Same Ole, Same Ole
The show does nothing to advance the perception of Blacks or alter how Blacks are viewed by non-Blacks across the world. Every show does not and cannot project the true image of working-class Blacks who are law-abiding, hard-working and committed to family. That’s a more accurate reality of Black life. But the all-too-pervasive visual of African-Americans as drug dealers or former drug peddlers has been overdone, and each time it is done it re-enforces a false narrative about who Black people are as a whole. It is a reason globally that Blacks are viewed less favorably than any other race. The gangster/philanderer/murderer role more recently was done in the Showtime network show, Power — and it was done much better and smarter. “I can’t tell you everything that Dr. (Martin Luther) King and our ancestors wanted for our people,” social commentator Boyce Watkins said, “(but) I can certainly say that it had nothing to do with the crap we’re seeing in modern American media.”
