Black Exploitation Television: Another Player In The Game Of Minority Misreprese

To be clear, what is at issue here is not the lack of representation of black people on the network but the representations themselves. In all actuality the problem of minority misrepresentation is arguably a matter of perception than anything else. To illustrate, according to a small study released in 2002 by researchers at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University, in the nearly 70 hours of Canadian programming examined, visible minorities made up 12 per cent of 1,200 characters not far below the actual percentage of visible minorities in the national population; but, it's the way these minorities are represented that comes under fire [2]. Researcher Shane Halasz goes on to clarify the issue in that "what we're seeing is a very superficial level of inclusion with characters that aren't too central to the story line."

Specifically as it relates to B.E.T., the implied undertone to its programming is that it's for black people, by black people, to reflect that which is and has been "lacking" from the mainstream media, and to combat the issues mentioned above regarding minority representation. However, as Howard University's newspaper The Hilltop astutely notes, "shows like Comic View, 106 and Park, and How I'm Living are the archetypes of B.E.T. programming. They may be entertaining, but there is so much more to our [black] people than twenty-four inch rims, the chicken head dance, and mastering the art of bling-blinging" [3]. Why is it assumed that an all black network will be a diamond in the rough when despite the representation, its content is equally, if not more so a misrepresentation than that in the mainstream?

For those of you not familiar with the shows mentioned, they are, as The Hilltop suggests, literally archetype B.E.T. programs which air on a daily basis. They focus on black entertainment news, the musical genres of R & B, and Hip-Hop, and in "How I'm Living" we are given a glimpse into what these black entertainers and athletes actually do with their money.

For the life of me I have yet to understand how a network can stake claim to any sort of legitimacy when ninety per cent of its programming implicitly serves to exploit old adage stereotypical black behaviours. A bird's eye view of B.E.T. suggests to the outside world that not only are black people obsessed with "urban" music [see black means urban too] but our total existence is an all-consuming, uncompromising love affair with misogyny, sex, and materialism.

The truth of the matter is that programming on the network has not always been on such a steep downward spiral. Prior to B.E.T. going public, there was some programming that was educational and informative. When the station first began to air in Canada there were several shows specifically targeted to West Indian cultural concerns, which are relevant to most black Canadians across the country. However, since Viacom bought the network in 2000, there were vast changes made to the weekly line-up [4]. As The Hilltop further rants, "sad as it may be, it is no wonder this network wound up in the hands of people who have little to no interest in the positive representation of African Americans on television" [5].

While it is undoubtedly evident that since the take over and control by a "white" company B.E.T. programming has featured less educational informative shows, the fact still remains that black people continue to watch, support and embody the depictions of blackness shown on the network.

Last time I checked, we live in Canada, not America. It would be nice to think that the perspectives and interests of black people in Canada are different. Visible minorities, not just black Canadians, certainly face different sets of problems distinct to this country in addition to any cultural, musical and political issues that bear resemblance to those in the U.S.

For instance, being black in the Canadian media often means a strong link with a culture that is not locally based but linked to a specific foreign country, such as Jamaica. York University's Dr. Frances Henry surveyed articles in the three major Toronto papers for a four-month period in 1997 and found that 54 per cent of all articles in the Toronto Sun that contained the word "Jamaican" were about criminal activity [6]. Obviously this type of blatant cultural association between a culture and race speaks for itself, but the point to be made is that black in a Canadian context is not necessarily the same as black in America.

However, by and large there is often no cultural link implicitly or explicitly made with black people on television other than the presumed "must be African-American" stance. As a person of Afro-Caribbean decent my lived experience teaches me that I do not hold the same mores and cultural idiosyncrasies as African-Americans, but did anyone consider the inclusion of distinctly Caribbean-Canadian programming to the B.E.T. line-up, which is more accurately a reflection of the local black culture?

Toronto, for example, is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. In fact, it is the first city in the Western world in which the majority of inhabitants are people of colour [7]. As historian Gwyn Dyer states, "we've become the most spectacularly diverse country in the world" so why then, have the media not kept pace [8]?

When The Hilltop asks its readers, "how do you feel about the fact that the premier link between black culture and those who know nothing of it is B.E.T.?"[9], the answer is both frustration at the misrepresentation and anger at the exploitation of blackness as a commodity and nothing more.

But from a Canadian perspective, the most infuriating part is the presumption that we [black Canadians] should identify with the images and programming of B.E.T. for the simple fact that ninety five per cent of the people on the network happen to be black. In addition to the exploitation complaints that African-Americans have with the network, we face a more pressing battle against the whitewashing, or in this case, the African-American-washing of our black Canadian identity.

At what costs to our cultural identity as black Canadians of African and Caribbean descent are we willing to tune into a another black girl shaking her butt in a video or a rapper taking us through a tour of his 15 bedroom house in Georgia? Shouldn't one's decision as to what they choose to watch on television be based on what's actually on the screen and not who's represented on the screen?

While I would not contend that all black people should cease and desist from watching B.E.T., the point being made is that there is very little programming of any worth and substance relevant to the black experience in Canada to preclude any black person from tuning in to other mainstream Canadian networks, such as CBC. Why must it be all or nothing, and by any means necessary in respect to visible minority inclusion in the media?

Should I and other black Canadians be counting our lucky stars that we have a network to "represent" us regardless of the visual representations? It all seems a tad regressive, does it not?

Sources:

1. www.canoe.ca/TelevisionShowsB/bet.html Article by Frances Cowley originally appeared in the Toronto Sun, January 24, 1998
2. www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/ethnics_and_minorities/minorities_news.cfm
3. www.blackelectorate.com/print_article.asp?ID=1001 Originally appeared as an editorial in the October 31, 2003 issue of The Hilltop
4. Ibid
5. Ibid
6. www.media-awareness.ca/english (See ?Ethnic and Visible Minorities in the News?)
7. Ibid (See "Media Portrayals of Ethnic and Visible Minorities")
8. Ibid
9. www.blackelectorate.com/print_article.asp?ID=1001

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Cheryl Thompson is an aspiring writer/journalist living in Toronto, Canada. She has a B.A. in Criminology and is pursuing an M.A. in Media and Communication through Ryerson University. Cheryl believes that part of our survival as human beings is being able to express ourselves, and hopes to be able to influence those who have the power to bring about change through her writing.

Note: [1] [3] black means urban too [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] www.canoe.ca/Television... www.media-awareness.ca/... www.blackelectorate.com... www.media-awareness.ca/... www.blackelectorate.com...