Real Housewives causes uproar
By CORILYN SHROPSHIRE HOUSTON CHRONICLE (source)

Watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you might think it’s easy to get wealthy African-Americans to talk about money.

Concluding its maiden season on Bravo tonight, the reality program chronicles the conspicuous consumption of five well-off women who have ordained themselves among Atlanta’s elite. Four of the Housewives are African-American.

But the show has hit a raw nerve within the black community — lighting up the Internet and the airwaves with charges that it perpetuates negative stereotypes with its focus on catfighting women who shamelessly lord their wealth and generally misbehave. A particular sore point is the consistently egregious grammar the Housewives stars use.

Houstonian Phyllis Williams, well-known for her philanthropic work, recalled flipping channels on her television on Election Night — from the historic speech of President-Elect Barack Obama to a Real Housewives episode in which two wealthy women learn to let loose on a stripper pole.

“I was appalled,†she said. “This is not what elite women are about.â€

The women on the show, she said, are shallow, graceless and mean.

“I’m just hoping that most people don’t look at this show and think that every wealthy black woman is like this,†said Williams.