BET, Representation, and the Necessary Evil that is Niche Television
Earlier this week I was visiting a friend whom I’ve known for a while but don’t really know. We met a few years ago, talked on and off, and never really hung out. Recently, we got back in touch, I moved back into town and we decided to hang out. He invited me to stay the night since he lives on the other side of town and I don’t drive yet, I agreed.
Now that we’ve got that out the way, it seemed like he was a big ol’ bunch of grump when I arrived (about 8:30P). He attributed it to just being tired, but refused to go to sleep. We were began by browsing movies, didn’t settle on one so we decided to find a tv show instead. Skimming the tv Guide, I suggested we watch “Martin” (because who doesn’t like Martin?), and he clicked over to the channel. Upon seeing the all-Black cast, he became visibly uncomfortable.
A commercial break aired, and a promo for a new series premiering soon came on. No comment the first time around. The second time that commercial airs, he remarks about the lack of White women in the show, “Not one White woman on that show.”
Without hesitation I replied, “So?”
“It’s not fair.” He says.
“You can turn to literally any other channel and see a White woman. This is why representation matters. This is for Black people, that’s why its on the Black Entertainment Television network.” Trying to keep a tight leash on my otherwise very outspoken Black activism.
He scoffs lightly, and we sit in silence. When the show returns, Gina is one of the first characters on the screen. “At least there’s one White woman.” He seems to let out a sigh of relief.
I can’t help but correct him, “Gina is a Black woman.” Whether that was my pride speaking or my incapacity to understand his need to see White people, I’ll never know. It’s clear he doesn’t understand the humor. He asks a few questions about Shanaynay and doesn’t seem amused by (or even aware of) the Little Richard cameo.
He changes the channel to “The Cleveland Show”, looks over his shoulder at me smiling and says, “This is a show about a Black family I can watch.” I didn’t bother explaining to him why “The Cleveland Show” is not Black television; something told me he would not have been very receptive of any explanation I had to offer.
Not more than five minutes later, he changes the channel again, this time to “American Dad”. Now, had the previous events not had conspired, this wouldn’t have been an issue. However, what happens next made this potentially a friendship deal-breaker: He scoots back onto the bed, “Now this is a show about a real American family.”
Without hesitation [because by now I’ve realized he’s a racist] I ask, “Why, because they’re White?”
“I knew you would go there.” It sounds like he giggled a bit.
Out of curiosity, and doing my absolute best at this point to keep myself — facial expressions and all, in check, I inquire, “What defines an American to you?”
My lips hadn’t closed fully before he put the nail in our proverbial coffin with a single word, “White.”
We sat in silence for a long time after that. If I had the opportunity to go home right then, I would have. Instead I sat and considered that maybe he was joking. Things he had said in the past, subtly racist remarks he’d made floated into my stream of thoughts and I realized he wasn’t.
That experience, though grossly uncomfortable, has permanently altered my World lens. I’m a fan of uncomfortable conversations, because they allow me a glimpse into another person’s perspective and lead me to question my own.
This may seem silly, but our conversation served as both a means to reevaluate my own expectations of people outside my community, and a Pandora’s box of questions.
I realized he had never seen “Martin” because he never had a reason to watch it; he’s White, more importantly, he’s not Black. He was never an intended audience for that program.
I racked my brain trying to find a reason that seeing television shows where White people were the minority or seemingly nonexistent was so bothersome to him. He sees people that look like him dominate nearly every other channel.
The double-standard lies in that People of Color are hideously underrepresented with the exception of niche television channels like BET, and we are told — for lack of better words, ‘Oh well.’ Yet when productions like “The Wiz” or “Hamilton” have a colored cast, there are a stream of White tears protesting the “inequality and reverse racism”.
Being fortunate enough to have a few White friends I can speak openly with about race relations, I reached out to one and asked why White people are so uncomfortable with being the minority on television. After explaining the previous happenings, he mentioned, ‘…It’s a failure to relate, and it’s uncomfortable to not see people that look like you, so we change the channel, because we have the option to do that…’
We went on to discuss racism in Hollywood, #OscarsSoWhite, and the underrepresentation & all-too-often misrepresentation of People of Color. A lot of things were brought into focus. I had already known representation is largely important; I hadn’t considered that it’s just as important for White people to see People of Color as it is for those communities to see themselves.
White people have the option of seeing themselves in whatever way they choose to watch themselves be portrayed at any given point in time: the gunslinging nonchalant badass, the hopeless romantic, everyone’s favorite hero, knowledgable craftsmen, funny guy next door, leader of the free world, the list continues almost immeasurably. People of Color simply do not have that flexibility. Niche television programming such as BET & Telemundo are often times, the largest platform of representation for Black and Latinx communities. The presence of such network, however, does not guarantee the variety of representation, or the owners of the network are even members of the communities they’re supposed to cater to. For example, how often do we see Black women portrayed as anything other than the emotional & dramatic instigator or perpetrator of negativity? Loud, neck rolling, family-issue having, bully. This type of exposure is problematic, in that it is not an accurate depiction of Black women, to say the least. Even though the portrayal of the people may not always be accurate, that is the only space where they can see themselves represented. And to think there are people who would see these networks dissolved in the name of assimilation. Integration? No, I had it right the first time.
Why is it that Hollywood can find Black actors for movies about slavery, but not for, say, depicting an Ancient African civilization or a typically Black comic book character? Why is it that Black main characters in non-Black movies receive so much backlash? How come they can’t hire an Asian actress to play an Asian character, and would rather use a White person and CGI to make it appear as if the character is Asian? Because White people won’t pay to see it otherwise? Hmm…
A large number of people in this day and age are self-proclaimed “colorblind”. Do they watch “Martin” or “The Fresh Prince of Belaire”? “Good Times”? Telenovelas? Do they simply choose to proclaim their color blindness to avoid the uncomfortable conversations about racial disparities in America?
