Black Television Before & After Cosby

"I try to tell her about how they show us on the TV screen, but all she want me to do is unzip her jeans"

At my age I wasn’t able to fully take in the cultural impact that shows like The Cosby Show had when it was premiered. My generation only experienced this iconic show through TV Land and Nick at Nite re-runs. Even though it is a fictitious and currently not airing any episodes it still till this day is mentioned in college classrooms across the nation as the leading example of a presentation of a black family that was painted in a luminous light and also breaking stereotypes. 

The Cosby show was one of its kind, a true trendsetter in the sense of the word. In television, "Before Cosby" much of the black family life was depicted of a poor lower class family struggling, but used jokes just to buy our attention till next week’s episode. After Cosby blacks are still portrayed in somewhat of a negative light, even though a handful of sitcoms followed the blueprint of the Cosby Show many after just showed blacks as buffoons, aggressive, criminals, and flamboyant. Even though some blacks, just like all races fit in these same categories, blacks disproportionally are promoted to mass audiences in negative fashion therefore perpetuating these images as facts to viewers.

A survey done by the Boston Globe in 1991 showed that young children and older adults disproportionally saw the Huxtable’s as a realistic expectation as to what black family life was like, even though by statistics the wealth that the Huxtable’s possessed was very rare in the black community. Attitudinal data suggest that the more television we watch the more likely we are to hold ideas that contradict each other. For example most people know just by looking at statistics that majority of black couples aren’t lawyers and doctors, but at the same time seeing a positive image of that on TV suggest that it isn’t far fetched and that it is normal to come across that in everyday life.

Before Cosby we had shows like Good Times & What’s Happenin’, they were both black family sitcom shows that were comedic strips, but showed black families in low economical classes. These shows were built just like the Cosby Show aside from the fact that The Cosby Show's family were doing better financially. Even though I wasn’t of age to witness the dynamic altering of race and class in America this was still something very monumental for Black America.

This shift in modern television not only brought sitcoms back to the forefront, but for a good few years blacks were taking out of working class roles and places as professionals on our weekly TV screens. Blacks were now in roles as top police officers, lawyers, professors, and business owners. Even though many of us won’t admit it The Cosby Show and others that followed gave us a new direction to aspire to follow. Cliff and Claire were “step-parents” to some and inspiration for those who may never have anyone with a college degree in the home to motivate them. For those of other races who may have little to no contact with black families they could look at The Cosby Show as a model for how black families act and look at it as normal, instead of thinking of black families as they are portrayed in “reality TV,” shows.

After Cosby network sitcoms had a small run and they began to fade, soon they were replaced by “reality TV.” BET, VH1, MTV (all owned by Viacom) and many others decided to join the ranks in broadcasting our reality (I use that term loosely) to the masses for their consumption. These new shows place women in roles such as gold diggers and sponsor the idea that maybe if you sleep with someone of mild importance then maybe you can be famous too, even if it’s only by association. Most of the women are dealing with infidelity, on the search for love, or recovering from a difficult break-up. Even though women of all races, not just black go through these and it wouldn’t be reality if it was excluded, but it seems as though happy women in relationships always seem to be extinct or nonexistent in the realm of reality TV. Even though these lives may be real, it begs the question on whether or not other tales can be told?  We are presented with more women who have the, "She’s been with [such and such]" stigma, instead of being shown what she is doing for herself independently. I don’t see how anyone can see that these shows are a portrayal of reality, maybe it gives them an escape from difficulties in their lives that they are going through. Viewers have accepted these shows and look at them as the norm in The Black American Experience. These shows have taken the concerns that many have of fictitious Tyler Perry movies and showed that they are reality, even if they are exaggerations.

Even though critics may argue that The Cosby Show ignored institutionalized racism and ignored obstacles that many blacks face with upward mobility obtainment, or that they may reinforce the notion that blacks lack of achievement could be attributed to laziness, lack of education, and many other things that can be attributed to other oppressions that they face from outside forces. Those arguments however beg the question is it enough to be acknowledged on shows like Love & Hip-Hop, Flavor of Love, Basketball Wives, and many others or should we want respect from these stations that broadcast our “realities” to millions daily? Is thirty to sixty minutes of entertainment worth looking like buffoons and coons on modern day minstrel shows? When looking at blacks on TV think of this Jay-Z quote, "When you see me, see you." 

Darkness on the South-side

I see more needles with dried dark red blood in the street than kids happily playing in them,

Babies crying for food, and mothers crying oceans because they don’t have the means to feed them,

Schools are closing yearly, but prisons seem like they are opening daily,

Cost of living is skyrocketing, but social funds are plummeting,

I just want to be a lawyer, a scientist, or somebody with a Ph.D but I’m 6’3 and my community says that I should try to live out hoop dreams,

I have more access to a ball court than a library,

I see more despair than hope, more junkies and crack fiends, than people that look like me living out million dollar dreams swiping black cards for expensive things,

Gentrification, felonies, kids misdiagnosed with mental retardation, but a lack of youth leading my country to become a better nation,

Will I overcome or just become another statistic stuck at the bottom,

Either my people are dying, or they are clocking in 9 to 5’s and 10- 6’s minimum wage living at 63 because 70 for us is when we are retiring,

Not because they want to, but to keep the heat on and to give Junior a couple presents for Christmas,

Streets lights are shining like a thousand watt light bulb, but those are the only things bright on Chicago’s southside,

Mother’s cry, their babies die, and children wonder why,

They wonder why it has to be like this,

Sometimes we just want to see the our side shine, brighten up our day like the Chicago Skyline,

But no we walk in darkness on Chicago’s Southside, looking for hope that our former Senator, and current President promised us, but no one can see the pain because the sun doesn’t shine on the Soutside.

Everyday Slaves

"Education and incarceration are connected. As a society we can choose either to emphasize a proactive investment in the stability of families and education of children, or to emphasize a reactive investment in incarceration and forms of carceral punishment. In short we can both build and invest in schools and equality of opportunity in education or we can invest in prisons." Michael Glennon

 

Today mass incarceration is a fundamental practice in American society. The United States has placed more blacks in the criminal justice system in the forms of prison terms, parole, and/or probation than were in slavery. More blacks are under supervision than in any time in America’s elongated history. We are in America were freedom is only a privilege for some of it’s citizen, but for others they are treated like walking felons. Prisons were first formed to put up Americas most dangerous criminals, but now these same prisons have been sold to private entities that profit off of these “criminals.” We have since gone from an inconsistent justice system to a power structure that uses mass punishment as an incentive to incarcerate citizens.

Prison was formed as a social means to deter members of society from going to prisons which would in turn keep the number of inmates low, but private institutions have incentives to keep numbers high so that they can maximize profit. Under The 13^th Amendment it is constituted in language that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Since 1980 crime rates in America have steadily decreased, but incarceration has rapidly increased partially due to The Reagan Era.

I know it seems heaven sent, but we aint ready to see a black president, it’s not enough to conceal the facts that the penitentiary packed and it’s filled with blacks...Instead of War on Poverty they got a War on Drugs so the police can bother me. Tupac

In 1971 Richard Nixon was the first to coin the term “The War on Drugs,” but President Reagan made it a race to incarcerate. In 1982 he announced that the nation was going to combat the Crack Epidemic. He promised drug free zones in school, workplaces, and increased drug treatment facilities. Another thing he promised was stiffer drug penalties. Many critics may argue whether his plan was implemented to effectiveness, but all won’t deny about Reagan carrying through his plan with stiffer penalties. In 1986 he did just that, in that year he signed a bill that used 1.7 billion dollars to fund his plan. Even though cocaine was more widely used, more costly, and the foundation of crack he kept those sentences levels stable for that drug, but raised mandatory minimum sentences for crack-cocaine. Many people looked at this as an attack on poverty stricken communities and low income areas. These new laws had mammoth effects on blacks. These policies did very little to diminish the amount of drugs on the streets, but increased the prison population to large proportions.

Even after leaving office Reagan passed the baton to President Bush who picked where Reagan left off. Even though many criminal justice scholars claimed that these policies would not reduce drugs use or the availability of drugs, but it would increase the prison population those claims went ignored. Instead the Bush Administration went ahead with a study that stated that mass incarceration would save tax payers 405,000 for every offender. Even though many economist showed that the data didn’t add up our government fed this propaganda to the masses and they ate it up. While they were digesting this, adolescents in lower income communities suffered.

Between 1980-1993 education, employment, and training programs were cut in half, but spending on correctional facilities went up 521%. In 2006 the State of California spent 8,000 dollars on average for a child in their school district, but invested 216,000 dollars for one juvenile inmate. So we must ask, what’s more important, educating our children to be productive, free thinking citizens, or investing them into a system that turns them into slaves?  75% of those in these juvenile inmates are illiterate by the 12^thgrade and less than 20% will have their high school diploma. This isn’t cause and effect, but a direct correlation. This is the science of criminology, and what sociologist study. When you cut education and invest in correction you are directly sending messages that the people you are sending out of school will be pushed right into a system of slavery. Many of these children will be many of the 13 million that are introduced to American prisons yearly. Many will visit these prisons for marijuana offenses. As of today 1 of every American is serving time behind bars where they are working for as much as .15 cents a day. Even though they are getting this minimal amount of income most will never see a single dime of it, or the .15 cents because most inmates checks go to pay legal, court, and restitution fees. So in a sense they are working for free and turned into modern day slaves while private cooperation’s make billions off of them. Only in America can a prison be put on Wall Street. How can a system that is stated to be for rehabilitation be on Wall Street, this seems like economical elevation?

Housing, feeding , and providing standard medical treatment to over six million people may seem like a financial burden, but to companies like CCA & GEO it’s a 70 billion dollar industry that they have invested in. These two cooperation’s only agreed to take over these states prisons only if they could get a guarantee from the state that they will stay 90% occupied. The problem is that even though the states would get pay-outs they would also be pressured to promote laws that would keep incarceration laws high.

No matter how fiscally responsible it may seem to pass over the prison industries to private companies it goes against what the justice system is suppose to stand for. Justice is fairness, not a monetary incentive for criminals, suspected criminals, and non-criminals to be handed over to cooperation’s whose sole concern isn’t rehabilitation, but concern is free labor. This system does not help those lost in the world to find avenues to better themselves or deter others on the street from deviant behavior instead it turns millions every year into modern day slaves. We have a justice system that had displaced minorities at an alarming rate in prisons with number identifications away from having their government names read in graduation lines.

Don't Be The Friend Who Didn't Make It

In life, it's a blessing to go through your life with your same core of friends that knew you before you fully developed into the current you. With all these graduations occurring from those advancing from Pre-K to those obtaining advanced degrees it makes you wonder which friend didn't make it and stopped before he/she reached their full potential. 

In life, especially in America we all may not have access to the same opportunities, but we all (those without mental/physical limitations) have control over our drive and dedication to accomplishing the unexpected and not falling into a state of complacency. The old cliché of, "birds of a feather flock together" can came off as un-true in a particular circumstance and that's when we examine the friend that didn't make it. 

Their is always at least one friend who settled, and didn't live up to what they could have been. While your friends went to college or followed their dreams in whatever arena they may be in, you settled for the nice 12-15$ hour job, or working multiple jobs in the upwards of 50-70 hours a week. Your financial situation may seem as it's flourishing, but you aren't happy and satisfied where life is going. You're at a job where you don't have much independent flexibility, you're tired constantly, and you don't see much progression, but the friends you've grown up with are starting to graduate, attend graduate schools, and are seeing the dreams that they followed begin to take off.

Look in the mirror then look at your friends from a distance and ask yourself, "how did I become the friend that didn't make it?" Mind you success can equate to monetary value, individual utility, or the number of lives you've motivated to do better. At the end of the day you define success, but a life where you have doubts about missed opportunities is one that can be looked at as wasted. When choosing the people who you allocate your time with you can either pick friends that'll motivate you to do more, or you can choose individuals who do want to amount to much and will make you look better. 

As long as your name isn't on the obituary page you still have a chance to create legacy, opportunity, history not only for others, or your family, but ultimately yourself. When people say your name, your job title, or the number of children you have shouldn't be followed by a period, but a comma. Others should be able to read your resume on the fly, when you make an entrance an introduction shouldn't be needed, because you're already known. While the ones you grew up with are creating legacies for their name and doing what most won't, don't be stuck falling into the hopeless, complacent, and forgotten majority.

Aspire to be better, don't settle for what they will give you, but go after the things that they are reluctant to share. 

A Woman's Life Through Sit-Coms

I'm not sure why, but I have this obsessive issue where I always seem to judge women by characters from the movie Soul Food, or popular black sit-coms. It would be ignorant for me to think I could do a substantial job generalizing women through this forum, but it's only entertainment. 

Claire Huxtable - Is the best of the best. To be compared to her you have to be at least 35. She had the career, but isnt work 12 hours daily. She was a housewife, but she wasnt soley responsibile for cooking, cleaning, and watching the kids. She changed the way a wife is looked at, she changed it to mean oartner. She had the 50/50 relationship with her husband, she upgraded her spouse to be better than expected. She's a woman admired by her peers and those younger, she's accomplished much, but her story is far from finished. 

Denise Huxtable- She's the girl who listens to Badu on the regular and smokes Reggie. She constantly filling your newsfeed with talks of world harmony, finding yourself and loving yourself. She gives off the whole I don't shave vibe. 

Hilary Banks - Is the one who you'll probably never settle down with, or she'll get married to an athlete or rapper, but divorce is in the near future. She's the friend who's bougie in a good way, but may come off as stuck up. She's the friend that never graduated, had so much potential but never made it. She's the trophy girlfriend, but nothing more. She's good for insight on partying and fashion.

Whitley Gilbert - Is the educated version of what Hillary Banks should have been. She's accustomed to everything of high standard. Even though money and monetary don't impress she won't lower her standards to accommodate yours. She puts love over money, but she wants stability. For the driven man who's always looking to excel she's the perfect compliment. 

Maxine (Living Single) she was the feminist that had the sex drive of Wilt. She was pro black and she refused to let anyway diminished who she was. She motivates self conscious women to love them selves first.

Florida Evans - I don't want to categorize her as just a wife, but she makes up a lot of the women in black America. She's not to be degraded, but she's a victim of circumstance and lack of opportunity. She will always be loyal, trustworthy, and submissive to a hardworking man. As a woman she does the necessary to take care of herself and home. If she needs to work 2-3 job she will because quit is not in her vocabulary, but due to circumstance and lack of opportunity she falls into that area of reproduced poverty, but she always wants more and expects differently for her seeds.

Pam (Martin) - she is basically your stereotypical angry black woman. Many will say she suffers from Negro Bed Wench syndrome. No matter what you do she is never satisfied. She wants to the out of town trips, Brazilian weave, and expensive bags. She wants more from a man than she can offer as a woman. She's a class hoodrat, she's the definition of boughetto. 

Terri (Soul Food) - She's basically the one who made it from nothing, but feels the need to let everyone know. She portrays her life to be grand on Instagram, but her life is really in shambles when you see past the fake smiles. She values success in dollars and not happiness. 

Bird (Soul Food) - the one who settled. She could have had better, but decided to live as a U- Haul pulling someone else forward.

Cousin Faith - majority of the people who go to hood clubs weekly just for something to do. People like her have decreased the value of their vagina. Women like her sit on Facebook daily gossiping and looking for an opportunity to turn-up. Her kids see their grandma as more of a motherly figure. 

 

 

Turn Down For What

"Turn-up" Action Verb 1 a: To rise to a level of which you're not accustomed.

For the most part majority of us like to believe that we execute complete free-will over the things that we do and that we aren't influenced by outside factors. Hip-Hop has seem to have taken residence in popular music, on not just a national scale, but a global one. For a genre that is approaching its 40th birthday the movement that I love and many other seems to do as well is refusing to act its age.

This culture has this fixation with living on the edge and doing destructive things to themselves that may intially feel good, but we seem to ignore the thought process of taking the time to think what is good for ourselves. We have conditioned ourselves to be a collective that lives to turn-up on the weekend by partying ourselves to an early demise. We've taken society's predetermined revelation that we aren't destined to live by 25, literally. We don't understand that this whole "live it like your last day," is really bringing us closer to our last day.

This obsession with popping pills, taking excessive amounts of alcohol in short periods of time, syrup sipping and etc is leading to our early demise and like hip-hop is keeping us in a infantile state of mind. As a people we must look in the mirror and tell ourselves that it's time to grow up and starting being adults and treat our bodies with more responsibility. 

Do you really want to be the age of 2 Chainz still sending messages on social media asking where's the drank, pills, and the turn-up spot for the weekend? If you don't know what to turn down for ask your liver, brain, heart, and most importantly your future. We are already losing too many of our people to incarceration, poverty, gang violence, AIDS, and diabetes, lets not add the "Turn-Up" to that list. 

The Art of Settling

Mandatory minimums, how many of us have them, or implement those standards when we decide to distribute our time to others? A lot of us seem to accommodate the standards we set for people just because they seem to provide initial happiness in our lives, but we fail to foresee if they can provide longevity to our lives.

God bless the mother of Smokey Robinson because she told him the art of shopping around,  not just for the best bargain, but for someone who can provide you the greatest value. It's essential that you ask yourself, "what can they do for me?" Attractiveness gets our attention initially, but what are those things that keep us drawn to that person over time? Why are you limiting yourself to something that is substandard when it is placed in comparison to you? If you followed the blueprint of a Clair or Heathcliff why are you settling down with a James or Florida?  

We as a people need to understand that in most cases that if you deal with someone you deem as your equal life will be much more joyous down they road, and it'll be less hectic. If you got your 125 credits and your working on your masters, law/med school, or even chasing that doctorate then you've already establish the lane that your in. Why move out of the fast lane to get off on an exit to someone that's 25 and still living for the weekend, chasing corner bar harlots, or concerned with their side bets that they've place on Maury paternity results. If you and your #him/#her are not pushing you to be a better more well rounded person then you are setting your self up short. No matter the outer appearance and how funny they may come across can you see yourself settling down with someone that only wants to talk about, "partying & fashion?" 

When you've been traveling to different parts of the globe and been cultivated with the knowledge of different cultures why limit yourself to people that only knows about a  Chic-Fil-A that is being built in a nearby suburb. The term dealing with your equals does not mean that they have to meet a minimum income attainment, it refers to someone who has the same aspirations and drive that pushes you forward. They should be able to jump start your battery when your engine dies and keep you moving. Your life should not tell a story of you being a U-Haul moving someone else forward. 

After the first meeting and a few key standards abandoned you may have a smile, but foresee 5, 10, 20 years from now, can you honestly see yourself happy? Don't spend your whole life trying to keep someone happy, look for someone who can consistently keep you looking for ways to improve yourself so you can keep up with them and not bring them to down your level.