunities and blessings to come your way. Having done commercials in the past myself, I can understand how this is helping you through this time financially. Trust and believe a ‘hater’ I am not. You see, I’m actually that chic silently cheering you on in spite of what the snakes hissing in your ears might otherwise have you think. I WANT you to win. I want your children to be provided for. I want you to have more than just the bare minimum. Just like I want that for the majority of my people (self included).

This is because I KNOW the hell of being a single mother. I know the pain and frustration of being rejected by a man you had a child with. I know the constantly being looked down upon and judged. I too, know those feelings. I worked two minimum wage jobs for YEARS while carrying a full-time class schedule. That was BEFORE it even got to $8.25 so I KNOW how you feel. I still had to be mom and in many cases did it without a car. I never got a penny of child support and there were many times I had to choose between buying pampers or putting gas in the car when I finally did get one. I was broke, frustrated, and dead tired all the time. So I don’t have to know you personally to know that you too want the same sense of stability. I know how bad you want out of that daily struggle. So I understand why you may have jumped at the opportunity to do the commercial. Now let me explain myself to you:

My words exactly were:

“Dear Whomever is in charge of the ‘get black women behind Rahm’ marketing campaign. You are failing.

Yours,

A Black Woman”

Let’s address this for a second:

Although I used the picture with your image, the comment was directed at the multiple commercials rallying support for Rahm Emanuel by using black women thinking that it will make the rest of us in some way ‘identify’ and garner our votes (hardly so). That’s it, That’s all. So as far as that comment goes, I implore that you climb up out of your feelings because it wasn’t even directed towards you.

Now let’s talk about YOUR commercial 

Whether you like it or not, I am my sister’s keeper and if I critique or criticize anyone please understand its only out of the desire to see you in a better light. Now, as I stated before, I’ve done commercials, I have a friend who has as well. So that being said, we all know there is this magical thing called ‘editing’. Rahm’s marketing team DECIDED to portray you a certain way whether you fully grasp that or not. That is why so many of OUR people had issue with the commercial.

1.     They played on the fact that you were speaking from a very limited understanding of the actual politics and agendas on the table (and we know this by the things YOU said-it wasn’t scripted). You professed how much $13/hr would help improve your life financially, but the truth is, it will not. First of all, it won’t even become a reality for a couple of years and by then (the way THIS city is set up) you will still be just as broke because of inflation and city taxes. Let’s not even talk about the fact that you will no longer be eligible for certain benefits and fall between the cracks of ‘make too much to get help, barely make enough to survive”.

2.      They didn’t say ‘cut’ and explain how it works to you fully. They allowed you to speak on it in a misinformed manner and it made you look ignorant. They didn’t even say ‘wait, let’s redo that’ when they could have. That is what bothered many of us. They PURPOSEFULLY allowed you to look ignorant and that angered me. Not you… but how you were used.

3.     They made sure to emphasize that you were a single mother living below the poverty line (which translates as needing government assistance). While there is nothing wrong with people needing help every now and then, it would have been more appropriate to have a white woman reflect that as they lead the nation in recipients on welfare. Once again… this was why it came off as suspect because the underlying implication of that commercial is ‘young black women in Chicago have babies out of wedlock and need government intervention and Rahm will be the one to help”…which is the purest of fuckery because he could care less about poor black people. He just happens to need our votes right now.

4.     Lastly… once again, good ol’ editing. You could have been expounding on being in school or wanting to go, your children’s college education, being able to buy a home, have a career with salary or whatever. We don’t know if you did and that didn’t make the cut, but what we do know is that it seemed like the only priority of this young woman was to buy presents. This reinforces the stereotypes of us that all we care about is material things; immediate gratification by buying stuff and not knowing how to manage our money. I’m not even sure if you are cognizant of the historical perception of us dating back to slavery that is the ‘dependency on massuh’ versus us being able to hold our own. A lot of this is why so many people ‘felt some type of way’.

Like I said before, it really isn’t YOU (personally) that has people in an uproar. Sorry to disappoint, but you don’t have as many ‘haters’ as you might think (and that’s a good thing). It’s about the implications and underlying agendas that are being pushed and the people being manipulated to push them. Just the fact that there is another commercial with Chancellor Hyman endorsing Emanuel is unethical on numerous levels, but once again, I don’t expect you to understand how big this really is and that you are simply a pawn.

I am no where near where I want to be, but I am also very far from where I used to be. Little Sis, please hear me. I see where you are at and I know you are not who you used to be. I know that the woman who once appeared on Maury is not the same woman wanting to walk in her purpose today.  I ask that you continue to better yourself in every way, shape, and form. Educate yourself on the issues and politics that you are now a part of. Yes, you were right, people will always have something to say about you when you succeed at anything. Sometimes it will feel good and sometimes it will sting. Pay more attention to the words that sting because therein lies small truths. Let this entire experience make you Better, Not Bitter.

Toughly Loving YOU,

Neffer-Oduntunde A. Kerr

“Boom”

*During my brief post-grad time at DePaul University I was not connected to ANY groups or organizations on the campus. While at Chicago State University I did serve as Student Board of Trustees Representative/SGA 2010-2011