By Felix Ortiz (Whetstone Staff)
Felix Ortiz     Melissa Boyd / Whetstone
Like anyone else, when I turn on my television I expect entertainment.
But as I scroll through the channels, to my dismay, I continue to find more and more shows and series that are dedicated to exploiting blacks.
I’ve noticed that I cannot watch shows or programs that I used to watch with interest anymore.
I feel that everything, as far as plots, characters, and themes are concerned, are just getting played out and seem to run together. Whether it is another episode of Basketball Wives and the wild behavior of those black women portrayed on the show, or if it is another showing of overly dramatic shows like The Game.
Black Entertainment Television (BET) has served a good purpose for many years. It opened the doors for blacks to have their own network to call home and create their own original material to contribute to American culture.
And yet all I have been witnessing growing up is the sharp decline in originality, variety and culture.
I used to be able to sit down with my family and watch BET and enjoy it.
Those days are gone.
The age of Twitter-dominated television and exploitation as comedy and substance for sitcoms is here and this bothers me to no end.
For example, shows like Let’s Stay Together and Basketball Wives support the stereotype that black relationships are unfaithful, troublesome, and problematic.
Although there are some situations where the relationship problems get solved, the same theme gets shoved in my face about how black people are always trying to make it work and never how happy they are to be together.
Another aspect that gets to me about Blaxploitation in the media is in film. I have seen repetitive stereotypes and themes resold for the next generation.
I’m tired of seeing black actors and actresses getting roles where they are portrayed as deceitful, malicious, or downright negative. The worst part about it is that it is praised by the academy.
For example, Training Day gave legendary actor Denzel Washington his first Oscar (and the first black man to do so), but at the cost of starring as a crooked cop who manipulates those around him to carry on the crime going on in the streets that he swore to fight with his rookie partner. His “outstanding†performance was recognized but I feel that he didn’t have to further the stereotype of the black man as a criminal to make history and earn that reward.
Another example is Halle Berry in Monster’s Ball, where she plays the spouse of a jailed criminal and ends up sleeping with a white man. She earned the award, but again, she acted out the image of the Jezebel.
Will Smith has no Oscar yet and he has made some of the most groundbreaking films ever made. I think the only reason he didn’t win is because he hasn’t sold out like others in the business.
The industry (media) is a source for manipulation and suggestion.
Black men are generally are portrayed as brutes, criminals without remorse, or poor and uneducated, and black women are the single-mothers, destitute and promiscuous.
Enough is enough.
I want to see more films and television sitcoms with purpose and originality rather than just pointing out the stereotypes and flaws about the race.
I also want to see more black people take action and realize that the media portrays them as such.
If some steps were taken to progress forward and stop acting ghetto, sounding uneducated, or selling our identity and character as a way to gain fame, then we as a race will do well.
Until that day comes, however, I can only hope for the best to come and contribute to the cause by preserving the culture and spreading the knowledge to those who definitely need it because, to many, ignorance is bliss.
