Wednesday November 9, 2005 will forever go down in my personal history books as a day of finally accepting something about myself.  I have tried to deny and fight off this ‘thing’ in my mind for many years, but it is finally time to come clean.  And as it happens, I have none other than of all people, Oprah Winfrey to thank (I can’t believe I actually have to give her credit for something).

I guess you can call this my “coming out of the closet” piece so to speak.   Now for those that know me, all can attest that there is not one homosexual fiber in my body so it is definitely not that type of “coming out” party.  I’m sure by now, I have many of you all confused as to what the hell I’m talking about, so I will just “come out” and say it.  My “closet” announcement is…that I, Leonard Jackson am “Angree Bruther” (for those that are unfamiliar with Angree Bruther click here). Well let me rephrase that. I am not the actual one and only "Angree Bruther" who writes for HGO.  What I am saying is that all of us have a part of ourselves that “Angree Brother” represents.  You may be Angree Daddee, Angree Mama, or Angree Sistah.  Regardless, there is a “rational, cut and dry, low tolerance for ignorance” person in all of us; the exact characteristics that could be used to describe our very own Angree Bruther.  I have fought the notion of me being “Angree Bruther” for many years, thinking that even though Angree and I (and many other people who send us emails) do see eye to eye on an assortment of topics, I never thought I could be filled with so much resentment that it would almost tip the scales to full-fledged hatred until…

My girlfriend called me up late Tuesday night asking me to DVR “The Oprah Winfrey” show.  You see, best selling author Terry McMillan and ex-husband Jonathan Plummer were scheduled to appear on the show…together.  For those that do not read or listen to urban media outlets, McMillan and Plummer’s six-year marriage recently ended when Plummer confessed to McMillan that he was a homosexual.  This was clearly going to be an episode that would bear witness to a plethora of emotions.  However, my first thought was “Damn, Oprah got both of them on stage…and at the same time? This just might be worth watching!”

When I first heard the news of the breakup and the reasoning behind it, I really felt sorry for McMillan.  She had to be devastated that someone she loved so much would reveal to her that he was gay, as well as the stress of all that goes along with that including infidelity, the crisis of AIDS and other diseases in the African American community (especially in women), and so on. With all that being said, one could definitely say I was in her corner until….

I sat in my home a couple of nights later watching the interview and I realized two things:

1)       There isn’t any difference between Terry McMillan and the average African American woman who has been hurt by a man.

2)       That regardless of how old you are, immaturity doesn’t discriminate.

As Oprah spoke to both parties on their six-year marriage, one could undeniably see that McMillan was hurt.  However, what I did not expect was for McMillan to show her frustration and emotion in the manner in which she did.  During the full course of the interview, she acted like a child; fidgeting and making facial expressions reminiscent of an eight-year old. Several times, I found myself thinking, “What in the hell is wrong with her?  Is this whole thing one big joke or a publicity stunt?” 

After questioning whether or not McMillan had Tourette’s Syndrome, I was hit with yet another devastating blow to the “Ride For Terry” campaign.  Oprah revealed that Plummer had recently been back to McMillan’s home, where the two had taken a bubble bath together and then capped off the night by sleeping together.  McMillan claims they didn’t have sex citing, “He’s gay, come on!”

Yeah…sure.

Anyway, upon hearing this, I immediately flipped into “Angree Bruther” mode, which quickly escalated to the point of wanting to reach out and shake the hell out of McMillan. Is this not the same women who wrote “Waiting to Exhale”, which had a character who burned her husbands car and clothes when she found out he was cheating on her??  How in the world can art not imitate life in this situation is completely beyond me.

After running this whole scenario through my brain a few more times, I had to separate my normal logic and emotion aside to see if it made ANY sense whatsoever (as I’ll do again here).  Your husband reveals to you that he is a homosexual.  Now how Ms. McMillian missed this rather obvious little detail in the first place is beyond me.  It would seem that anyone with functioning eyes and ears who has ever seen and/or heard the man interviewed would be able to detect the extra sugar in his tea immediately.  Not to mention the fact that when she offered to buy him a business so that he could have his own career, he just so happened to choose a toy-dog grooming business??? RING THE ALARM!!!!  Reagardless, after the whole “reveal”, he then tries to get money from you off a book that you finished writing prior to your marriage, defames your name on “Good Morning America”, nationally syndicated radio outlets, as well as various internet sites and you proceed to hop in the bathtub and spend the night with this cat???

McMillan claims this was all done to “give the relationship closure”.  Who in their right damn mind does something like this???

Ladies, come on now.  If you had a girlfriend in this EXACT situation and she did the same thing, what would you say to her?  In my opinion this action as well as McMillan’s demeanor during the interview, has set African American women back at least a decade in terms of how men view African American women and relationships with them.  What McMillan showed the world was basically “My man sh!tted on me, possibly put my life in danger and tried to take money from me that he has no right to have; but at the end of the day, ‘for closure’, I’ll let him come back so we can take a bath and sleep with one another one last time.”  As Angree has said many times before, B!TCH PLEASE!! 

This is yet another prime example of why the man/woman relationship is so skewed today.  What message are teenage girls who were watching that episode of Oprah really getting from it?  They’re damn sure not getting the sense that African American women are strong when it comes to relationships.  Terry McMillan should have whooped Plummer’s @ss (I have to keep harkening back to “Waiting to Exhale” Terry), and then went on television and told the world in detail how she beat him all about the abdomen, crotch and face.  I mean as ghetto as she has acted since this news first broke, I could easily imagine a press conference being held and hearing her say something to the effect of, “Good afternoon.  My husband told me he was gay. I immediately asked for a divorce and commenced to beating his @ss until I was tired.  Thank you.  Now I will field any further questions you may have.”  That is the happy conclusion that McMillan’s fans would have loved to read and witness; not this confused, sorry example of a women! 

 I feel it is only fitting to end this piece the only way I know how to… the Angree way.  Until next time people, get it together.

 

Peace

Leonard J. Jackson

 

Got a thought or comment? Maybe a suggestion for Angree? E-mail him at angreeb@highergroundonline.com