Another high-tech lynching

I’m glad that the sensationalism surrounding the death of Kanye West’s mother, Dr. Donda West has finally subsided. I’ve heard more speculation about Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who performed the surgery, about Oprah’s alleged involvement and conjecture about what Dr. West’s motives may have been for having plastic surgery. My heart goes out to Kanye West for the loss of his mother. I recently lost my mother but I am lucky enough to be able to grieve privately, not in the media spotlight like Kanye.

First and foremost, I must say that I am surprised at the media attention given to Dr. West’s death. What strikes me most about it is that this much attention is being paid to the untimely death of a fifty-eight year old black woman. Dr. West was an accomplished academic and mother of a multi-million dollar talent, few black women her age receive this kind of media attention, dead or alive. To be more specific, women over age 50 rarely receive any kind of attention from the media particularly black women. In our society, women over the age of fifty are usually rendered invisible, unattractive and unimportant by the news media unless they are grieving mothers, sex-deprived divorcees or bitter ex-wives. The fact that so much attention was paid to Dr. West’s death caught me by surprise.

Secondly, I’ve read some opinions about what Dr. West’s motives might have been for wanting plastic surgery. I heard one story that she went in to have a breast reduction and tummy tuck and then I heard that it was a breast enlargement and a tummy tuck; whatever the surgeries, they proved fatal for her. Dr. West was criticized for having plastic surgery, claiming that she must’ve had low self-esteem and needed the surgery to feel better about herself. Personally, I’m not real sure what this opinion is based on, especially since none of these critics know her personally. Dr. West was also accused of succumbing to the pressure in Hollywood to be younger and thinner, but none of us are qualified to make that kind of conclusion either for the same reason I mentioned previously. Sometimes we rush to judgment much sooner than we should.

Black women and low self-esteem are not strangers. The pressure black women feel from our culture and own men is never ending. We are constantly being judged and critiqued on how we look especially those of us who happen to be darker than a brown paper bag or wear our hair natural. We are often led to believe that we’re not beautiful. If anything, Dr. West’s death from plastic surgery has us all thinking about it and talking about it.

Until recently, plastic surgery has been the domain of celebrities and the wealthy elite. Plastic surgery for us common folks is a recent development and with the advent of shows like Extreme Makeover, Dr. 90210 and Plastic Surgery: Before & After; everyone knows about plastic surgery. Like everything else that comes out of Hollywood, it is mistakenly seen as a quick-fix for our low self-esteem as if an elective surgical procedure like a nose job, breast enhancement or lip enlargement can magically change our life.

The fact that Dr. West died an untimely death is unfortunate but she’s not the only victim. Dr. Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the surgery has had every tawdry detail about his personal life exposed for public consumption. To further diminish his reputation, every disgruntled, dissatisfied patient has a story to tell. Before any kind of inquest or investigation has even been done to determine his guilt or innocence, he has already been deemed guilty of something. His career is ruined whether he is to blame for Dr. West’s death or not. You can bet you’re not going to see any kind of retractions or apologies made by the news media if Dr. West’s death is not his fault.

Dr. Adams is the second casualty in this tragedy. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas claimed he was being lynched by the media but what has been done to Dr. Adams goes beyond high-tech lynching to character assassination. Would the media be so quick to air his dirty laundry if he weren’t black? I doubt it. I’m more concerned about the attention being paid to this case for all the wrong reasons. If Kanye West’s mother hadn’t died from complications of plastic surgery, this drama would have played out quietly elsewhere and no one would care if Dr. Adams was arrested for driving drunk. If you don’t believe me, just wait until the next time the news media covers the untimely death of a58 year old black woman. I think you’ll be waiting a long, long time.