In 2007 Black Entertainment Television aired a single called "Read a Book." The creators of this cartoon music video said it was meant to be a satire of African American stereotypes and was a part of their "literacy program."
This video starts with a cartoon rapper named D’Mite rapping about the benefits of reading books. Suggestions to brush teeth, not spend money on expensive car rims and use deodorant followed suit.
The song makes use of a plethora of politically incorrect words and we see images of gyrating women with the word “book” written on the back of their low-slung pink pants. The video also showed a man spanking a woman, a woman's bottom on a magazine called "Blaxim," and black men shooting guns loaded with books, implying all black people are violent. Finally, the song says black people should learn to "raise their kids."
I get it. It's a satire. A parody. But What I do not get is why something like this would be shown in the middle of the day, on BET, with young children watching. Apparently, the video was intended for BET’s demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds, but who was monitoring whether it was indeed that demographic that was watching the video?
The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times covered this story and the video was played on national broadcast stations as well.
I think when a television channel decides to air such controversial videos they need to keep in mind who the stakeholders are. One of the stakeholders in this case would be the African American community. If I were African American, I would not find this amusing or funny or educational in any way. I would be offended. It stereotypes every black person out there and that is honestly, quite unfair.
Airing this video late at night would be one thing, but to show it during the day shows the producers at BET had no regard for the viewers at all. It seems like an ethical temptation to me. It is right to enjoy the freedom of expression and make a satire out of existing stereotypes, but one needs to keep in mind levels of decency, especially when children are involved and may be watching.
2 comments:
I remember this video and I agree completely. If they really wanted to discuss or stress the importance of education, they probably should have tried a documentary for that particular age range. Instead, they enforced ignorance and common African-American stereotypes with this show.
Debra Lee, the President and CEO of BET, usually makes pretty wise decisions on what to air and what not to air. For the past few years though, I haven't watched BET because of the decisions she has been making, including this particular one.
RE
Most would agree that BET's decision could not be justified. Thanks for including the link which tried to elevate the discussion on what was a pretty low brow topic.
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