African American Family Media Assignment

African American Family Media Assignment

Over the course of this week I was able to observe and analyze various portrayals of African American Family in the media. I watch a lot of television as it is so this wasn’t very hard at all. The following shows and media occurrences are what I based my reflection on:

• Wednesday March 25, 2009
o Family Matters
 Season 2 DVD
o Television Comedy
o African American Family
 The Winslow Family consists of two parents, Carl and Harriette, two teenagers, Eddie and Laura, and a grandmother.
o This family was portrayed positively.

• Wednesday March 25,2009
o Run’s House
 MTV
o Reality Television
o African American Family
 This show featured Reverend Run’s family which consists of three teenage children and two younger kids, a mother, and a father.
o This family was portrayed positively.

• Thursday March 26, 2009
o Fox News
 Channel 12
o Live News Telecast
o African American Family
 The Obama family was featured on this news cast. This family of course consists of President Barrack Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters.
o This family was portrayed positively.

• Thursday March 26, 2009
o Chicago Tribune
 Chicagoland newspaper
o Public Interest Article
o African American Family
 The Obama family was again featured in this newspaper article. It involved Barrack and Michelle Obama and their two kids returning to their home in Chicago.
o This family was portrayed positively

• Thursday March 26, 2009
o Drumline
 Movie about a drummer who attends a Southern University.
o Motion Picture film
o African American Family
 This movie portrays an African American family that consists of mainly a mother and her teenage son. The father is there but he isn’t in the picture
o The family was portrayed negatively in the beginning and slowly transforms to positive towards the end.

• Friday March 27, 2009
o Article about Michelle Obama
 Article featured on Chicagotribune.com about Michelle Obama’s hairstyles, mentions the family.
o Internet News Source
o African American Family
 This article was a public interest piece that portrayed mainly Michelle Obama with snippets featuring her daughters and husband.
o This family was portrayed positively

• Friday March 27, 2009
o ATL
 Film about a group of kids growing up in Atlanta
o Motion Picture film
o African American Family
 This film consists of a family that is unconventional which includes two brothers that live with their Uncle.
o The sense of family was portrayed negatively.

When presented with this assignment I was very excited because I enjoy studying and trying to get a glimpse of the family life in other cultures. In regards to the images I found I found them to be much of the same song but with a different beat every time.
I normally don’t watch the news just because of the negative pictures and images they give of the world, but in the past three days I’ve watched it all three times. I found that most images of African American families shown on the news all seem to have a negative connotation, except for the Obama family. It seems as if the media portrays them as somewhat of an uplifting image to African Americans, and all Americans for that matter.
When it comes to broadcast television, I feel that African American families are portrayed predominantly positively. The two families I chose to observe were the Winslows and the Simmons. The Winslows feature a middle class family that really do well and have a very strong sense of family. The Simmons are from a much wealthier financial background, but also have a strong sense of family and are portrayed positively.
The only media form where I found African American families portrayed as broken, or struggling was in American cinema. They both told a story about how these black teens have a very hard upbringing but surpass a very climatic moment in their lives.

A Letter to Dave Chapelle

Dear Mr. Chappelle,

Where have you gone Dave Chappelle? Some say a Psych Ward in South Africa, and some think you have gone flat out crazy. Speaking on behalf of your loyal fans, we miss you Dave. We have lost so many comedians to such things as pilgrimages, drugs, and just real life. The days of Richard Pryor slowly turn to a distant memory and you gave us that spark. The days of Chris Tucker spouting stories of cockroaches on Def Comedy Jam have faded to black. So why must you go the straight shooter route? Why do you no longer wish to play the role of the politically incorrect funny man who stirs up trouble on HBO specials and Comedy Central weekly programming?
You were living the good life Dave. Your show was a smash hit. And you had a 50 million dollar deal for two more seasons and you pulled a Vince Young. You walked off the set and no one had any idea what seemed to be the problem. You retired to South Africa for two weeks leaving your show and your money behind because you had to relieve some stress? Come on now Mr. Chappelle. You are one of the greats and your show spoke to a generation of people who just wanted to relax for an hour a week and watch you parade around as Rick James, Samuel L. Jackson, or my personal favorite, Tyrone Biggums.

You are still at the height of your career Mr. Chappelle. YouTube.com tries to show your videos (the ones that comedy central will allow at least) to the masses so people can know about the myth that is now Dave Chappelle. Come back Dave. Your stand up game will always be there. Spread the joy of laughter and black white supremacist skits to everyone like the days of old. This world still needs you Dave.

Your Loyal Fan,
Tom

Inter Racial Relationships

America elected its first black president, so it is no doubt that strides have been made in the acceptance of our melting pot of a nation. However, why when some little, blonde, white girls bring home an African American man to their parents, the mother and father remain skeptical and very unaccepting? A black man is suitable to run our country but can’t date your daughter (our vice versa). It is hard to believe that in the year 2009 we as a nation still have a problem with accepting this.

The other day I found myself expanding my mind in watching The Steve Wilkos show. Granted that Steve Wilkos isn’t at the forefront of knowledge when it comes to most topics, however the title of this show Interracial relationships, so I figured I might learn something being that I’m in an interracial relationship. The show featured a couple different cases all having to do with a white woman dating a black man or a black woman dating a white man. I noticed a few things.
The first thing I noticed was that every person on the show had southern drawls, both white and black. This wasn’t a surprise even though I know a lot of racially tolerant people from the South, there are still some a little sore about the civil war (even though that was like one hundred years ago!). Being that the South is called the “bible belt”, I figured people would be a little more tolerant but I was wrong.
The next thing was that when the case was a black woman dating a white man, the African American father would make the standard jokes about his daughter’s white boyfriend, as opposed to white fathers talking about their daughters black partner. The white fathers were much harsher with their words and showed a general hate for the young black men. The black fathers were just kind of just making fun of the white guys and didn’t really show any hate at all.
Finally, I noticed that both races were very proud to be the color they were. Not one of the parents on the show thought the partners their children chose for themselves were good enough for them. If America could actually drop their bias from old man to young toddler then we could be the most socially advance country on the planet.

Whatever Gets the Job Done

The idea of having an African American studies program is a good one, but why put the emphasis on just this race? Granted the fact that multi cultural studies is a strong concept because it helps to embrace a culture whether it be theirs or someone else’s along with getting the opportunity to learn about a very vital part of our nation’s history. The early part of our history as a country was built on the backs of strong black individuals and hundreds of years after the strife, a proud African American man is now the president of these United States.

But why just African American studies? African American studies has no imperative necessity other than it is popular among students of all races. You could include a class for any race but can universities fill the seats. I personally took an African American studies course because I have an affinity for the history and the culture and find it to be very interesting, however, I don’t think I would take a German American studies course or a Brazilian studies course. Believe it or not, a school is a business and they are not going to waste money on a class no one wants to take.

In overall conclusion, the relevance of an African American studies class on a college campus is pretty thorough in the sense that it makes money. The University of Oklahoma or any university could essentially teach its students how to play the ukulele, how to make a great sandwich, or how to survive in the woods for three weeks with only a roll of toilet paper as long as it makes money off of it. Regardless of all that I still took this class to expand my knowledge and love of the African American culture.

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