People make money off of negative portrayals of blacks. Those people are black and white. From the dealers on the street, to the rappers who represent the street, to the women who make money off the image. Th reality is we need the negativity cuz we feed and eat off of it. I mean italians have a stignma of being mobsters, bt are they runnin out of italians to portray that image, i think not. its a subject that has the right answer, but thta answer aint makin no money.

Yes there is one simple way to do it…start forming our own media outlets..No one else is going to do it..The author is not fond of the statement “blame the white man”..Well, we are indeed to blame for not pushing the positive side of our story, without question, but who else could be to blame for the constant barrage and one sided view of us? and anyone who DOESN’T believe its by design, has not been paying close attention to history!!

Yes, first get rid of all this sites- the urban daily, hello beautiful and news one…. That would be an initial step in diluting the negative topics i get to read on a daily basis. The fact that this site even asks this question is a little disturbing ;-)

yes the only way to change what is viewed in the media is to create black owned media outlets……

..black people depend too much on white people for survival………

as hosea williams used to say ” if u depend on the white man for food u will starve to death”…. white people mostly control food distribution networks, media, banks etc etc.. it all comes down to ownership…

without owener ship there is no poltical power.. and thats where power lies…

as far as i know there is no major black foood distribution network or beauty supply store network……..

for example, asian have their own grocery stores and taxis and car repair shops and latinos and africans have their own store and taxis…..

its all abt ownership……. then if u have ownership then thats when u get respect…….

however most blacks dont have ownership so thats why will never be respected in that sense……. that is why u get conned, hoodwinked, bamboozled and get stepped over….

In regards to Hip-Hop people were making money off of it before it became heavily saturated with the glorification of money, drugs, women, and crime.

no, people are being paid and getting ass off the negativity, there would be less jobs including yours for writing about it without it.

Yeah , Here .

It’s all BET’s fault..they need to be shut down.

I agree with Eazy E. Our community must get stronger. As a whole, many of us do not feel we have made it until we are on the so called main stream level. I for one am guilty. Give back to our community such as counseling, creating black own buisness, and definetily supporting one another instead of putting down others.

Liberal,conservative,media.they do two or three stories on blacks by monthly.and they are always bad and things that white people do to blacks are’nt reported at all.it’s not important and they do’nt report on the true nature of white people.caucasians are suppose to be gods people but they are truly the spawn of evil.bent on destruction.they love creating foolish causes and running them in the ground knowing that the media will report it as though it’s important.more important than blacks suffering through homelessness,starvation,joblessness,less than bad education,police brutality,etc,but the news media does’nt care at all about.they only report on bad things about black people.why did’nt. They report about the black teenager who was set on fire by young white demons trying to kill him,who were charged with nothing but assault.in missouri the black teenager was also charged with assault for being set on fire,where’s the reporting on this story like so many others?we are nothing to the news media,they only do stories to hurt us and that’s all the truth no matter what lies are told to try and cover it up by the news media.all I’m trying to say is that they do’nt really care about us.

i know what would help…stop all these coontastic shows, and that includes the BET awards

Quit the coonery. That Stanky Leg song…can we send the people who sing/made the song to the moon..forever?

I think what needs to happen is what happening right now…and thats people sharing their opinions…i think if we as people can send our opinions to BET and other networks that show black people in a negative stereotype then I think more and more of it can be changed. We as black people should not just sit back and allow this negative point of view to happen you have to share your opinions in order for it to change

TBM

I hear you – BUT. Have you read Tim Wise’s ‘White Like Me”? Have you read Africans In America? Have you read Randall Robinson’s The Debt?

Dude, I know Slavery & Jim Crow is the past, but until I see Amistad and Roots get the same air play that Schindler’s List & Life is Beautiful get – I feel it has not been present enough. Didn’t the Senate JUST NOW apologize formally for slavery? 250 years late? So, I hear you, but what justice is served by the victim forgiving the unrepentant?

HOWEVER, I am not saying that we should get a pass. If we didn’t watch (in droves) the buffoonery sitcoms and booty shaking videos, BET would air what we want to watch. They have to prove to advertisers that we are watching in order to get the millions of dollars in ad money to run that network. BET is what we have made it.

We have some serious issues as a community and there are a myriad causes, but the main problem is this – those that need to change, don’t know that they should and will fight you if you try to suggest it.

Knowledge is pain & Ignorance is Bling.

omg every race has its flaws in the media
whites: gullible and ditsy in movies, on the news they are portrayed as being racist, nobody wants to talk about the people that backed up Obama and MLK and past leaders
asians: some type of corner store clerk or waiter thats having a hard time speaking english
middle easterns: gas station/dollar store
blacks: as people living in messed up conditions who attract nothing but drama thus resulting in that “hood/westside” drama bulls**t
hispanics: bald-headed/tatted up thugs living in messed up conditions with about 30 kids

I mean everything has its flaws in the media, sex and drama sells, if all movies and shows were all about goody-2-shoes then it would be boring! I am sorry but I like to watch a little drama, a little violence, a little sex. I dont think its so much as the media I think people are just upset because what they portray about blacks is whats actually happening in our communities I mean if you so mad then stop biting your tongue and blaming the media and white people, go out into the communities and create an organization. Black men and women talk to your friends and your family about change and how it would affect the community. stop waiting on an 11 year old to get shot to start caring! Besides Obama what and who do you expect to hear about? I am sorry but I am from chicago and blacks are over here acting a fool right now, now imagine if these lost souls had other positive blacks in their lives…hell probably this Burr Oaks crap wouldnt be going on

Great comments everyone.
@ The Symbol- I have read Africans in America and I am familiar with the other two books. I agree with you and yes some of the stuff that happens in our community stems from slavery but once we are aware of it and can acknowledge it. We should make amends to move forward not be still and blame people. What has happened to our race is traumatic and we are overcome alot be there is ALOT of work to be done still. Group Cooperation and Group Initiative is the key.

@ Dainty Jen- You make some great points. The thing that may separate you from other people is that you have a sense of critical thinking where many people take what happens in the media to be face value. People need to have a sense of when to question how things are and not believe everything you read, see or hear.

TBM – I hear you & I’m with you. But really, check out White Like Me if you haven’t already. If nothing else, it will give you something to blog about.

@Everybody – One thing that we should really get up on is History. Like the fact that after WWII this Gov. strongly encouraged the movie industry toward more consistent releases based upon how Hitler was able to control his people thru movies. (Think about it – we’re in a SERIOUS RECESSION. Did you hear the movie industry asking for a bailout? Hollywood consistently LOSES money, and each film on average costs $60 million to make. Think about that. Who subsidizes Hollywood?)

Or consider the Defense Dept’s 1966 commission of 15 scientist as a think tank for alternatives to War as a weapon to control U.S. Citizens. The Report from Iron Mountain which concluded (emphasis added):

“Another possible surrogate for the control of POTENTIAL enemies of society is the REINTRODUCTION, in some form consistent with modern technology and political processes, of SLAVERY…It is entirely possible that the development of a sophisticated form of SLAVERY may be an absolute prerequisite for social control in a world at peace. As a practical matter, conversion of the code of military discipline to a euphemized form of ENSLAVEMENT would entail surprisingly little revision; the logical first step would be the adoption of some form of “universal” military service.” The Report goes on to suggest ways in which the public could be PREOCCUPIED with non-important activities so that it would not have time to participate in political debate or resistance. “Recreation, trivial game shows, pornography, and situation comedies could play an important role, but blood games are the most promising options. Blood games are competitive events between individuals or teams that are sufficiently violent in nature to enable the spectators to vicariously work off their frustrations.”

Like I said, Knowledge is pain.

@ The Symbol-I will check it out. Thanks for dropping the knowledge and insight.