Would Would Todd Do?
OKAY. Quick Summary for those of you who are behind the times – Twenties is an American single-camera comedy series created the THE Lena Waithe that began airing on BET in March. It’s semi-autobiographical as it details her own life as an aspiring TV writer. But what makes it so bad ass, is that for the first time – black women are all of the leads, not the sidekicks. When I first started watching I was like…”Did anyone else not realize how deprived they were of seeing black woman doing black woman shit prior to this show?!?!?” Hennyways, the episode this week was called “What Would Todd Do?” But who is exactly is this Todd…and does he have the ability to wire my stimulus check faster because of COVID-19? In the episode, a Todd is described as “a guy who thinks his mediocre ideas are brilliant. He somehow manages to convince other people that his basic ass is a genius.
A Todd is a guy that walks into any room like his ancestors have owned it for hundred of years…and yeah they probably have, but that’s not a good thing. Todd’s take up so much space, they leave no room for the rest of us. And we stay letting em’ get away with this shit. Back in the day, there used to be a law that said you need to step off the sidewalk when you saw a Todd coming by.” A Todd is supposed to be an embodiment of the quintessential privileged white man. THIS IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH A JEFF! Jeff’s are like Gary Owens, Joseph Sikora (Tommy from Power), and the Max Greenfield’s of the world. Jeff’s are completely exempt from all criticism because they are completely comfortable in black spaces and around black people. They are also likely to be currently dating or to have previously dated a black woman –or had their life changed by a black woman one time and have been down ever since.
The beauty of the episode was that it really makes you sit back and wonder…What if I, as a black woman, navigated the world like a Todd? What if I spoke up every time I had something to say and was unrepentant about it? Or what if I crossed the street while completely ignoring all of the traffic signs like an entitled pedestrian? Or better yet – what if I was able to go to the polls and see a candidate on the ballot that cares about the issues facing the black female demographic and they actually…win? AHAHAHAAHAH THAT WOULD BE AN OUTRAGEOUS WORLD RIGHT!??!!? But Todd’s get to live in it everyday, and as Lena Waithe beautifully wrote, “We let them get away with this shit.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired. I’m acting like a Todd today. I’m going to go get a 12 pack of Coors Lights and go watch black athletes make millions of dollars for giant corporations. I might even go and get extremely offended if someone tries to educate me on my privilege. To all the Jeff’s though, I am very single – please follow me on ig and don’t be a stranger to my dms.