On a recent taping of The Real, co-host, Tamera Mowry-Housley came back from hiatus with a little bit of an attitude problem. In the middle of their "Girl Chat" segment, she digressed from their conversation on disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves and his wife Julie Chen, to awkwardly and in a weird accent address people who had called her husband a racist a few months prior. Though it seemed as though her co-hosts, or at least Adrienne Bailon-Houghton had her back, social media came with the swiftness to drag the both Tamera and her husband, Adam...yet again.
Tamera and Adam Housley Tamera Mowry-Housley's Instagram
The Housley's have faced scrutiny for their interracial relationship for years now. While I am certain that much of the criticism they receive is, in fact, hateful and unnecessary, there is something to be said for the fact that while on their national platform, neither one uses their white privilege to speak on racial injustices.
As far as interracial relationships go, I say, to each their own. However, I do think there is an issue when you are a public figure in this day and age and you expect black people to support you - whether it be buying your products or upping your ratings - while you are unwilling to share where you stand politically.
Tamera, who is bi-racial herself and her husband Adam, have proven themselves to be painfully out-of-touch and comments they have made have made us cringe more than just a couple of times.
Tamera has often referred to herself as a proud black woman and expressed even joy in having a "dark" daughter (meaning that her daughter came out slightly more melanated than her son) but it is a bit odd that as an audience, we have never been quite able to gauge her social ideologies when it comes to race relations other than "let's be positive guys!"
Here's what we do know. A. She married a white guy. B. Said white guy worked for Fox News (up until this week.) C. She allowed this white guy to call her racist for asking him if he wanted mayo on his sandwich because apparently white people prefer dry sandwiches? D. The white guy empathized with Trayvon Martin's murderer, stating that we needed to "look at both sides." E. The white guy said Black people can be racist. (No they can't. Biased yes, mean sure, but not racist.) F. He then condemned race rioting. E. Took a shot a socialism, the economic system that had historically worked out best for black people all over the world, and through all that, Tamera has defended her husband while staying extremely passive on current social race issues. She has never publically supported the Black Lives Matter Movement or Colin Kaepernick, kept mum on every liberal political candidate and has never had anything even remotely profound to say about the betterment of the black community in general.
When asked by BET if she voted for President Obama in either election, she declined to answer, saying, "That's getting a little too personal for me to answer. But I will say, I support any president of the United States."
Now, Adam, in a series of tweets is attempting to clear up any questions about his voting record, in between exposing people tweeting in disapproval of his interracial marriage, of course.
Adam Housley's Twitter Account
What Mr. Housley fails to realize is that he is, in fact, insensitive to black struggles. Take his 4th of July tweet for example, where he slammed people who didn't celebrate the holiday. When brought to his attention that on July 4th, 1776, black people in this country were still slaves, and therefore had zero reasons to celebrate freedom, he then began to attack his followers in a since-closed comment section. Even when it was brought to his attention that black people prefer to celebrate June 19th, 1865, or "Juneteenth," the announcement of the abolition of slavery, Housley fired back suggesting that black people needed to celebrate both in order not to "divide" us.
Atlanta Black Star
Adam Housley's Instagram
Honestly, I think home-girl needs to just stop talking. If you're not using an ounce of your privilege or platform to uplift the black community, just go ahead and stop calling yourself a black woman. There is a reason you're being racially side-eyed, and if you are unwilling to prove your critics different, just simply go have a seat somewhere.
