While perusing Twitter last week I came across an interesting “Trending Topic” which, for those unfamiliar with the innerworkings of Twitter, it is simply an event or issue that a majority of people on the site are currently talking about, called #BETmessedupwhen.
While I refrained from commenting at the time, it wasn’t for lack of material, rather, I didn’t want to inundate my follower’s timeline’s with my many thoughts on this topic, but I will do so today.
BET, otherwise known as Black Entertainment Television, or “Black Evil Television,” [for those of you who watch The Boondocks] messed up a long, long, time ago.
Created, as many things in America have been, in response to the neglect of minorities by mainstream America; at it’s inception it provided an alternative to then musical and cultural leader MTV, who had become notorious for ignoring Black artists, most notably Michael Jackson before it became apparent that Thriller simply could not be ignored. BET created an outlet for the then burgeoning movement of Hip Hop, and became home to a multitude of Black shows and specials.
That was then, this is now.
“90s Babies” have truly missed out on what once was. It’s as if they received the watered down version of everything that I received as a child.
MJ has died, Jordan is retired, The Fresh Prince grew up….even Hip Hop has changed…rare is it to hear the songs that made political statements like “Fight the Power,” or any of the musings of NWA…we have instead switched our collective anger that arose from growing up during the crack explosion of the 80s, to being amused by rappers who not only glorify the same drug..but who often have never even lived the life nor sold it themselves.
…instead, 90s babies have been raised on “My favorite rapper growing up was 50 cent.”-Souljah Boi<50 came out when I was a senior in high school. If ever there was a time to say “Back in my day,” it is now.
“Back in my day,” we had Pac and Biggie…enough said.
So where did BET mess up? When they diverted from Black Entertainment and made Blacks THE Entertainment.
It happened gradually. Cancel Midnight Soul, a testament to black love. Eliminate show’s like The Basement which was once an outlet for mainstream and unknown artists alike; and quietly do away with their news programming. In short, #BETmessedupwhen they “Dumbed it Down.”
Overload the station with reality television, take away variety by refusing to show any video not “106&Park Approved,” eradicate any source of news or information; then top it off with mediocre awards shows and throw a dash of Church shows on Sunday.
Believe me, if I could switch BET for Centric I would.
Do you remember…Apartheid?
Two of my managers at my internship, a father and son duo, are African American. In America, where the notion of race was first introduced as a means of identifying and separating individuals as a way to promote superiority over one another, they would, for all intents and purposes be considered white.
Let me explain. For many in America have a problem discerning the difference between race and ethnicity. Race is a social construction, before its introduction, many relied on the land of their orgin. Hence though their race is white, their ethnicity is indeed African American.
Ill use myself as an example. My race is black, however my ethnicity is African American and Irish American; i.e. a black mother and a white father. But in the land of the “one drop rule,” I am black.
The whole notion of race is one that has arguably done more harm than good. Even now in a seemingly “post racial” nation, the concept of race is the elephant in the room that any guest can see, yet we ourselves choose to tiptoe around.
I used my managers as an example because in conversing with them one gets to see the viewpoint of a whole different continent. The problem that many Americans make in discussing the “race issue” is that they limit it to our country alone. Apartheid, the government system that used race to isolate and separate the masses, was upheld from 1948-1994. That is less than 16 years than its formal end. Even I am older than that.
I have often wondered what exactly it was, that could incite an entire group of people to enslave or disparage another; and I fear that it is a question that I will not be able to answer in my lifetime. Perhaps a fluke of human nature, that is destined to be repeated time after time, as seen evident through slavery, the holocaust, modern day genocide, Rowanda, Palestine Vs. Isreal, and sadly the list goes on.
In examining the underlying causes of bigotry one often finds that the root is often hard to decipher. What exactly was it that caused Europeans to enslave millions, strip them of their heritage, and scatter them across the globe in the process known as diaspora? What was it, that caused many to stand idly by as those of Jewish descent were taken to meet their maker. What is it, that causes many to choose sides in the fight between Israel and Palestine, with both dying in the name of a Supreme Being.
Perhaps its as simple as the old Tootsie Roll commercial. The world may never know.
Ive always taken offense to the idea that some should just “get over it.” Civil Rights legislation was only passed 45 years ago. Apartheid only ended 16 years ago. I have family members that passed before that..and I still feel the pain.