2006-2007 Flip Wilson Scholarship Essay

For the past five years, Journalism major Leoule Goshu has worked with or created a number of programs to benefit sexual minorities and has held key leadership positions on campus. In October 2005, Leoule was named a "Future Gay Hero" by Advocate Magazine, the international gay and lesbian newsmagazine.

Leoule is a UW senior pursuing two degrees in Communication and Comparative History of Ideas. Born in America of Ethiopian descent, he sees the support of the Flip Wilson Scholarship as a means for him to personally connect with gay black Africans as well as a political means to inform people in America about the hardships faced of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) peoples in third-world countries.

For Fall Quarter 2006, Leoule will be in Louisiana reporting on morality and politics post-Hurricane Katrina, specifically how government systems failed the people of the Gulf Coast, particularly poor black Americans.

And, In 2007, Leoule will study abroad in South Africa to understand the links between race, apartheid, class, and the LGBT community. Leoule's hopes to contribute to the understanding of intersecting identities through media and public service.

Talent Made Flip Wilson Do It

By Leoule Goshu

Flip Wilson asserted, "Funny is not a color." Every week, Flip Wilson. a black man, entertained the American public. He came out in a suit ready to perform, ready to make his audience laugh. Flip Wilson showed Americans in the 70s that a black man could capture prime-time television ratings. He could get to the heart of the American mainstream and show that African Americans can take ownership of their work and participate in American culture. He claimed his talent was non-political, but everything he stood for was political. Wilson was the first successful African American host of his own TV variety show, when a decade ago, black people didn't have the right to vote, let alone apply for the same opportunities as whites. He was the first African American to have ownership of the content, the ideas, and the successes of his work. Flip Wilson has downplayed his race as a factor contributing to his success. Yet, Flip used race and stereotypes as a way to build his characters on The Flip Wilson Show. His characters were distinctive and memorable to his audiences, because they touched on the real challenges and conditions facing black Americans in the 1970s.

Flip Wilson explored the connection between class and race through the character Sonny. Sonny, the black White House Janitor, commented on political events while cleaning the Oval Office. The one trait that made Sonny distinctive: Sonny knew more than the President on current affairs, in the time of the Black Panthers and the Vietnam War. Sonny tried to mirror the frustration many American citizens had toward their government regarding Vietnam, the public felt they were more knowledgeable about world politics than the men running the country. People like Sonny were practically non-existent to the heads of state, and everyone in the political world ignored their wisdom. This frustration became the center of the parody. A reality to many of the viewers. Wilson - through Sonny - established a personal connection. How can a knowledgeable black person be a janitor, and not a government decision maker? Flip Wilson affirmed the stereotype that people like Sony cannot be politicians because of their skin color. It's a paradox to our culture, the idea that knowledge isn't what counts. This idea made black American life disturbing, but a good joke. Flip Wilson critiques the idea of meritocracy in America through this character; he is trying to make a point about "the invisible wall" of racism and classicism in America.

Flip Wilson tried to show what happens when black people don't have real access to the educational system through the character Reverend Leroy. The Reverend based on a real-life encounter Wilson had with a black minister when he was a child. Flip was "impressed" and "always amazed" by his expressiveness. However, Flip also noted that the Reverend wasn't "well-educated". He reaffirmed the belief that many black community leaders, who had strong influence among their own people, could not reach out to others because their social intelligence came in the wrong package. The audience laughed at the crazy ideas the Reverend said. Reverend Leroy would only engage issues that were non-threatening to the American public, the imaginative, escapist world of Christianity although he did not contribute to real issues facing the Black politic. Reverend Leroy became an image of a black person who posed no harm or threat to white society because he was a buffoon.

Along with these two remarkable characters, Geraldine became a political statement of black women for the decade. His most popular character, Geraldine, was the only black woman on television: Geraldine was a man dressed in drag. Geraldine combined male and female characteristics, the hypermasculine and hyperfeminine. Geraldine was hypermasculine because she was assertive, forward, and had physical attributes of a male. Geraldine was hyperfeminine because she was gentle with criticism, had good legs, wore bright lipstick and her movements were like a woman's only exaggerated. Geraldine touched on relationships of women through "Killer". Geraldine told the audiences about her boyfriend "Killer", who was either in or out of jail, but never around. Flip Wilson showed the idea of the fragmented black family through the character of Geraldine, a woman who had to stand up for herself, and take on masculine characteristics, because her male partner was pushed down by the system. Flip Wilson, like most African American artists, touched on pain to build his characters, and create laughter. Flip Wilson's character presented a reality in which there is no middle ground or real images of black woman. By dressing up as a black woman, he indirectly or directly, asked the public why is this the only image of black women on television.

In a time when black people were just starting to have fair access to the American political, educational, and economic systems, Flip Wilson tried to prove that his characters had substance beyond their appearance, labels, or job position. His characters were memorable because they reaffirmed stereotypes engrained in our culture. But it was not Flip Wilson's fault. "His talent made him do it." He played the race card in the 70s, and he did it well. Flip Wilson dominated television ratings for 2 years because he got to the audience to come together through this shared, distorted perspective on black people. He also made important points about our future in this country about who black people are to become. He presented a challenge to the Black community: are these characters the only images that represent who we are?

Past Essays: Saran Nason 2004 | Olivia Coombes 2005