The Black Informant

Misguided anger

“Most notably, while giving much attention to critics of hip-hop videos, Wiltz never mentioned that videos now constitute only about 20 percent of the network’s programming, down from nearly 70 percent just three years ago. Nor does she mention that BET has won seven awards for its news programs in the past year; that BET won the NAACP Image Award for its annual “Celebration of Gospel” (the highest-rated religious program in television the past two years); that BET Networks received an Emmy Award for its long-standing “Rap-It-Up” campaign, which promotes HIV-AIDS awareness; or that the annual BET Awards show has been the No. 1 show in African American households for several years.” (Debra Lee, chairman and chief executive of BET Networks in her response to a Washington Post article criticizing BET)

The BET debate has come up on this site plenty of times in the past. What really gets me about the crowd that is behind protesting anything BET is that they fail to acknowledge the fact that Lee has raised in her comment. And that is music videos (in general) only make up 20 percent of their programing. Out of that 20 percent is a smaller percentage of videos that are apparently offensive to some people out there. Making a sweeping judgment on such a small percentage of programing IMO is plain ridiculous. Don’t like it? Don’t watch it.

In the meantime, the anti-BET coalition seem to not be just as moved to protest other venues where–particularly Black women–are made to look foolish. For example, morning radio shows are known for their zainy, ridiculous and over the line comedy that often comes at the expense of someone making a total fool of themselves for money or a pair of tickets. I remember some years ago radio station Power 99 in Philly having a contest where women competed for some prize by calling the show and performing an orgasam. There there are the endless “Yo’ Mamma” joke contests. Here is another contest I just happened to come across today.

As I have said many of times before, the unfortunate thing is that there is an audience out there for this kind of entertainment. What may be “foolishness” to you is entertainment for someone else. Don’t like it? Protest THEM first and see just how far you will get.

The family: An old institution worth fighting for

Found this on one of my favorite blogs–oldtruth.com

“We are technologically superior to previous generations. But are we losing too much in the process? First we walked, then galloped, then road on rails together. Now we drive, largely alone with the window up, and go home to [air conditioned and heated] homes, only coming out to take out the trash or grab the newspaper. Once we entertained ourselves at home by reading books aloud. In the 1920s, families gathered around the radio. In the 1950s, they gathered around the TV. Now there is a TV in each room. Computers will only make it worse. Once the home was a castle, a place of refuge for the family. When behind its doors, the family conducted its affairs without interruption and without outside influence. Now one can hardly eat a meal or conduct family worship without the phone ringing. Sacrosanct family time is violated daily. Friends and strangers alike barge right into the middle of the family’s most private and intimate moments via technology. Again my question is, is this progress? ”

[…]

“Growing prosperity and technological advancement do not necessarily or automatically mark human progress. I have labored this point because I believe the church has largely failed to recognized the death of family and community or compensate for it. Rather than reaffirm traditional practices that build family life and stimulate community, it has tended to baptize secular trends that do the opposite. The small neighborhood church has given way to the large commuter church. The friendly country parson has been replaced by the suburban CEO/pastor. Older practices such as the “family altar” and the “family pew” have received token attention while new programs have been devised that divide families and segregate the ages. In many ways we have become too clever for our own good.” [Terry L. Johnson from the book “Family Worship: A Resource Book For Family Devotions”] (more…)

There have been many of nights in my household where the laptop, cell phone and television have been permanent fixtures at the dinner table. It all seemed “normal” to me until one day I noticed that saying grace had become reduced to that thing we say before we eat. I especially noticed it with the kids. Prayer at the table coming from them sounded more like a silent mumble that sounded more like they were praying to some statue than the living God who had truly blessed us with the resources to get the food we want and the time we have together.

It did not take long for me to realize that I was the one that needed to make the adjustment, not them. My example at the table was a total joke and I had to do something about it. I have not reached the level of perfection in this department, but looking back we have made some progress.

While blogging can be enjoyable, I oftentimes find that it is easy to miss the true personality of an individual. Depending on the topic, responses to comments are well researched and bullet pointed. However, if you were to actually meet that individual, all the formality is virtually non-existent. And what you are left with is a person who is just as vulnerable, unpolished and nutty as you. Welcome to life beyond the keyboard. (a little off topic here—sorry!)

As much as I love technology, the one thing that will always remain valuable to me is good ol’ face to face conversation. Allowing technology to replace good ‘ol fashioned family time is anything but advancement for the family.

“They took it from us!”

In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, she was expressing her anger about how the Asian community “took away” our share of the Black beauty industry and that they should be made to reinvest some portion of their earnings back into the Black community. Interesting enough, I actually wrote about this very issue back in 2006 (“Are they taking over or did we give them the keys?”). I am going to repost that entire article in a moment, but first, allow me to elaborate a little on a point that was not talked about enough in that particular article.

Living and doing business out here in California has given my wife and I a very interesting perspective on how other ethnic groups do business. From our experience, when it comes to large investments such as buying a home or business it is not uncommon to see how the entire family is pulled into the process. On the flip side, many Blacks that I have encountered over the years usually go into these major investments alone. For the Black-owned businesses I have seen that are successful, the family core played a major role in their success.

Here in southern California, frozen yogurt chains are popping up all over the place. One of the more popular chains is Pinkberry. According to wikipedia, a single store can bring about $250k per month. Guess who is behind this particular trend? You guessed it–Koreans. While this is part of a trend that originated in Korea, they were able to import it here to America and pretty much corner that entire market. Even their competition is Korean-owned. No doubt, there is a concerted effort to keep this business “in-house” (family and community), and from what I have seen they are doing a pretty good job. Again, on the flip side I have seen Black-owned beauty shops and salons either go under or get bought out by Hispanics or Asians for one of two reasons (or both). 1 - Other Black-owned beauty shops/supply stores are seen MORE as a competitor than a co-laborer or in the same field. This oftentimes result in that particular business becoming an island all to itself and 2 - No real concerted effort to control distribution.

Now, as far as the “They took it from us!” accusation, here is what I posted back in 2006.
=========

“Betrayal epitomizes the historical occurrences, which have hindered the recognition and respect of our greatness in the Black Hair Care & Beauty Industry today. Though many groups perpetuate crimes of economic parity, we are found to be the most guilty.

Black Americans handle vast sums of money, but somehow we have been taught to see our-selves as poor people. We are not poor–we just handle money poorly. Out of every dollar we spend, 95 cents is spent outside of our community and only 5 cents of every dollar within our own community…

If, we are in control of our money, we have only ourselves to blame for giving our economic power away. Many of us do not realize how much damage we cause when we choose to spend our money elsewhere. Likewise, we do not realize how economically empowering it can be to spend our money in the community.

Consider that other communities are thriving because they understand this principle. If we continue to choose “lazy economics” instead of “industrious economics” we will succumb to the pressures of the open market. Agressively, capitalizing on economic opportunities and not ALLOWING them to diminish, we improve our communities instantly!” (source unknown).

As a entrepreneur, I really took the issues raised in this documentary to heart. Couple that with reading the excerpt above and it just made it even more difficult for me to sit down to write this post. While the economics of the hair care industry may not be considered “blog material”, as I stated in an earlier posting this industry represents our last great opportunity to secure the financial independence of our community. To not take this issue seriously would be a costly mistake. More »

Deconstructing the “Equal Pay” argument

Steve Chapman wrote the following for Reason Magazine in his article entitled “The Truth About the Pay Gap: Feminist politics and bad economics”

[…]

On its face, the evidence in the AAUW study looks damning. “One year out of college,” it says, “women working full-time earn only 80 percent as much as their male colleagues earn. Ten years after graduation, women fall farther behind, earning only 69 percent as much as men earn.”

But read more, and you learn things that don’t get much notice on Equal Pay Day. As the report acknowledges, women with college degrees tend to go into fields like education, psychology and the humanities, which typically pay less than the sectors preferred by men, such as engineering, math and business. They are also more likely than men to work for nonprofit groups and local governments, which do not offer salaries that Alex Rodriguez would envy.

As they get older, many women elect to work less so they can spend time with their children. A decade after graduation, 39 percent of women are out of the work force or working part time — compared with only 3 percent of men. When these mothers return to full-time jobs, they naturally earn less than they would have if they had never left.

Even before they have kids, men and women often do different things that may affect earnings. A year out of college, notes AAUW, women in full-time jobs work an average of 42 hours a week, compared to 45 for men. Men are also far more likely to work more than 50 hours a week.

Buried in the report is a startling admission: “After accounting for all factors known to affect wages, about one-quarter of the gap remains unexplained and may be attributed to discrimination” (my emphasis). Another way to put it is that three-quarters of the gap clearly has innocent causes — and that we actually don’t know whether discrimination accounts for the rest.

I asked Harvard economist Claudia Goldin if there is sufficient evidence to conclude that women experience systematic pay discrimination. “No,” she replied. There are certainly instances of discrimination, she says, but most of the gap is the result of different choices. Other hard-to-measure factors, Goldin thinks, largely account for the remaining gap — “probably not all, but most of it.” (more…)

Grrrrrrr! (4/30/08)

*Ever since Destiny Child’s song “Bootylicious”, some folks STILL can’t break the habit of placing -licious at the end of anything. It has gotten old and frankly, some folks are too old to be using it in the first place.

*One of my biggest gripes about “unique business opportunities” that are pyramid-based is that you hear from folks who for years would not have given you the time of day. Now all of a sudden we need to “catch up”.

*Americans have been talking about race for years. Now all of a sudden we need to have a REAL discussion on race.

Grrrrrrrr!

The end of smart T.V.

Many years ago, before I was married I bought the anniversary collection of Schoolhouse Rock DVDs for nostalgic purposes. Right smack in the middle of watching my usual lineup of Saturday morning cartoons as a child, I fondly remember seeing these short educational clips of cartoons with a catchy tune that to this very day is still buried deep in my brain (perhaps part of a secret scientific government conspiracy?).

When Schoolhouse Rock became a thing of the past in my high school years, I remember taking a history test which asked me to write down the Preamble. After freaking out for a few minutes, my brain slowly began to recall the lyrics and tune of the Preamble song from Schoolhouse Rock:

Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.?
Do you know about the government?
Can you tell me about the Constitution?
Hey, learn about the U.S.A.

In 1787 I’m told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin’ people free.

The U.S.A. was just startin’ out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.

And they put those principles down on paper and called it the Constitution, and it’s been helping us run our country ever since then. The first part of the Constitution is called the preamble and tells what those founding fathers set out to do.

We the people,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America

Yes, I passed!

Miraculously, that same DVD set I bought years ago has survived and my kids are now in their second honeymoon with this collection. Unfortunately, some of the scratches made some of the clips impossible to watch, so I just paid the $12-13 and bought them a brand new copy the other day.

As your body grows bigger
Your mind grows flowered
It’s great to learn
Cause knowledge is power!

It’s Schoolhouse Rocky
That chip off the block
Of your favourite schoolhouse
Schoolhouse Rock!

Related link(s)

Schoolhouse Rock Lyrics
Schoolhouse Rock (home)

Legacy of slavery or just a poor self image?

Recently, I came across the following video (I believe this is the program my wife was telling me about last week–just thinking out loud) that caused me to take some pause. Check it out.

Not too long ago I took my kids (and the neighbor’s kids) to the local toy store. My daughter was the only girl in the group, so I stuck with her as she browsed the “girl section” (as she calls it). For whatever reason, I decided to do an impromptu doll test on her. I took two of the same Barbie dolls (one was White and the other was Black) and sat them on the shelf next to each other. I asked her some of the same questions the brutha on the video asked those children. Each time, without hesitation, my daughter chose the Black doll.

Now I do remember not too long ago talking about on this site how for a short time my daughter used to tell us that she wanted hair like her White classmates. My wife and I (mostly my wife) spent some quality time with her reinforcing the uniqueness of her hair. No we didn’t strap her down to a chair in a dark room while repeatedly showing her the first 15-20 minutes of the movie Coming to America. Instead, my wife would invite her to look through some of her Black hair magazines, Essence and Ebony to show her images of other beautiful Black women and their **cough** weaves **cough** (I mean) hair . Today, she is a very confident girl who loves her hair.

While the portrayal of Blacks in the media is something that should never be taken lightly, as a parent I do not rely on the media to help formulate self esteem for my kids. Getting a Black face in front of Vogue magazine is not nearly important to me as a child that does not have a support system who can help formulate a sense of worth. And Lord knows, we have MANY children who do not have such a support system.

The other day I ran into a gentleman (Black, probably in his mid-50’s or so) who began to tell me and my friend who was with me at the time about how just when he was about to enjoy his golden years with his wife, his son fathers a child that he simply is not in the frame of mind to care for. Long story short, this gentleman had to intervene and get custody of the baby because A. the mother was not caring for the child at all (feeding the child spoiled milk, feces around the apartment, etc.), B. The son did not want to work–leaving the child in a total state of uncertainty. So this gentleman did what any caring parent would probably do in the same situation–he fought to get custody of his grandchild. My heart really went out for this brutha because grandparents are not supposed to be raising kids. As a parent of two young kids myself, I know how much time they can take away from mommy and daddy’s time. Since he lives in my community, I offered to help watch this child from time to time (with my wife of course) so that they can have at least a few hours or so to steal away with each other. While I cannot be a father to this child, I can certainly do something to help this child feel some sense of worth. It may not be much, but it is better than nothing.

The doll test will always be something that will cause our blood to boil. But unless we are willing to hold each other accountable to the plight of these kids and not mainstream media, the issue of poor self image will always haunt our offspring.