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| blacks perpetuate negative image by accenting stereotypes |
| by Michael Ahlf |
| I came to an interesting conclusion the other day after seeing the new ad featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to an empty area in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The black community is as much to blame for race relations problems as are other races. Unfortunately, despite the messages of tolerance that are passed on in schools today, the larger picture regarding African-Americans is one of negativity. The two professions that get the most exposure -- musicians and professional athletes -- are full of bad role models. It sends a very bad message to young blacks, and other races, when the latest sports news features African-American athletes who can't keep their hands off drugs, or when Snoop Dogg and 1,001 other gangsta rap "artists" spend their time glorifying guns, drugs and violence. The situation gets worse due to an unfortunate problem in the African-American community, that barrier to success known as "acting white." African-Americans who don't live up to some of the stereotypes, like those who were against the fight to have Ebonics declared a language, expose themselves to public ridicule and get accused of "selling out," or being traitors to their race. But it doesn't end there. The media is rife with problematic images. How do you take someone like Martin Lawrence seriously? For years he drilled into us the image of the loose, disrespectful, out-of-control, tasteless black man. He did that so well his female co-star sued him for harassment and won. Def Comedy Jam from HBO is another example. Is this actually culture? Amos and Andy and Porgy and Bess have nothing on shows like Martin, or shows like Sparks, Goode Behavior, and Malcolm & Eddie from the older UPN lineup. Eddie Murphy gave us The PJ's -- enough said. Class acts and wonderful role models like James Earl Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, and Avery Brooks are passed over by black audiences for this? The stereotyping, however, isn't limited to African-Americans by African-Americans. Equally dangerous to race relations is the common attitude toward other races. Rap music tends to promote a lot of stereotypes, especially negativity towards police. Television takes it further. Anyone who saw the ads for the premiere of The Hughleys knows what I mean -- the ads featured a scared black man in a shameful parody of the movie The Sixth Sense confessing to another black, "I see white people." The show itself wasn't much better. Much of the show focused on how the father of the family would keep his children aware of their heritage as they assimilated into their new environment and became comfortable as middle-class Americans. If this had been a color-reversed situation, the NAACP would have been up in arms protesting against the studio that produced such a show. LeVar Burton, Samuel L. Jackson, Avery Brooks, Della Reese, Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith and Isaac Hayes are among the hundreds of good black role models who are overshadowed by the bad representatives of black stereotypes. The NAACP is quite willing to stand up and scream that not enough TV shows feature minorities these days. Why, then, doesn't it do something when those shows either segregate into single-race casts or else put forth the worst possible racial stereotypes as a representation of the whole? |