First off, Antoine Dodson is a hero. Remember, this all started when he thwarted the attempted rape of his sister (they were victims of a very serious crime). Antoine’s “rant’ on the news the next day was no doubt the result of several factors in his mind and life:

1. Heightened adrenaline from being involved in a harrowing experience
2. Anger on behalf of his family
3. The need to warn his community to be on guard
4. Reliving his own rape experience and the need to put the perpetrator on notice
5. The confidence that the “so dumb” perp would be caught

When I first came across the song and the news interview, it wasn’t the vision of a minstrel that came to mind. It was more Theater of the Absurd. Some of it was the Southern terms (“snatchin’ your people up”), the adrenaline-induced hyperbole (“hide yo kids, hide yo wife, ’cause they rapin’ everybody out here”), the shout out to the perp (“you don’t have to come and confess, we lookin’ for you”) and of course, Antoine’s inimitable theatrical delivery. I have to admit, the man was more eloquent than I probably would have been after being so freaked out. I actually think that some of the parodies of Antoine Dodson were highly offensive because they were making fun of a very serious situation in what seemed to be a mean-spirited manner. However, Antoine gets the last laugh as his song debuted at #89 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (and made enough money on it to move his family out of the projects).

The fact that this was a Southern Black from the projects (from childhood, I was used to being around flamboyant folks from The ‘Hood”) came secondary to the content of Antoine’s anger and the fact that the way he spoke pretty much suggested the phrasing of the resulting song (which is very catchy). It should also be noted that Antoine Dodson is a college student, so I don’t agree with any notion of stereotyping.

Bottom line: this was a fellow human being who had a very real and unique story to tell, in a very unique way, which for the most part, resonated enough with people that the story is still being told. The song has been covered in may different versions, which blows my mind.

I think this set of videos helps to put this in perspective:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/antoine-dodson-bed-intruder

Was the headscarf wearing representative of minstrelsy?
If the wearing of head-scarves denoted minstrelsy, then 75% of our people could wear that label…we don’t ALL have “Indian” in our family…just sayin’.

Was it his wearing of a headscarf during the interview?
Perhaps those of you shaking your head at that action would assert that after an attempted sexual assault of one’s family member, any reasonable person would find the nearest curling iron and flat-iron, or simply refuse to aid in identifying a would-be sexual predator.

Those finger wagging members of the Black Bourgeoisie should be reminded of how frequently crimes against African-Americans aren’t given equal time by the media; they should be reminded of how a White woman’s stolen wonder-bra gets more news coverage than so many crimes and injustices against Black people; of how the media is seemingly unaware that OUR Black children disappear TOO, OUR Black women are assaulted TOO (guess they’re too busy extrapolating details on Nancy Grace about what happened to some poor White lady 11 months ago…to that end, does Nancy Grace know we have Black people in this country?…I’ve never seen her discuss any during her show…just sayin’). In reality, the poorest of us are often treated as the least of us, and unfortunately, being poor AND Black in is often tantamount to being invisible in today’s media (unless you’re the perpetrator).

So, again I ask… minstrelsy? Neither Antoine Dodson nor his sister spewed expletives, double-negatives or (intentional) rap lyrics during the interview. They answered the questions about the incident clearly and concisely, while managing to do something even the Congressional Black Caucus, Al Sharpton or his hair-dresser have been unable to do: in a largely White, southern community, he got the media to report on crime AGAINST an African-American family.

I’m a middle class Black woman living/working in the D.C. Metro Area, and a native of the 9th ward in New Orleans. And while I’ve achieved financial/career success, I don’t suffer from any delusions about where I come from (which included the Florida Housing Projects for six years during my childhood). I don’t suffer any form of amnesia regarding what it is to struggle, or what it’s like when you’re just trying to make it from day to day/get by.

That said, I’m pleased and proud that Antoine Dodson was able to speak his mind, get his story out, and—after other people promulgated his story in the media—had the intelligence to take actions which have allowed both he and his family to benefit from it.

To all the bourgeois, elite, pseudo-intellectual, probably-speak-with-fake-British-accents-even-though-they-don’t-have-passport Black folks out there looking down on a brother who is representative of so many, the only embarrassing response has been YOURS.