Possibly proving this point is the recent addition to BET. It’s called a Public Service Announcement (PSA) though who it is serving, and how it’s a positive influence is beyond me. I will not say that this is a positive satire as I do not suffer from dementia. The concept is good on its surface, sadly the execution fails miserably. [I will not place this video on my site, but you can see it on YouTube.]
Of thee many things I could say about how insulting and wrong this supposed PSA is I will instead submit a conversation that I had with a friend on this subject. [Note that the conversation does include language that some will deem offensive. Curses are used occasionally, so children should not listen to this without a parent having first approved it. I am placing it here on the site because I feel that the language is not nearly as bad as most television programs or movies.]
I should also note that the video has one obvious omission. Did you notice that it says nothing about drugs? Was there no time left to say something about this? Was it more important to discuss hygiene (which I am unaware as being an issue) or to keep one more rousing chorus rendition?
I will add this. BET seems bent on providing programs that are as anti-African American as possible. The programs S.O.B. and We Got To Do Better are marginal in the quality and message they present. The caliber of movies found on this channel (such as Soul Plane – a bomb in the movie theaters and DVD markets) represent the best in bargain bin shopping, and virtually every other cable television network (not owned by Viacom) has numerous better quality films. The introduction of this PSA is not surprising, though it is sad.
We are not a mindless consumer that will accept anything thrown at us. Black culture is not a commodity up for sale to the highest bidder; no matter how sneaker, clothing, and who ever it is that creates the stupid money-wasting platinum teeth, companies try to make us believe we are for sale.
I don’t understand why any executive that has a concern about African Americans, beyond our available cashflow, would condone what this channel provides. Viacom does not understand its target audience, obviously. The degree to which it does not is amazing to me. I can’t wait until they pop up a PSA featuring a burning cross while a guy in a white hood raps about Blacks going to church and having a family with a mother and father.
BET, anything but black entertainment. And people say I’m a sellout because of the way I speak.
Oh, here are the lyrics (provided by Warner Todd Huston who also hated the PSA)
Read a book, read a book, read a motherf**kin’ book (pronounced mah f**kin' book in street fashion)
r-e-a-d-a-b-o–o-k
Not a sports page, not a magazine, but a book n*****, a f**kin’ book n*****
Read a book, read a book, read a motherf**kin’ book
r-e-a-d-a-b-o-o-k
Raise yo kids, raise yo kids, raise yo goddamn kids
Yo body needs water, so drink that shit
Buy some land, buy some land, what, f**k spinning rims
Brush yo teeth, brush yo teeth, brush yo goddamn teeth
Wear deodorant n*****, wear deodorant n*****
It’s called Speedstick, it’s not expensive
Read a book, read a book, read a motherf**kin’ book
r-e-a-d-a-b-o–o-k
This is what I think, what do you think?
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