“I am in a deep love affair with my Blackness. I carry my Blackness with me everywhere I go, boldly, proudly, audaciously… unapologetically.”
—from the opening of “BET ON BLACK: The Good News about Being Black in America Today” by Eboni K. Williams
For Eboni K. Williams, the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop holds personal significance as it shaped her growth as an author, lawyer, television host and Black woman. In town to promote her book “BET ON BLACK: The Good News about Being Black in America Today” at Malik Books in Westfield Culver City on Feb. 16, Williams gave Our Weekly insight into her own personal philosophy of positive thinking.
“BET ON BLACK” builds upon the precepts she outlined in her first publication “Pretty Powerful: Appearance, Substance, and Success,” where she encouraged women to embrace their physical attractiveness as a tool, by reinforcing it with competence and efficiency in their job performance.
Expanding on this idea, Williams calls for Blacks (she prefers this term to “African-American”) to embrace their racial identity as a positive force in confronting and succeeding in life.
To substantiate her ideas she shares her journey from the segregated south through law school, a legal career in the public and private sector, then on to mass media as a legal analyst for major news outlets including CBS, C-SPAN, and the FOX News Channel. Over time she has become a media personality with appearances on “The Real Housewives of New York City” (RHONY) and other prime time content.
She views these times as especially fruitful for Black people in America, in spite of the rampant ethnic and social division that saturate the national psyche. She stresses that Black unity is crucial to success, both collectively and individually.
The increasing visibility of people of color may be perceived as a threat to elements within the “silent majority,” feeding into the unspoken paranoia of being replaced by the previously marginalized.
Put bluntly, it is White insecurity and the fear of not having enough to go around.
This ingrained xenophobia, or fear of the other, is why she believes that Blackness is the most misunderstood construct in America.
To ease these fears, Williams is adamant that Pro-Blackness does not automatically translate to anti-Whiteness.
“Blackness isn’t about mass White displacement,” she said.
Interestingly enough, Williams feels a special kinship with the gay community. For her, Black marginalization and LGBTQ marginalization are one and the same.
This mind set has sustained her through challenging career decisions including accepting positions with the arch-conservative Fox News Network and becoming the first Black cast member on RHONY although “Being the Black sidekick was the last thing I had in mind,” she said.
Williams continues to be a force in public life on multiple media platforms, including “State of the Culture” on Revolt TV, and “Dark Nights in the City” on OWN.