Say What You Want But I’m Not Mad At Gina Rodriguez

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Listen … this post about Gina Rodriguez might make you mad today. You might hate me after this. You might wanna take my black card after this. And that’s totally okay!

But if you came here with your ears open to listen and to understand then cool cool, keep reading … 

Yeah … I haven’t used a GIF in a blog post in YEARS but that’s how y’all been responding to this Gina Rodriguez incident. (Can we even call it an incident? Sure. Whatever.)

I know not all of you KNOW what happened because not everyone follows everything on social media. Hell im one of those people that usually doesn’t give AF! lol But Gina Rodriguez is an actress I love dearly! (I mean did y’all SEE Someone Great on Netflix? It was awesome!)

That scene above is FROM Someone Great, and it’s probably how a lot of us found out about Lizzo! Gina put me on to that song. Lol I FELT that shit! Okay?!

I’m not a Jane the Virgin fan (and I can feel some of y’all rolling y’all eyes when y’all read this … including my friend Tanay from sonshinemama.com who LOVES that damn show and just binge watched it AGAIN lol). HOWEVER I love Gina. Let’s just put that out there. 

Maybe that makes me bias in this situation? But I don’t think so … because my moral compass is straight enough to know that when someone I LOVE is wrong … they wrong. I’m a Virgo! It’s why people love us. We can see both sides no matter how close we are to you. 

But with that said … here’s why so many people are upset with Gina Rodriguez this week.

#GetAScoop #ginarodriguez shook the internet with her video singing along with the #Fugees ! Are you offended by the video & do you consider Hispanics as black people ? pic.twitter.com/pl8l2IZIMS

— The Melanin Pot (@TheMelaninPot) October 16, 2019

Yup! Gina Rodriguez said the N word.

No not nigger … niggas. (If that makes a difference in your world. Which we’ll get into in a second. Oh and the whole “are Hispanics black” convo is another one for another day. But I’m starting to realize that folks are saying they ARE black, but ONLY when it’s to help prove their argument. The moment something like this happens, notice how they all of a sudden they ain’t black no mo’? Lol Sigh.)

But then after THAT happened, Gina said this … 

This “apology” is atrocious. pic.twitter.com/8bgbpqKoqM

— baby with gun. (@jaidanielle) October 15, 2019

 

Now if you’ve ever been called out on some wack ass bullshit before you can UNDERSTAND why her apology sounds so fake. Cause honestly it IS! it’s fake as hell! Lol Am I mad at her for it? Not at all. Cause if this was ME! Y’all would be getting a sorry ass excuse for a sorry too. Lol

The FCK you mean you want me to apologize for singing a song y’all all know the fcking lyrics too? I didn’t SAY you’re a NIGGER … I sang the lyrics to one of my fav songs. (A song many millennials hold in their heart dearly.) But people are saying NOPE! You don’t get a pass sis, you can’t say it!

So I posted about this on my Facebook page to see how others feel about this. We had quite a good chat about what we think is right or fair. Here’s a few main points from the chat below. 

Here’s the full chat here: https://www.facebook.com/xosanaabrooks/posts/2512423782212077?notif_id=1571259549583007&notif_t=page_post_reaction. 

After that entire chat I realized I’m not mad at Gina Rodriguez. Here’s why …

You see, I firmly believe in context. The way someone SAYS something or MEANS something holds a lot of weight in my world and the two go hand in hand. Saying something offensive, when you didn’t mean to offend but it came off that way, is totally different than saying something to offend period. 

Being called a nigger, is different than saying “nigga” because it’s a word in a song. It’s that simple. But maybe you don’t feel that way and that’s okay too. I’m not here to tell you how you should and shouldn’t feel. I’m not here to police how you use your words. I’m not.

I can only speak on how I feel and discuss my side. And personally I don’t have a problem with what Gina said. Personally … I would have been the one recording her singing the damn song with her and I wouldn’t have bat an eye. I wouldn’t have stopped and looked at her funny as her black friend wondering wtf just happened cause let’s be real … she was singing, she didn’t call me a nigga. 

Maybe if this was a video of her ranting on and on about how “YOU NIGGAS AINT SHIT” or “you niggas don’t know wtf y’all talking bout”, etc etc. Like maybe if she said it in THAT way I’d be like “okay now ma’am who TF you think you is, talking bout you niggas?! Fck is going on here?” Cause like I said context is everything. But this don’t bother me none!

Simple. 

Y’all can go off in the comments, or tweet me, or sound off on Facebook, whichever. I promise you I won’t be mad at you for speaking your piece! Just don’t get crazy or disrespectful and expect me to respond sane and respectfully. The two don’t mix. Lol I’m not about to sit here and pretend I won’t just delete you or cuss you out via Twitter cause there’s a high chance that I WILL. And I won’t bat an eye at that neither. Lol

But if you can respectfully say what’s on your mind then go right ahead. We can discuss this! I wanna hear everyone’s point of view because the thing is … we ALL feel differently about this. I’ve had BLACK friends straight up say “I’m not a nigga don’t call me that” when I’ve used the slang term lightheartedly in convos and I gotta remember oh yeah she doesn’t like that word so I can’t use that in our convos. That’s fine! Like it’s YOUR choice to tell people how they can and can’t communicate with YOU! It ain’t your choice to tell folks how they can communicate with others though. What ya mama will allow just might not be what I allow and vice versa. Okay?! 

Here’s something else I found on Twitter that I resonate well with. (Please watch until the very end.) This doesn’t negate what I said above and how I feel about people using the term (that ain’t towards me) but this is absolutely positively correct! Context is key. And his LAST point in this video is SO good!

#ginarodriguez
I look forward to the day when I don't have to post this video…pic.twitter.com/phqHXwG48G

— Cromwell (@Cromwell606) October 15, 2019

And there are A LOT of people that feel this way! If you can’t say it, just don’t say it. Also, know what you can and CAN’T say in front of who you can and can’t! Cause I’m sure she says this ALL the time to others, who never batted an eye, but THIS was the thing that blew up. Why? Cause she said it in front of someone who thought it wasn’t okay!

I also saw some things on Twitter from people who say Gina Rodriguez is anti-black. I don’t KNOW her or follow her personal life enough to know her in that context, so I can’t say. If she IS anti-black, then I’d be looking at that clip totally different. Cause context is key!

I can only judge from what I know! I know her as an actress! So I ain’t mad at the actress Gina Rodriguez. Lol Who she is personally, is a WHOLE different story, but since I don’t know her personally, I ain’t mad.

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P.s – Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to hit the little heart button below to let me know you liked this post! And if you REALLY liked it, make sure you hit the share button so your friends can read it as well. Comments are always appreciated and responded to. Thanks in advance! Now click around and read something else. Lol There’s lots of suggestions below!