In April 2008, MSNBC aired a show in which a young African American film maker David B. Wilson asked “What’s wrong with black people?” Hmmmm. My first thought was to ponder about the producers of this show and about the discussions and meetings that occurred to convince the station directors (which many would call liberal media) to dare air a program as such. In my mind, the responses began surfacing and my answers were so numerous and automatic as though they had been burrowing for the last thirty years just waiting for someone to ask me this question. I had to pause my own thoughts long enough to focus on the programming in which the producer asked people from various races to respond.
How amazing that the race topic and being black in America has gained more prevalence since now that Barack Obama, an African American is running for presidency. CNN is airing show Black in American
On April 12 2008, the Wichita NAACP posted a commentary by Kevin Miles, president of a Wichita chapter of the NAACP who also moderates a web form asking ‘Why have black people gone mad,’ addresses the same rhetorical question in his commentary which feature a controversial photo of African American Comedian Katt Williams sporting a ornamental noose to accessorize his pink pimp suit.
Oh – Kheeh, funny for some and not so funny for others. While the comedian utilized this ego-grabbing spotlight to mark his entrance on the red carpet that will be frozen in time, he provoked conversations such as ‘What’s wrong with black people.’ And remember he is a..let me spell it for you a..C O M E D I A N, and not a social-political spokesperson for blacks. I have to believe that this was a publicity stunt done for shock value. This photo received much attention, not just in mainstream media but in also in African American intellectual online community African American Opinion BlogSpot.
Nonetheless, Katt W. followed up on the controversy by making an appearance on CNN segment “Coming Out.” offering little explanation for his reasoning. Having met the comedian a few pre-Hollywood years ago, I was a bit disappointed. Like many other supporting fans of black entertainers, I too wanted some profound brilliant comedic explanation. One blogger questioned ‘should I be offended by Katt Williams?’ My question to him would be, should I be offended by black people?
There may be 365 justifiable reasons for all of these questions with one answer for each day of the year (what’s wrong with black people; have black people gone mad; and should I be offended by Katt Williams?) Perhpas what's wrong is when people remove the ability to be objective thinkers; to be able to have open civil dialogue that abandons the often primitive self-hating foul-mouth bitterness coming from damaged and sour souls of people as seen in the anonymous commentary on previous blog. While some of us pride our tonque-cursed gifts of making personal attacks on each other, many others hide behind so-called self-proclaiming godly doctrines of condemnation while being hypocritical and failing to have the capability to engage in a balanced dialogue to discuss and resolve our own issues. Clearly everyone that is black is not capable of engaging in a mindful dialogue, just as any other race of people, but we put far too much responsibility and creditability on entertainers. I don’t care if it is Chris Rock, Dave Chappell or even lil Katt Williams; slap-stick, skit comedy or buffoonery, entertainers entertain. We may laugh, frown, disagree or turn off the TV and read a book, but we should be able chuckle and be open to have a discussion or know when something is just plain stupid.
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