Can Eboni K. Williams shake up the "blindingly white" Real Housewives of New York as its first Black cast member?

The Muse

Williams says she plans to "do Black women justice. Do our culture justice. I can only hope to touch on the magic that are Black women" on the Bravo reality show. "That Williams is joining RHONY with such a clear mission is exciting, and she’s absolutely right: This show has never had a lens on Black people at all, which is shocking for a city like New York City, whose history and development is inextricably intertwined with Black political movements, art, music, writing, and fashion," says Joan Summers. "Now, Williams will slot herself into a cast that has never seemed to care much about Black people, or people of color at all; for almost a decade now, the Real Housewives of New York has been heavily criticized for their classist comments about less wealthy, more racially diverse areas of the Big Apple; cast members like Ramona Singer or Dorinda Medley regularly proclaim that they avoid going to Brooklyn or south of 42nd Street. The cast, as far as I can remember, has never stepped foot in Harlem or Queens, and if they did, they certainly never made a habit of it. The last time any of them appeared in the Bronx, back in 2017, was with the express purpose to make fun of it, as sneering onlookers."