Hidden Racism...........Not REALLY Hidden

I've been into so much these past couple of weeks that I didn't realize that I had laid off of the blog for so long. BUT.........Here I am. 

Listening to the Tom Joyner Morning Show they used to (Not sure if they still do) have a bit that they did called "Hidden Racism".  The object of the bit is that........................ people of color all over the nation will call in and talk about things that we as African Americans can see and we experience as "racism" in the this day and age.  It's a funny but true bit.  Well I have scoped out a "hidden racism" that I would like to talk about.

I know that I have told you all how much I love watching On Demand Cable.  Well I found a show that caught my fancy.  The name of the show is called "Parenthood" and it airs on NBC.  Now first let me tell you the positives.  I think that it is a very good series.  Not as hard hitting and gritty as I usually like ( The Shield, Southland, Mad Men, are more my speed) But this show has heart and depth and I like the characters and the writing.   BUT..........I believe that the writers have to ALL be white or if they are not then they have the proverbial "Uncle Tom" on the writing team.  And this is why I say this.   I give the show credit for TRYING to incorporate African Americans into the show and show us in a more positive NON gangster judgemental way.  And I DO have to say that they succeed on THAT level.  BUT...........what this show does not understand is that by showing us the way that they ARE showing us.........is just as bad.  

The show stars Joy Bryant as "Jasmine" and guest stars Michael B.Jordan as Alex.  Now Joy Bryant's character is dating a white guy named Crosby.  Now this is what is hidden about the racism in this storyline. Jasmine (Joy Bryant) is dating Crosby.......BUT the thing about Crosby is that he is the "flaky guy" of the family.  He is the silly bohemian guy who always screws up and doesn't have his life together.  He and Jasmine have a six-year old child together..............BUT..........Crosby didn't know about the child at first.  Jasmine "sprang it on him" later on.  Now there are other more stable couples on the show.  It seems to me--a black person, that what they are saying is that Crosby's bohemian lifestyle is what yielded him to finding this black woman.  And then they show her as this controlling overbearing  troll who has messed up her engagement to Crosby and now her overbearing ways has them broken up. 

The Michael B. Jordan ( Alex) storyline is just as infuriating.  Alex is an emancipated ( meaning he got divorced from his parents while he was still a minor and lives on his own) teenager.  He works as the manager of a soup kitchen that Haddie a sixteen year old student body president volunteers in.  Of course Haddie 16 falls for Alex 19.  Now Alex is in Alcoholics Anonymous and has no High School diploma due to his hard lifestyle..........but his lifestyle has made him this strong morally upright person.  BUT STILL Haddie's family tells her that Alex is too old for her and they are worried about the fact that he did not graduate from high school. 

Now let me say this.  When I attended high school a very very short time ago.  I must say that I never once ran into the kind of young man that is portrayed in this TV show.  And what upsets me is that I met MANY young men who were smart, who lived with their parents, who were not affiliated with ANY type of gang activity.  Who were REGULAR teen guys.  But no one was able to write that kind of guy into the show.  And I know black women who date white guys ( me being one of them) and many of the white guys are just regular men with 9 to 5 jobs and who don't have a convoluted storyline of being together because they had a mystery child together.  

All I am saying is that the show is written as though they embrace black people.  And I believe to SOME degree they DO believe in black people.  But what I hate is that I believe that white writers have a hard time writing for black people because they have a impossible time believing that our lives look JUST LIKE THEIR LIVES.........except that we are a different race. 

Why couldn't Jasmine (Joy Bryant) meet the brother who goes to work everyday and takes care of his family and is a good moral man, and has the financial means to take care of his wife and children and still have money in the bank?  Because there is a brother like that on the show.  Why does Jasmine have to be with the screw up bohemian brother.  Because what the show is REALLY saying is that the only reason why Crosby is engaged to this black girl is because he lacks focus and character. 

Why does Alex HAVE to be this social stooge?  How come he can't be a regular normal guy who happens to meet a white girl that he likes.  How come he has to meet this upwardly mobile over achiever who sees his good heart and wants to rescue him? 

I am sure that the writers of Parenthood think that they have done an excellent job of portraying black people in a positive light.  And I will say that they have portrayed us in the not so traditional negative light of pimps, whores, gangsters, and other inadequacies................but this is not us either.

So, I say all of that to say this...................I am encouraging those of us who write and direct to keep on writing and fighting and keep on researching and working on telling our own stories.  No one knows us like we know us.  And no one can capture us like we can capture us.  We of course have BET, and now we have TV One and Centric.  These stations are playing re-runs of old black shows.  Let those of us who write get together and create more shows.  There are a billion story in the black/African American experience.............let's tell them correctly.  No more Hidden Racism

Talk to you all later.....................