this isn’t just about mo’nique, it’s about marginalized voices being silenced & ridiculed when they dare speak up

I’ve long stopped believing in what I call “trickle down Blackonomics,” or the idea that overcoming the access barriers facing the most rich and powerful of us will have impactful benefits for our most marginalized. We know this isn’t true because Barack Obama’s path to presidency ensured neither our paths out of poverty nor out from under the shadow of state violence in the slightest.

So, I am always wary to expend energy defending a millionaire’s “right” to even more money or platform, when my own family continues struggling to survive and rarely would that person do the same for them. For instance, while I expended no effort demonizing Kaepernick’s call for reinstatement in the NFL, I also did not join in. There are everyday people taking more dangerous stands against injustice who might never get an article written about them unless I write it, and I can only write so many articles. This paralleled my initial reaction when faced with the news of Mo’Nique’s call to boycott Netflix for offering her $500,000 for a comedy special after offering fellow comedian Amy Schumer $11 million, and Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock $20 million.

I used to think these conversations about pay disparities among the extremely wealthy were worth having bc they expose similar tensions among the poorest of us, but now I wonder if that is still the case without INTENTIONAL and SUSTAINED focus on the least of us.

— Hari Ziyad (@HariZiyad) January 19, 2018

But after seeing the responses to Mo’Nique, and contrasting them with the same folk’s responses to other rich people who protested their mistreatment on the basis of their race or gender, I noticed a difference that is worth exploring. As others have noted, Mo’Nique’s existence at the intersection of Blackness, womanness and fatness probably have something to do with the lack of mobilization around her cause compared to how we might coalesce around a Black man, or white woman, or even a thin, light skinned Black woman.

But more than just these identity politics, I began to realize the concerted effort to reinforce why Mo’Nique does not deserve what she claims she deserves is in part based around the anti-Black idea that everyone must “play the game,” no matter how oppressive it is, or else be punished for it.

I have argued previously that because Black people deserve more than can ever be paid, there are hardly any calls to take more from institutions that are unwarranted (unless those calls harm other Black people). Even if Mo’Nique did not have an Oscar to her name, or her other extensive credentials, or the corroboration of Black female comedians like Wanda Sykes who have gone through something similar, anti-Black Hollywood systems and institutions never need our support. On the flip side, those who are willing to go up against the entrenched establishment (even if their methods aren’t always effective) are never protected enough, and we need to protect that courage if anything is ever to change. And Mo’Nique has always gone up against the establishment, which, I believe is why she is where she is now.

When Mo’Nique called out Lee Daniels last year, I argued then that “The fact that people don’t respond well to Black people who don’t show enough gratitude is a problem to challenge, not to uphold.” It’s not enough to say “she didn’t play the game, so she should suffer.” It’s not even enough to say “she didn’t play it” and shrug your shoulders. The game is rigged, and it needs to be ended by any means necessary.

Maybe Mo’Nique calling for a boycott of Netflix isn’t the means that we need. But I know for a fact that neither is ridiculing and dismissing anyone who searches for any means at all.