Nice article...
BET: Black Exploitation T.V.
KELLY COOK
Cornell University
http://www.cornelldailysun.com/
In a small and conservative Midwestern town in Ohio where we still say pop and tennis shoes and no one has ever heard of soda or sneakers, the latest trends in society often travel slowly -- very slowly. Everything from new fashions and catch phrases to, in this case, trends in television are the last to reach my town.
As an African American female residing in a mostly white suburb, one can imagine how excited I was when our town began broadcasting Black Entertainment Television (BET) just last year. I could finally discover what I had been missing all those years I spent as the only black kid in the United States, it seemed, who didn't watch BET. As I clicked my remote to the station in anticipation, I watched in utter disbelief of what I saw.
It was a show called Cita's World where a computer-animated, finger-snapping hoodrat, who embodied every negative stereotype of black women imaginable, introduced music videos. This wasn't what I had waited for, I thought. But maybe this was the only program that was exploitative. I mean every network is entitled to one bad show, right? Wrong!
As I continued to view BET over summer vacation, I saw a string of shows that represented blacks as living stereotypes.
Oh! Drama, a show modeled after, but a far cry from, Barbara Walter's The View features a panel of three black women discussing such crucial issues as "baby-mammas" and "golddiggers." It is difficult to understand the topics being discussed when the hosts constantly digress into off-subject spiels in Ebonics.
Black Star Power Cinema, a series of B movies that BET tries to pass off as quality black films, promotes titles like Prison Song and License to Kill. BET's music video show, Hits from the Streets, features a segment called "Act a Fool" where the Sambo-acting host pulls vulgar pranks on passersby.
Even the station's news journal program, BET Tonight with Ed Gordon, isn't respectable, particularly in its panel discussions. Can there be a panel discussion on BET Tonight that does not include convicted felon, Suge Night -- please?
And last but certainly not least, BET's music videos are the most deplorable of the station's programs. On a merely artistic level, the videos have zero merit. The thrusting of platinum teeth, gold chains, half-naked asses, and cleavage into the camera are ridiculously cliche.
The videos also promote objectification of women and an underlying message of self-hatred. The women, affectionately named "video ho's," are shown fawning over gold-tooth-sporting, basketball-jersey-wearing rappers.
In two popular videos, Camron's "Oh Boy" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time," two girls on either side of each man take turns pouring milk and cereal for the rappers.
Videos seldom feature black women and if they do, the black women possess Eurocentric features of light skin and long hair, sending the message that black women aren't beautiful.
After witnessing this degrading television, I jumped to the conclusion that of course the executives who controlled the programming on BET must be white. It goes without saying that blacks themselves wouldn't be involved in the business of exploiting each other for profit.
But I was wrong again. According to Matthew Fox, a white student at Oberlin College who interned at BET, the people in charge of program selection are in fact black. And BET's website under the corporate tab makes it clear that blacks run the station. It displays profiles of Founder, Chairman and CEO Robert L. Johnson as well as of President and Chief Operating Officer, Debra L. Lee, both of whom are black.
BET's mission statement states it is the "leading African American multi-media entertainment company," and it's easy to see BET's influence on black Americans. Take a look around Cornell, and one can observe that despite intellectual capability, black men take their cues from the network on styles of dress, choices in jewelry, and even their treatments of women. Some black men, not all but certainly many, look to BET to assert their blackness, which translates into a growing hip-hop culture.
Why are so many blacks mimicking what they see on television? Perhaps it is a sign of a missing link between modern black American culture and our original African ancestry -- a void that was created during slavery when millions of Africans from various cultures and civilizations were forced to adopt European names and practice European religion and even deny their own heritage.
Instead of endorsing positive images, BET programs teach audiences to disrespect women and hate themselves. Instead of supporting intellectual accomplishments, BET teaches youth to aspire toward becoming rappers and basketball players with shows like How I'm Living, which display the mansions and cars of recording artists and athletes. BET encourages entertainers while ignoring other professions and the fact that blacks are a people of many talents and achievements.
Why doesn't Ed Gordon interview National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, for example? Why doesn't Oh! Drama discuss real issues that are important like the economic status of African Americans?
It's because the people at the top who worked hard to earn their MBAs and climbed the corporate ladder care more about their wallets than the communities from which they came. They fail to take risks that might uplift viewers in an effort to safeguard their six-figure salaries. But what good is success if your community can't share it?
With great power comes great responsibility, and BET has a responsibility -- not only to the millions of black youths who watch the network, but also to Americans at large. At stake is how Americans view blacks and more importantly how we view ourselves, for only when we regard each other accurately and in a positive light may we fully realize our potential.
Copyright ? 2002 by The Cornell Daily Sun, Inc.
All rights reserved.
