‘Being Mary Jane’ Showrunner Defends Mary Jane’s Interracial Hookup + Police Brutality Shocker

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mara Brock Akil discusses why she felt it was important for Mary Jane to have a hookup with a white man.

She says:

“This is my contribution to the subject of interracial dating. You might find love in a different race, and I think it’s beautiful, because its hard to find love. If you find it, hold onto it. But it’s okay to want to experience love from where you prefer. I wanted Mary Jane to explore her options. It’s really interesting, especially since the character is almost 40 yeas old. If she was 20 years old, you’d say, “Oh she’s in her exploratory years.” She tried it, and it was a curiosity. And afterwards, she came to grips with, “I don’t think I want to do this. And that’s okay.” In the finale, MJ is reflecting on all she’s been through. A lot of times you need to walk through the valley to see the light, and I think we’ve set her up for that.”

Mara also explained the police brutality scene too:

“An interesting fact is that we wrote and produced this moment before the Sandra Bland case. My heart broke when Sandra Bland happened, and all the Sandra Blands that haven’t been reported. The reason why I wanted to talk about police brutality is when we’re talking about race, specifically black people in America, or talking about feminism, black women aren’t at the forefront of those fights. And when the discussion comes up, we’re often left out of the conversation to the point where it is painful. Our bodies are attacked constantly, whether it be through rape, pulled out of cars like Niecy, or killed like Sandra Bland. And I wanted, like the young journalist character says in the last scene, to make sure we were part of the story. No different than I want black women’s humanity to be part of the cultural and political landscape. As we talk about change and we talk about what is happening in America to black people, I don’t want us to forget about what’s happening to black women as well.”

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7 comments

  1. The white man thing was kind of pointless. It lasted like one episode LOL. I do wish they would have went deeper with the cutty buddy storyline. He was a very interesting character (and fine too LOL).

  2. I loved the whole season. It was just a breath of fresh air for there to be black show on TV that touches on real topics women of color can relate to.

  3. Don’t watch the show, but I don’t like how she says interracial dating is not for her. We black women need more shows promoting interracial dating to encourage us to be more open dating other races. We are the least married race of women and the group most likely not to date interracially. Don’t make no sense to me. Ain’t enough eligible black men, that also are looking for black love, to date all the eligible black women.

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