Are We Helping Fuel Our Own Stereotypes?

     Hi everyone! Yesterday, I talked about emotional bondage. I think a lot about how what we watch and listen to can also cause us certain thoughts that can keep us bound as well. Unfortunately, a lot of black media can seem geared towards reinforcing black stereotypes. I know every year that when the Oscars and other award shows air that there's a lot of uproar about the decrease in black winners or black movies selected for review. There's a lot of different opinions about why this is an issue. Some argue that it's the lack of black films reviewed every year and others feel like it's due to the lack of black movie roles in Hollywood. I feel like we share a responsibility in our writing and filmography not being taken seriously. I don't think it benefits us to limit our talent to only writing urban city drug tales or struggle toxic love stories that include cheating, abuse, manipulation, etc. I'm not saying these are not realistic pieces of inner urban cities, but it doesn't represent a good angle of all Blacks. Some Blacks are working class and deserve representation too. We also have upper class Blacks that hardly ever have any stories written or screenplays showing what life is like. In the 90's, sitcoms thrived at capturing working families and not showing all blacks in projects on welfare. We need the fair representation in media because people make their judgements on our race based on what the media shows them. Showing less angry, sexual, hyper masculine black males and females could also help children not feel they have to fulfill certain archetypes. If we stop showing the successful drug families, then maybe our people wouldn't think selling drugs will lead to be the next El Chapo. Or if we can get people to stop selling themselves short for a Mona Scott check then maybe our women wouldn't think they can use the degrading platform to be the next Cardi B. What if reality tv showed people of color getting degrees and finding good jobs or creating good jobs? What if there were academic scouts to select black scholars instead of wasting scholarship money on people who get injured the first year of college or flunk out because they are determined to keep trying to make black children think that success can only come from being an athlete? Or what if record labels were financial labels that helped black men learn financial literacy and build business enterprises instead of giving young men huge advances that they don't realize has to be paid back with every platinum sale? So you see, every time we bop our head to those trash lyrics about murdering someone or sleeping with someone for one night we are helping destroy our community. When we tune in to those juicy reality shows on Bravo, we are adding another rating to keep our women performing modern day minstrel shows. I know you may be thinking, "That's too extreme" but honestly it's not. We are being portrayed as buffoons entertaining an audience for producers and executives to take a huge check home. We are making it too easy to keep the "Jezebel" stereotype alive when we twerk all over the screen or in people's restaurants. We are sexually objectifying ourselves when we are half undressed and being intimate on tv with multiple counterparts. Yet, we only call out the "Mammy" stereotype when Black men wear dresses. We have to band together and protect our culture with our actions and by choosing to lead productive lives. If we only keep wanting to amount to ambitious street hustlers and gorgeous Instagram models then how will we build our future generations up for success? We can't fight white supremacy, police brutality, systemic racism, etc. if we don't become respectable leaders in our communities. I know we are capable of change, we have to start at home, we have to start with our families, and not keep being afraid to appear different than what society expects us to be!

Until Next Time,

Dx3