The Reality of Race

Image credit: Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth: Maury Phillips/WireImage.com

CASTING CALL Do producers consciously choose to cast problematic African-Americans like Omarosa?

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Similarly, only on ''The Apprentice'' would a black woman be shown to be as cavalierly duplicitous as Omarosa was to her team leader Kwame in the climactic final competition. I don't doubt that Kwame truly did not know he had the power to fire Omarosa (one crucial reason Trump gave for choosing Bill Rancic): Harvard biz school grad or not, young black professionals are not bequeathed the ''rule book'' that white businessmen operate by via generations of example and privilege. Why did Kwame pick Omarosa for his team? I think he was being, to use W.E.B. Du Bois' phrase, a race man -- that is, Kwame felt some responsibility to pick Omarosa, knowing that he might ultimately impress Mr. Trump if he could handle her ''diva'' devilishness. You also have to wonder how these TV decks are stacked. Do the producers of reality shows choose (consciously or unconsciously) some black contestants -- think ''Survivor'''s Alicia and Osten -- who initially appear friendly and competitive but eventually show their ''true colors'' and either explode or collapse under pressure?

I've heard the message-board arguments: It's not race -- Ruben won last season! It's not race -- teen white girls, a huge segment of the ''Idol'' audience, just think the ghost-voiced John Stevens is a cutie-pie! Well, maybe. But ultimately, race does matter, whether we're analyzing musical technique or cultural preconceptions. To quote Mumbo Jumbo again: ''This is the country where something is successful in direct proportion to how it's put over; how it's gamed.'' Some see this as troubling; I think we should see it as a new, unexpected opportunity in a genre itself too often disrespected. The medium usually buries these sensitive issues, so I find reality TV's raising of the subject potentially thrilling. It's time we Jes Grew up.