Black Witch

So, I was contacted again by another TV head hunter, some casting director that, although got my name wrong (It’s not Crystal, it’s Black Witch. Crystal Blanton is a different person), didn’t write out nearly as poorly a letter as a casting person from VH1 did. As usual, I always check out the website because I prefer to run a tight ship when it comes to Black Witch and the image of it. If it doesn’t pass my pretty decent standards of:

– Actually educational
– Informative
– Lack of proliferating stereotypes/authentically progressive, not “lip service progressive”
– Non-existent to near non-existent track record of playing Spin Doctor
– Matter taken seriously/Not a baiting attempt

Then I pass almost immediately. I have worked with media a little too much to be over naive about how it works, especially when it comes to portraying someone who is Black and Pagan. Already I know for fact that media doesn’t exactly like giving an honest spotlight on anything that doesn’t really benefit White, middle-class guys and gals (pref. guys, this is media after all) so to be an intersection is just going to bring me trouble.

I do not believe at all in the saying “Good press, bad press, any press is good press” because if people are going to pay attention to me, I rather it be for what I say and not how otherized I can be displayed. Bad press is bad press, period. Think about it: have you ever been the butt of a rumor? Even people who didn’t know you existed learned about you but it probably was more trouble than it was worth and if you had the choice, you possibly would have preferred if people didn’t focus on the bad (regardless of whether it is true or not). While I would like for BW to do bigger and better things, I’m not that desperate for attention to work with people who will just try to drag my name through the dirt.

A reason I’m not teaming up with these tv people is because I already know how they would portray me, which, given what they’ve shown me they have made in the past, would most certainly be negative for me. I am not even going to think about “Well, maybe I could use this as an opportunity to educate.” A person can be bright but people, in general, are pretty stupid and take things at face value. If the face value of BW is going to be displayed as some “crazy Black girl who think she has magical powers”, then I don’t care for that because I already know how much damage that would cause and no one would listen to me. Not down for that. Already seeing how these show creators and the channels usually depict Pagans and usually depict Black people and particularly depict Black women, I really don’t want to work with them because I won’t be treated any different. If anything, I’ll be treated worse because I’m a combination.

Would I never want to work with media? Of course I would! I don’t mind doing radio and visual appearances but they have to be worth my while. I already said on Twitter that as far as TV is concerned, the lowest I’ll consider is PBS. I mean, Al Jazeera is pretty good and at least I view media from PBS and Al Jazeera – so far, of all the networks that have contacted me, I don’t watch their channels or their shows. I don’t mind doing talks about being Pagan but also talks about mental health, talks about gender, talks about race, talks about the intersection and deconstruction of those concepts/realities. That’s perfectly fine. But whatever these current people are writing to me about, I already know the last thing on their mind is anything that is thought provoking.

This stuff reminds me of the prowling show producers would do on message boards for alternative culture, psionics and cosplay years ago and even now. Always on the look out to grab some random kid who is doing something “weird”, tell them something earnest and honest sounding just to bait them to get on the show, only so the show can rag on them in the final product. I’m incredibly familiar with this because always some senior member would try to tell the star struck noobs what really was gonna happen and to not fall for it and off the show producers and casting directors would go in hopes to find that very special dingbat floating about somewhere else online. Totally not worth all the trouble one will get put through and it is usually a bait and switch.

I rather if someone contacts me, it’s worth it. I like talking to small media start-ups, especially if they are minority-ran and focused with a track record of being dynamic. I especially like talking to them if that minority-ran media is women-ran or led and have that dynamic track record. I rather have people who can show they can handle touchy topics with sensitivity and sincerity and without framing the topic as “Hey, look at these whiners/weirdos here.” I of course, wouldn’t mind Pagan media contacting me either but I strongly feel they probably wouldn’t want to, given my criticisms on the intersection of race and Paganism. Black Witch has been around for three years and I still hear the “but I can’t find any Black Pagan blogs, they’re just not out there or defunct!” excuse. And Black media is still pretty terrified to talk to me because of the whole “witch” and “Pagan” thing.

It’s Just… I rather someone besides the dimwits who make terrible and stereotypical shows that exemplify how stupid Americans are getting contact me because rejecting offers is getting boring. Fast.