B.E.T. Doesn't Care About Black People

               B.E.T. (Black Entertainment Television) probably wouldn't be the first channel that would come to mind when you think of thought provoking television, but is their lack of social consciousness and ignorance of important issues actually hurting the people that watch their programming. My views are that the minds of our youths are being slowly dumbed down by all the garbage on this channel. One of the reasons I believe this to be true is because they have stated that certain lyrical hip hop artists are "too intelligent for B.E.T.". The fact that they determine what the kids are hearing on music shows like "106 & Park", shows that everything that they are playing is lacking in any clever content. When artists like "Little Brother" and "De La Soul" are intentionally left off of the channels music playlists, it shows that they only want artists from major labels with dumbed down lyrics and ridiculous amounts of jewelery.
                Clearly I'm not alone in my frustration of B.E.T.'s programming. Aaron McGruder, creator of the comic strip and animated series, "The Boondocks", used his cartoon to poke fun at the network's expense. In the episode "The Hunger Strike", The main character, Huey Freeman, goes on a hunger strike until B.E.T. agrees to shut down the network. The episode takes a satyrical look behind-the-scenes on how a show is made, The network execs reveal that B.E.T. stands for Black Evil Television, and the slogan "B.E.T. Sucks!" is chanted by a number of the characters in the show. Another episode titled, "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show", depicts the black bigot ,Uncle Ruckus, who is racist against his own kind, getting a reality show on B.E.T. At the end of the episode, he gets a DNA test that determines that he is indeed black (shocker) and is devastated by the results. While both of these episodes were satirical and not meant to cause an actual uproar, B.E.T. had both episodes pulled when they filed a lawsuit that wouldn't allow them to be seen on television.
               As a white man, I know that a lot of black people wouldn't want me commenting on black issues like these, but when it is affecting all of us the way it is with our childrens' futures being determined by what they see on television. MTV isn't exempt from these criticisms either, but B.E.T. decided that they are to determine what an entire race of people should be watching. With a lot of poor, inner city kids seeing nothing but drugs, guns, alcohol, and money every time they turn on 106 & Park, what kind of life does all this imagery lead to? What I'm really trying to convey in this post is that by calling their network Black Entertainment Television, that they are actually hurting the perception of black people in America, and by continuing to play their derogatory programming, will corrupt and condemn our future generations. Also, by playing their current brand of programming, they are continuing to reinforce the stereotypes that previous generations have tried so hard to shed. But since cash is king, I guess that this racism will continue.

Songs to sway you: B.E.T. Sucks Edition
Sound Providers and Asheru- For Old Time's Sake
Mos Def- Umi Says
Boot Camp Clik- Headz Aint Ready