I saw the timelines of my various social media feeds lighting up on Sunday night in support of the Black Girls Rock! Awards ceremony on BET. Independent of BET, Black Girls Rock! is a "non-profit youth empowerment and mentoring organization established to
promote the arts for young women of color". I wholeheartedly support the concept and efforts of the organization. As a matter of fact, click here to donate. This post isn't about the organization, and I will catch the program on re-broadcast. However, I was perplexed by the posts/status messages condemning those people who were choosing to watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta premiere on Bravo and denouncing the representation of Black women.
My mental response was... after the two hour award show is over, BET is still going to be BET -- folks have short memories. How is anyone judging Bravo or people who watch the Housewives shows on Bravo? Isn't this the same channel that has been responsible for aiding and abetting the denigration of Black women thru the airing of our misogynistic music videos? Considering that, is there irony in choosing to partner with BET to broadcast women's empowerment program?
Admittedly, I haven't watched BET on a regular basis since the late 1990's with the exception of the occasional awards program (which they produce well) and their comedies ("The Game" and "Reed Between The Lines"). Honestly, I think that the writing and production value on the shows still leave a lot to be desired, but is it time to at least give them a collective "C+ " for trying after 30+ years? Better yet, why wouldn't we be holding Viacom (BET's parent company) to task for the quality of the programming? If you look at their other brands, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon to name a few... and the resources and quality of the production (not necessarily the content) it is a wonder why BET doesn't receive the same.
Overall, I'm trying to find out...has anything changed on the network? Do I still have a reason to hate BET?
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