The Joy Luck Club Is Coming Too

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/us/23smuggle.html
When protesters argue against illegal immigration - do they really only mean Mexicans (Central and South Americans)?

Everybody Loves Raven

There was once a time when the town's doctor was the most respected man in any town.
His education and relative wealth were seen as proof of his superiority.
But today there are many professions which generate more income than being an M.D..
When I asked whether The Cosby Show would still be seen as a "white show" if produced today - I was really talking about the perception of today's children and the effect the show would have on their own expectations in life.

In the young family of That's So Raven, Raven's mother is in law school and her father becomes the executive chef to the president.
By the time this family's children reach the age of Cosby's Cassandra, they should be even more acculturated and assimilated into the perceived mainstream.
I asked a group of young children whether Raven was a "white show" or not.
All of the kids said "No", but that the family was just (relatively) rich.

When I asked the same group of children the same question about The Cosby Show the answer was the same.
Maybe today's kids have seen enough episodes of MTV Cribs and seen a more broad representation of minorities within popular media to understand that being Black is not limited to being hood.
(And all of these kids were straight hood.)

Would The Cosby's

Still be thought of by many Blacks as being "Too White" by today's standards?

Tribalism

Sometimes I run night clubs.
As the Summer weather becomes more and more hot, I have no desire to sweat through the humid days of Southeast Texas doing construction work.
(Although I'll keep a few projucts going in order to keep young cousins employed and out of trouble.)
To ensure gainful employment in an air conditioned environment, sometimes I'll elect to do work for club owners who need my assistance in developing a concept, setting and meeting sales goals and in the training of staff.

This year is expected to be a busy one.
In addition to my other projects, I have partnered with a furniture restoration business to run a showroom featuring their finished products.
We will feature Mid-Cent-Mod and other antiques from different eras.
A few years ago I set up and ran the only long lived full service nightclub in our area.
Since that time. many club owners have sought my aid in developing and running a successful night spot.
I turn down more offers than I accept based on anything as simple as; the way owners treat their employees, an owner's philanthropic efforts, or even the type of car an owner may drive.

This year I am running one spot while doing consulting work for two others.
Is this a conflict of interests?
Nope.
Each spot plans to cater to a slightly different demographic and each spot is working with different resources.
My most hands-on effort is with the most needy of these groups.

"The success of each club will benefit the others."
But no group of owners seems to see things this way.
Each group assumes that there is a limited pool of patrons which should be exploited to the maximum potential.
One spot caters to Blacks 21 and older,
another caters to Blacks 30 and over,
while another is integrated with a 30 and over spot upstairs, a restaurant downstairs with a Bill E. Bob bar in another area.

Each owners group spends heavily trying to make the other spots look bad.
But in this scenario - only the local radio stations benefit.
Each spot tries to draw customers from the others in numbers to the point that none of them is able to service the guests they contain on a packed night.
This leaves patrons broke and disappointed - and owners broke and bitter.

The smart method is for each group to focus on what they really want.
The smart thing would be for each club to turn those away which they do not serve and recommend one of the other spots as an alternative.
This way, each spot does cheaper advertising for the next while maintaining good relationships with their complimentary competitors.
Each spot is able to focus on doing their one thing well (instead of doing several things poorly) thus increasing the value of their product and the likelihood of their success.

You Know You Wanted To Too

When I was a kid - I had a big mouth.
Sometimes I would talk ish to the wrong adult and I would end up getting a good old fashioned butt kickin' from a grown man.

I quickly learned to signal one of my younger brothers so he could run home to get my step-dad for backup.

My step father was a big, old fashioned, country, military man who did not play.

My step father would first beat the grown man trying to fight me, and then beat me for talking back to an adult.

I was (sometimes) a bad little niglet - but nothing like these kids today.

When the Houston teacher squared up on that little kid and commenced in beatin' that ass, there were probably thousands of teachers cheering in approval.

The Game Has Changed

Fake tiddies and all - Tamron Hall is a baad b----.
But what made Ms Hall (and the litany of other Black newscasters) possible was the changing perception of Blacks.
Not just by those of a certain demographic - but a changing view of Blacks themselves.
There was once a time when a Black man wouldn't believe anything was true unless someone from a certain demographic told them so.
The Black way (method, concept or opinion) was viewed by most as being inferior.
But what changed all this.
Well... there is no one thing in particular - only seminal moments which seemed to change the direction of the social pendulum.

In the future, many will point to the election of Barack Obama as one of these moments.
If a Black man with an odd name could actually accomplish the impossible (being elected POTUS) - how much more could Blacks accomplish that was possible?

Fat, Black, poor, ugly, abused and from the South - Oprah never should have become OPRAH.

When the "O" announced her retirement - networks and syndicators began to scramble to find her replacement.

Who was the last person to have this big an impact on an entire time slot of the popular media?

Johnny Carson?

Cosby playing a doctor on television was seen a a false representation of Blacks - While a Black Surgeon general is now seen as something to be expected.

The Sunday news shows were once filled with only a certain demographic with the occasional guest expected to only be expert in topics concerning their own ethnic group (Jessie, Al Sharpton, ...).

Today, Donna Brazile goes up against the big boys on any topic.

Was I mad when LarryKing stated that his son said that he wanted to be Black because "Black people were cool"?

Hell no.

To many from the current generation - everything and everyone they see has a Black face on it.

(Even the Republican Party)

If the current perception of Blacks is this high from those of other groups - how much more will it influence the perception of young Blacks concerning themselves?

With this new "can do" mentality - won't the next generation ignore all of the "only white people can do/have/know that" nonsense usually passed from one generation to the next?

Armed with this mentality and the proper preparation - won't the next generation be better off than those who chose to settle for the scraps given them by those they served?

People can whine about the effect Obama has had on the lives of Blacks all they want.

But this thinking is short sighted.

The real question is, "How will the election of Obama effect those from future generations?"

The Imagery Has Changed

I used to watch The Cosby Show just to catch a glimpse of Lisa Bonet.
But for many, the show was seen as a false example of life within a middle-class Black family.
Many Blacks couldn't imagine a family of Blacks who had an education, good jobs and good credit and who didn't live in the ghetto, have a teenage pregnancy or speak in Ebonics.
For many, the Cosby Show was viewed as Blacks "acting white".

For many of a certain demographic - the pre-Cosby television landscape was pristine and idyllic.

Top Rated Television Shows 1983-84
Dallas
60 Minutes
Dynasty
The A-Team
Simon and Simon
Magnum P.I.
Falcon Crest
Kate & Allie
Hotel
Cagney & Lacey
Knot's Landing
ABC Sunday Movie
ABC Monday Movie
TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes
After MASH
The Fall Guy
The Love Boat
Riptide
The Jeffersons
Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Mr. T (The A-Team) was a cartoon character, TC (Magnum PI) owned a helicopter service, Sherry Belafonte (Hotel) was some type of service manager, Issac (The Love Boat) was a bartender, and George Jefferson was a buffoon.
Pre-Cosby, the range of Black characters (or any characters of color) was limited to that of what television executives imagined other ethnic groups to be.

Top Rated Television Shows 1984-85
Dynasty
Dallas
The Cosby Show
60 Minutes
Family Ties
Simon & Simon
Murder She Wrote
Knot's Landing
Falcon Crest
Crazy Like A Fox
Hotel
Cheers
Riptide
Magnum PI
Newhart
Kate and Allie
NBC Monday Movie
highway to Heaven
Night Court

Many said that Cosby was unrealistic.
Why?
Were Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest or Knot's Landing closer to the realities of white viewers than was Cosby's reality to that of Black viewers?
Were all white people really rich and glamorous while all minorities were just paid servants?

Top Rated television Shows 2010
Dancing With The Stars
American Idol (Performance)
American Idol (Results)
NCIS
The Mentalist
NCIS
CSI
Survivor
The Good Wife
Criminal Minds
Dancing With The Stars (Results)
The Big Bang Theory
Glee
Jessie Stone
Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Castle
...

Today, Blacks don't just play doctors on television - some even write and create the shows about doctors (Grey's Anatomy) which have multi-ethnics casts.
Besides Desperate Housewives - name a top rated show which has no one of a darker hue playing a central part?
Sure, some can say that Cosby didn't matter, that it was only a television show, that it had no effect on ones day-to-day life.
But the real impact could not be immediately measured.
The real impact wasn't only that it may have changed the way others view Blacks.
The real impact was on the way more Blacks came to view themselves.
It was this shift in imagery which made it possible for many to imagine and then pursue a life beyond that which was dictated by society.

The Game Has Changed

Back in the early '80's tennis was dominated by Chris Everet and Martina Navratalova.
Tennis attire and it's players were mostly white.
The game was viewed by most as a somewhat elite sport played by whites with means.
But this was all pre-Cosby.

As a result of the imagery ignored or rejected by many Blacks - other Blacks saw themselves as more than the limited stereotypes shown in the popular media.
In 1984: The BYU Cougars won their only national championship in college football, the Boston Celtics won the NBA title, and Fuzzy Zoeler won the US open in golf.
In 2010: Alabama won the BCS title, The (Black) Celtics will win the NBA title, and Fuzzy's hated usurper is the biggest news in golf.

Today's elite athletes enjoy all of perks of a capitalist society.
Venus Williams makes money on the tennis court as well as from her sponsors (Wilson, EA Sports, American Express, Oreo, Powerade Zero and Sega) and endorsement deals.
All of this from a girl from South Central in sport seen by previous generations as "Acting (Being) White".

It's Been A While...

...since I got some love from a blog award.
I guess the respected blogger KIT of Keep It Trill http://keepittrill.blogspot.com/ ran out of blogs to hand out this award to so she settled on mine.
Apparently I'm allowed to pass this award on to the blogs I read which I think are worth a look;
(Am I allowed to pass it back to her?)

FreeMan of FreeMan Press http://freemanpress.wordpress.com/ writes about solutions to problems which are constantly raised when trying to uplift the race.
Believe me - we disagree on method a lot but both of us are working towards the same goal.

Reggie of Reggie's Rantings http://reggiesblogspotrantings.blogspot.com/ seems to be more conversational than didactic.

It's like talking ish at the corner bar or barbershop.

Kay Dub of Sky, Soil & Everything... http://konwomyn.blogspot.com/ ain't no joke.

Her spot is interesting, intelligent and nice to just look at.

Then there's SeeNew of Subrealism http://subrealism.blogspot.com/ .

Did you score lower than a 170 on the LSAT, a 35 on the ACT, or a 2300 on the SAT?

Well, you might have problems here.

I've been hella busy for the past two weeks and haven't been able to read his posts as much as I'd like and I already feel as though I'm a year behind in post-grad.

Also thought about:

DeeVee is usually a fun read with a lot of action on the ensuing threads.

But since the death of Mills - the diversity of opinion has diminished.

Most of the current posts champion a myopic view of materialism which will just replicate our current social, political and economic states.

But when the ish starts flying - no other blogger can stir up mess between the most erudite bloggers like DeeVee can.

brohammas is fairly insightful on his views from his travels but he doesn't link to other blogs on his site so I wasn't sure if I could link to his.

The odd thing is - I just started writing these posts because I had/have more questions than answers.

Most of the time I'm just using a regula falsi approach when broaching a subject in the hopes that someone will steer me in the right direction.

Most posts are just a starting point and not the final answer.

Most of the posts are as short and simple as possible and written in a colloquial manner.

Is each post coherent or related to a previous post to form a cohesive pattern of thought?

Umm... well, not usually.

So "Thank You" KIT for stopping by and sharing some love.