“Grey’s Anatomy” star and every black woman’s most sexy “woke” black man not named Colin Kaepernick, Jesse Williams, is getting a divorce. Williams and his wife, Aryn Drake-Lee, have been married for five years, and are the parents of two young children. All told, the couple has been together for about thirteen years. But now, after reportedly being separated for quite some time, the two have reportedly decided to amicably file for a divorce.
So why is this even news?
I know, I can hear you asking, “So what’s the big deal, RiPPa? People get divorced all the time. It’s really no big deal – it’s fake news.”
Well, it’s not that I’m heartbroken because they’re personal friends. It’s that some of my personal friends are a tad bit upset about this. Why? Because rumor has it, Jesse Williams is now dating a white woman.
For many of my friends, Jesse Wiliams has committed the most egregious, most ashy, and unforgivable sin. That would be, that he left his beautiful black wife and children for a white woman. I mean, total sellout move.
Yes, think of that scene in the movie “Waiting To Exhale” where Angela Bassett’s punk-ass sorry excuse for a husband of thirteen years, tells her that she’s not allowed to go to the company New Year’s Eve party. You know, because his office sidepiece – the alabaster angel with blonde hair – didn’t want to be alone that night. Remember that scene?
I imagine if you’re a woman and old enough like me, the news of Jesse Williams dumping his wife for – Derek Jeter’s ex, Minka Kelly – a white woman, will have you ready to spit in the face of random white women you see for the next month. You know, because, justice.
Ironically, my wife and I watched that movie last weekend. Guess what? My wife is still highly pissed at that brother; and even as a God-fearing woman, she would love to put a bullet in that fool’s ass for doing that.
But see, it’s not just my wife, people. Some of my friends now look at Jesse Williams as a total fraud. After all, Williams pretty much had his “black card” stamped and approved for life after his remarkable speech at the 2016 BET Awards.
The outspoken human rights activist and actor – who executive produced the documentary, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement – delivered a very powerful political speech about the cause he has worked very hard on.
Today, however, for many, even while his wife beamed with pure unadulterated pride and joy as the cameras panned her way during Williams’ speech after accepting BET’s Humanitarian Award, he was totally fake.
“Before we get into it, I just want to say I brought my parents out tonight. I just want to thank them for being here, for teaching me to focus on comprehension over career, and that they make sure I learn what the schools were afraid to teach us. And also thank my amazing wife for changing my life,” said Williams in part during his speech.
He continued,”It’s kind of basic mathematics – the more we learn about who we are and how we got here, the more we will mobilize. Now, this is also in particular for the black women in particular who have spent their lifetimes dedicated to nurturing everyone before themselves. We can and will do better for you.“
This was what Williams said in a moment for which he was highly lauded.
It was a speech everyone remembers.
Yet here we are more than a year later, and some of us are ready to kick him to the curb like he openly campaigned for Donald Trump, and read a poem at the inauguration back in January. And believe me, Williams has been catching it on social media as well as the comment sections of blog posts.
But here’s the thing: does Jesse Williams divorcing his wife -who, again, happens to be black – and allegedly dating a white woman, invalidate any of his critiques of white supremacy and the injustice of state-sanctioned racial violence? If he is in fact now dating a white woman, does it even matter?
Well, does it?
After all, to my knowledge, it’s not even clear whether his divorce has anything to do with infidelity. Right now the assumption is that he cheated on his wife with a white woman, hence the divorce. Hell, for all we know they’re getting a divorce because his wife got tired of him leaving the toilet seat up and constantly drinking all the Kool-Aid.
Hell, for all we know, maybe he has picked up a drug habit. Maybe he was an abusive husband. But, again, this is only an assumption. We don’t know him and his wife personally. I’m not defending the brother – I’m just asking.
Even so, assuming that him cheating with the white girl was indeed the case, does it really matter? I’m only asking because in thinking about this I’m reminded that Frederick Douglass (who by the way, is still alive) was married to a white woman. To be fair, Douglass didn’t speak at the BET Awards last year and isn’t as popular as Williams. However, again, at the end of the day, does it really matter if he is now dating a white woman? Should his commitment to blackness in the context of justice even be questioned?
Patrick “Rippa” Phillips is a self-described severely Progressive Liberal blogger, who loves fried chicken, watermelon, & Barack Obama. He’s black, he’s proud, & he says it loud. You can read more of his (and other contributors’) work at his popular news and opinion site, The Intersection of Madness & Reality (www.rippdemup.com). Follow him on Twitter/@Rippa
