SHOULD BLACK AMERICANS HOLD MASS MEDIA ACCOUNTABLE FOR CULTURALLY POSITIVITY?

BEYOND EMPIRE AND SCANDAL:  HOW IMPORTANT IS  THE CULTURAL  ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE MEDIA TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY

I have never watched a single episode of Empire or Scandal so I do not have any personal opinion of either.  I have no soliloquy to deliver regarding the quality of either production. However, I do understand the power of media to shape the opinions of the masses, (which is why it is commonly called “Mass Media” in the first place), and I understand it is a powerful tool, perhaps the most powerful tool in the world today.  Therefore any programming with such mass appeal must be carefully scrutinized especially when it informs a population whose image has been so violently perverted as has the black American community. So I offer an objective litmus test for this and any other mass media production that might purport to represent my community as is my right.  I challenge you to subject any programming to these simple tests of cultural media worthiness:

1. Does the programming promote healthy images of family and community offering solutions to today’s social challenges?

2. Does the programming promote respectable and realistic images of black men and women that will support question #1 by providing positive role models for all viewers?

3. Does the programming promote positive ethical and moral values? Does it reflect the inclusionary vision of America in the 21st century?

4. Is the programming well written, well-acted, well produced and aside from its popularity is it a truly fine and groundbreaking production the quality of which will be celebrated years in the future?

We, meaning the black American community and the general community of conscientious human beings of all races, do have a right to question and challenge the images set before us for our consumption because they do shape public opinion in huge ways and we should question everything. We not only have a right to demand quality and accountability but we also have the right to boycott any mass media production if it fails any or all of the 4 tests I have listed above. We should not support any production that does not pass each of the four tests with at least an 85% - 95% grade. I say this because the black American community has suffered hundreds of years of abuse and can suffer no more! It does suffer still and is disintegrating beneath the crush of virulent media poised against us.  This is the time to right all wrongs! I could care less how popular a program is, my only concern is that it is well produced with the best interest of the black American community at the front of its mind!  American businesses have profited from black Americans for hundreds of years so whether any production is particularly lucrative or not is not of my concern.  Does it pass or fail all four tests? If it fails even one then it is a malevolent force to the recovery of the black American community and other communities regardless of race should hold it accountable... thus do I opine...

FIN

BIGDADDY BLUES

NOW YOU SEE US NOW YOU DON'T

NOW YOU SEE US NOW YOU DON’T!

THE STRUGGLE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY FOR ACCURATE VISUAL REPRESENTATION IN POPULAR MEDIA.

Recent demographic studies evincing the substantial increase in the population of non-white Americans may have recently triggered intensification in popular network television and cable programming with lead black American roles.   Furthermore, it may have stimulated the resolution a long-playing disparity between racial population demographics in America and the public face of mainstream American media in general.   Heretofore many black Americans had been convinced that programming had not been designed to include them in anything except ancillary roles because they represented a minority ethnic group with limited economic power.   Today’s population demographics show a completely different picture as they have for well over a decade.  The slow response of the media to morphing population trends can be attributed to many different variables however now that things are on the move it is far more important that  the black American community seize  the unique opportunity to manage its image is portrayed in shows such as “Empire” and “Scandal”.  Are the visual images we see conveyed as representations of the black American community realistic or are they grossly inaccurate portrayals that will have the ultimate effect of making our real selves invisible?  Now you see us now you don’t!  I am far less fascinated with what appears to be mainstream media’s delinquent acknowledgement of racial diversity and the economic viability of black themes and lead artists, (they are popular trends germane to the caprices of the entertainment industry), than I am with the manner in which black America is represented in  the powerful images shaping  the world’s view of us.    

The black community must carefully scrutinize its sudden rise to media stardom stepping away from and just into the shadow of economic luster and tensile just long enough to be certain that the images being sent represent a wholesome and constructive message about who black people are, where we have come from and where we desire to go.  The black American community has survived hundreds of years of negative American media that has looked through us, away from us, or down upon us leaving the snide residue of a cruel and savage caricature as injury.  Now that mainstream American culture, (driven by corporate dollars), wants to give us visual representation, (in exchange for economic enfranchisement), proportional to our demographics we must carefully scrutinize the images paraded before us.  Desperate as we are to see ourselves shown in any way at all we cannot afford another reckless plunge into the soulless belly of Post-Blackspoitation America.  We have to ask if this is a smoke-screen intended to divert our attention from critical issues that continue to divide and conquer our community or if mainstream media has suddenly grown some good old-fashioned human compassion desiring our best interest at heart or making up for old wounds!  Personally, I’d not bet my last monopoly dollars and get out of jail free card on it, but that’s just me being me.  Stranger things have certainly happened in the universe but one thing is certain, a corporate America that got its start on the backs of slaves as free labor cannot long ignore the economic and professional potential of the ancestors of those slaves especially when its own numbers are exponentially dwindling.  Eventually, (if the black community does not do so itself) other interests will exploit the full potential of black Americans, it is really a matter of who gets on the bandwagon first.  So now that black Americans are back on the menu it's time for a quality-control check.  What's the ultimate verdict; did we pass or are we just passing?

Are the images we are beginning to see in the media really us? Do they have the kind of ironic integrity and uncanny verisimilitude Voltaire would marvel at? Or do they portray a mythic, fantastic non-reality light years from any semblance to the way black American’s really live and think? Most important, do they promote a healthy, positive and wholesome image of our peoples and our struggle?  Do they provide the basic essential kernels of fortitude necessary to restore our failing communities?  It is only fair to also ask the question, "is it a reasonable expectation for mainstream media to be held accountable for conveying anything wholesome, substantive and enriching about black people"?  Knowing the nature of the beast going in should we even open ourselves up for the disappointment this sudden marriage made in media heaven might deliver?  After the mistakes of The Civil Rights Era black Americans really must be savvier with these kinds of things.  Nobody's gong to work harder to promote positive imagery and channel profits from our endeavors to restore our communities than ourselves, we are the primary stakeholders but not the primary players.  So if we are going to be exploited for a season then we had better get the most out of it and being in demand does afford us that privilege.  The default is what we already know, being ignored and having to figure it out anyway.  Putting in some good intellectual energy at the outset can possibly save us decades of irreversible regret down the road but is anyone even saying that we need to look before we leap?  Is it more important for us to see a black face on our television screens after decades of image deprivation or is it more critical to closely monitor any and every image to make certain it follows closely our socio-political and economic agendas collectively recognized by progressive black Americans.  One could argue that there are no established socio-political and economic agendas, that black people are all over the place fighting against one another to get to the same place as a collective.  The oxymoronic nature of this model as a cultural assessment/accusation does not seem too far from reality.  After this trend has dried out will the pendulum swing to some other ethnic group leaving black Americans in the same vacuum as before?  That is the billion dollar question in the continual struggle of the black community for accurate and substantive respectful representation in popular media.

fin

Written By BIGDADDY BLUES

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF RACE, CULTURE AND MEDIA IN AMERICA

Other cultures have bought traditions with them to America that they celebrate through media.  There are many Latino, Asian, African, Caribbean and Arabic television channels, radio stations and cable stations that broadcast vital media 24 hours a day.  These media venues including print media help keep their communities informed and cohesive.  These stations have their own media celebrities who help to project positive images that support their culture, businesses and institutions.  Black Americans do have some media venues as well like BET that reach a broad range of their community but unlike many other cultures the black American communities focus is more keyed into a mainstream media that does not promote positive black images.  

One of the main focuses of the black community in the first quarter of the 21st century should be the cultivation of business entrepreneurs who will ultimately establish large media based corporations that can address the disparity between mainstream media and the black community telling our stories from our perspective.  Another bonus of owning our own media is the creation of career opportunities for black American professionals who are being turned away from mainstream corporate doors.  This economic foundation really is the platform that will ultimately solidify and help restore the black community.  

BIGDADDY BLUES