[playwirevid id=’3444083′]
Video by CNN
What people are saying
4 thoughts on “Dr. Boyce Watkins Sets The Entire Don Lemon Panel Straight On Why ‘Empire’ Is Not A Win For Black People”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Related Stories
It never ceases to amaze me when, they ask you a question and then, the entire panel chews up your time by not letting you speak. I can understand how Dr Watkins feels and, I can also understand how the folks that don’t agree with Dr Watkins feel. Let me start by saying, I love my people and I am a historian so, I know (as well as most people, so, don’t get me wrong, I am not talking down to anyone), our history did not begin with slavery. WE taught the Greeks civilization and, we are the people who gave the WORLD mathematics, science, phonetics, ground breaking inventions, medicine, the religions etc. I can go on and on…. And after all we have been through as a people, with being enslaved and all that and having to deal with inequalities, adversities and fight, scrape and die to reclaim our dignity , I believe, that we are ALL hungry to see more positive images of us on the screen. And to me, all these so called reality TV shows doesn’t help. We can all say well, the white folks had Dynasty or Dallas but, they had 50 other shows BACK THEN (most of what’s on TV today is wild) that were either family oriented or, just your basic TV show whether it be comedy or drama they had a balance. So, when Dallas and Dynasty came on, you could sit there and go, ok, now it’s time to watch the juicy hard hitting trifling stuff. Where’s our 50, where’s our balance. So that’s my main issue. We have been flooded with these shows where we are fighting each other, calling each other Bitches or with a drink in our hand every other scene and what not and it just gets repetitive I’m not saying it don’t happen I’m just saying, we can use a little more balance around here. And , I don’t ever recall any cursing on Dallas or, Dynasty. Some people let their children watch Empire.
BUT, I also know that acting is an art and, it is about characterization and there can be a place for a show like Empire I just don’t want us to be stuck in some of these roles we play. I know for a fact, that the actors themselves want more positive roles but, the network executives run the show and as the saying goes, you do have to put food on the table. All in all, although I do have some issues with the show it is what it is,….. one crazy intense rollercoaster riding soap opera.
We in the black community know that this show does not reflect who we truly are as a people but when we are being offered little balance in what we watch and we are pretty much being depicted in ths manner across the tube, other people who watch will think that this is the way we truly act and any respect we fought to regain can be lost. But what can you expect, they were in Hustle and Flow. I mean, Hard out here for a pimp wins an Oscar REALY………..Hotep and peace.
What Dr Boyce is saying is probably that the same effect could be delivered with black people representing nobility…heading a law firm, as scientists, owning banks etc (positions of power). But no, we are shown only in positions of selfish hate designed to entertain white folks. Never that, if they invested in us they fear we would invest in ourselves.
When black people see it, we understand it is a show with fictional characters. White America only see the images of dysfunctional blacks (entertainment at one point in history called coonery) repeat itself. These are the same images we know historically started the idea that black people love chicken and watermelon, amongst the other numerous stereotypes we still see today.
There are those that are black, growing up believing this is the way you act to become successful. That's why we currently have so much negative hip hop music. When this behavior becomes monetized it becomes destructive.