Reality Out of Sync

Between Tyler Perry, BET, and movies that Hollywood produces like Precious I am just about sick of black television and movies. I’ll start with Tyler Perry. I just am not seeing the talent. Slapstick comedy about black households should be the last thing blacks should be seeing in theatres or on television. The Cosby Show was a good comedy, that gave pretty decent examples (for that time period) on how an affluent black lifestyle may or should be. It was genuinely funny, and it wasn’t mirroring really abusive behavior that occurs in many of our black households then nor today. Oh, I’ve worked in the health care field, yes abuse is still rampant in black communities whether it’s perpetrated by family members or simple black on black (non-family) violence in our ghettos and neighborhoods. I don’t know Tyler Perry, and I know many people that enjoy his work – I don’t know why – maybe they’ll come explain that sort of thing to me here; however, I really believe/think he shouldn’t feed and perpetuate what I view as really poor black behavior in such a light hearted way.

BET – oh how I loathe thee. BET has some of the w0rst programming known to man. You’d think that BET would at least be willing to air shows that do not stereotype the black male or the black condition, that we wouldn’t have shows such as Teen Summit, which aired real issues faced by real black teens concerning violence, sexual education, peer pressure and so on canceled. Alas, that’s not that case. On Sunday you can be sure to have gospel being shown though. I’m not really sure about the blacks outside of those I know, but Gospel isn’t something I’m very familiar with or even identify with. It certainly doesn’t target the 18-34 year old demographic that I can tell, unless they are actively being raised in a heavy handed elderly black household. I know of one such house in which some children are being raised this way, and I’m fairly certain they aren’t terribly happy.  I actually fall in that 18-34 year old demographic, and I gotta tell you I certainly don’t find much of the programming on BET even remotely interesting or entertaining.

And then there’s Precious. I’m sure Precious is a good movie, but it’s also just another example of helping white people feel good about themselves for having gone to see it. What I mean by this, is that many whites seem to behave in the fashion that by going to see (and I guess become informed about the “black struggle” as it were) movies that put on zoo like display abusive black environments, that they are some how helping the inequality in this country. That’s not true, you knowing that a majority of blacks live in poorer conditions than your average white family does not do anything to help Junebug learn that getting an education will get him out of the hood, not clinging to gang life to try and survive and playing basketball in the hopes of making it to the NBA.

To put an end cap on this. Blacks need to actively seek better, not mimic the white condition. Blacks can’t afford to let BET tell them what is good (because BET doesn’t fucking know, and you need to get an education I guess in order to understand that). Blacks can’t have role models in the NBA/NFL/etc.  or in Hollywood, because those places aren’t where you should be seeking anything healthy in your life.