BET vs OWN

Yesterday, AOL Blackvoices tweeted our the headline "BET Founder Shelia Johnson Says OWN Network Lacks Diversity." The first thought that crossed my mind was that BET has some nerve criticizing Oprah. (I know that BET did not say this, but this was my first thought) I then thought to myself is it worse to have a network that lacks diversity or perpetuates negative stereotypes. BET has come a long way from the days of Teen Summit, and if I recall correctly Sheila was there during the regime of the transition from television's version of Ebony Magazine to a hypersexualized Black version of MTV. Whether she like the direction of the television Network or not, she was there to watch the demise of something that could have been great for our community. Although BET is not all booty shaking all the time, the older and more educated you get the more difficult it is to sympathize with many of the things that have aired throughout time. One could argue that BET is not doing anything that MTV has not done; but that would be equating Black people and the perceptions involved in Black culture with that of White culture. Unfortunately, our American history does not allow Blacks to be individuals unless they are deemed examples of exception. Negative imagery of Black people is portrayed as examples of all Black people (especially to people who do not have the opportunity to get to know Black people).

As my father and countless other Black parents tell their children, you are not afforded the same privileges because of the color of your skin; therefore, you must be twice as good to get just as far. In terms of Oprah's lineup, I am not a person who believes that only people of color can share stories about people of color. Sometimes diversity is best spread by people who look similar to the people who need the message most. In college, I took a lot of diversity courses where students did not take the time to listen to the ideas of the professors of color, but when Tim Wise (a White person who speaks about White privilege) came to class and told them of their White privilege everything seemed to click. His presence for one night, made a bigger difference than months of discussion and seminars had done in 3 years. I will reserve my opinion on Oprah's choices until I have time to see more content.

Check out Oprah's OWN Website here.

N is for - Slave

To be honest, I do not remember all of the details of Huckleberry Finn; but whenever the title comes to mind, I think to myself "I like that book." There has been great controversy in schools about the use of a book like Huck Finn which includes the word nigger hundreds of times, but I do not quite understand the controversy. Yes, nigger is not a politically correct word. Why? Because it was used for hundreds of years as a demeaning word for Blacks during slavery and it is still used today. But, never fear! New South Books has come up with the perfect solution: change the word nigger to slave. Completely re-write history, and the problem is solved. Huck Finn is now A ok for the classroom.

First off the world slave and nigger are not interchangeable words. Both of these words have their own distinct history. The fact that someone that of this "solution" is a slap in the face to our American history. No our history is not always great despite what you might read in your glossed up history books, and changing Huck Finn is another form of removing discrimination and hatred from our history. The problem with changing history is that it creates a false understanding of the present. Imagine a generation of children who do not understand the complexities of the word nigger. At this moment of time, I have plenty of intelligent associates who know the history of the word and think that race is not an issue. I can only imagine how bad tolerance and understanding will become if we continue to erase the foundations of our past.

For me, the bigger issue with using books with this type of language in the text is the classroom behavior. This is largely dependent upon the teacher who is guiding the conversation for the students. When I was younger our teacher prefaced the book with the history of the word nigger, and we had a conversation about classroom etiquette. No student, regardless of race, was allowed to use the N word while reading the book out of respect for the classroom and our peers. We all survived, and we all learned a lesson. Protecting your children from the truth will not make them better people. Hiding this truth only leads to ignorance, misunderstanding, and disrespect.

Happy New Year!!!!!!

As I rang in the New Year with one of my best friends from college, we couldn't help but realize that we are turning 25 this year. In our last year of college we all laid on my bed and described the things that we wanted to be doing by the time that we were 25 like a checklist:

Living in our own (check)
Engaged to our special someone
Finished with Graduate School (check)
Starting out our careers (check)
Feel somewhat stable and established
And various other I will be doing and I will not be doing.

4 years have brought us love, loss, degrees, hard work, a recession, student loans constant re-evaluations, and most importantly reality checks! I have always felt that the age 25 is more of a distinguished age and time in life. Anyone who is close with me will know that I constantly say with a bit of sarcasm that once you are 25 you're old. My parents who are nearly 50 ask what I think of them , and I joke that they are ancient, but in all reality I do believe that 25 is a monumental age in one's life.

I see many of my friends having what I like to call a quarter life crisis. They can't find jobs, aren't sure if they should go to graduate school, are in graduate school but thinking maybe I chose the wrong career, and my female friends are feeling their internal clocks ticking to find that right someone and settle down. So how am I dealing with my quarter life crisis? By going through a bit of a selfish phase! I think at this point in my life, I have rid myself of most of my friends who bring too much drama, stick close to the people who I love and cherish, and continue to work hard to build a career that I can be proud of. I have realized that I can not be everything to everyone, and I have grown to accept that. Right now I am selfishly in a happy place. As I look back on the life that I thought I would have by 25, I have accomplished a lot of the things that were on my checklist and I have laughed at the fact that some of those things were even on my list.

So for the new year, I will continue to be no one else but me. A constantly evolving, laughing, loving caring, hard working me. No resolutions but to continue down the path that I have created for myself and have enough sense to continue to learn in order to keep growing. Happy New Year everyone!