BELOW: a peek at "Bid 'Em In" by Neal Sopata, which aired during the "WE GOT TO DO
BETTER" premiere on BET.
By Anthony (feel free to place your comment below):
I will make no friends with this post but some parts of black America are trapped in a moral crisis. The crisis will be on display this Wednesday when B.E.T.(Black Entertainment Television) debuts a new show called “We Got To Do Better” which is based off of a website called “Hot Ghetto Mess.” It’s time to stop playing words games and be honest: blacks (and others) who embrace a “ghetto” mentality are in deep trouble and, by extension, so are the rest of us.
The NAACP should be marching against the worldview on display on this show much more than fighting a crusade against the “N-word.”
The Washington Post describes the show:
Since 2004,[Jam Donaldson’s] Web site, http://Hotghettomess.com , has featured a motley assortment of gangbangers, hip-hop poseurs and strutting hoochie mamas, set off by quotes and comments that suggest Donaldson’s disapproval. The featured “Mess of the Month” for June is an unnamed plus-size woman wearing a halter top split almost to her navel. Her accessories are arm and chest tattoos and an oversize necklace with a cross. The caption beneath her photo is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.:“Nothing in [all] the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
[The show] features video clips of young African Americans (as well as folks of the Caucasianpersuasion) engaged in various acts of idiocy (random street brawls, gratuitous booty-shaking, etc.). It also puts cultural ignorance on display (people are asked in man-on-the-street interviews whether they know what “NAACP” stands for; they don’t). The tone, Donaldson says, is more or less in keeping with the same finger-wagging critique embedded in the Web site’s slogan:“We Got to Do Better.”
I have mixed emotions about the show. But it’s good to expose this for the following reasons:
(1) The shows puts on display for the world to see the moral crisis in some parts of black American culture. Perhaps many in the black community will take notice.
(2) The show will validate the concerns of many blacks like Bill Cosby, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Starr Parker, John McWhorter, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, LeShawn Barber, Shelby Steele, and others.
(3) The show will expose how the “ghetto mentality” is sabotaging significant portions of American culture, of all races. Perhaps the show will highlight a point made in the movie Forrest Gump,“stupid is as stupid does.”
(4) Hopefully, this will rally some black pastors to deal with issues in the black community instead of building names for themselves and trying to build the largest churches possible. The “ghetto” culture is completely void of any moral voice or authority.
(5) The show will highlight the fact that for much of black America the largest obstacle to overcome in the 21st-century is not racism but the adopted norms of “ghetto” culture.
(6) The “ghetto” life must cease to be glamorized and normalized in the entertainment industry. Sadly, there is a huge demographic of Americans who are medicating their own personal pain through self-sabotaging,“ghetto” behaviors. The show represents a massive cry for help!
The content of the website is pathetic, disturbing, sad, and frustrating. The burning question remains: what must happen to turn blacks, and others, away from “ghetto mess” onto the journey of healing, virtue, dignity, and human flourishing?
WE GOT TO DO
BETTER airs weekdays at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on BET.
"We Got to Do Better" is an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek
examination of the good, the bad and the ugly of Black popular culture.
Utilizing comedy, man-on-the-street interviews, video clips, pictures
and music, “We Got to Do Better” aims to shine a spotlight on
prevalent images in pop culture and examine what role they play in
American lifestyle. “We Got to Do Better” goes where most shows fear
to tread. As host Charlie Murphy guides viewers through shaking booties,
thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers, “We Got to
Do Better” will explore what these images really mean to all of us.
Cutting edge, original, relevant and irreverent, “We Got to Do
Better” is like the traffic accident you can’t look away from.
Viewers will laugh. They'll cry. They'll think. They'll learn, and
hopefully they'll recognize they've GOT to do better."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Murphy -- Host, We Got to Do
Better
Comedian Charlie Murphy is the host of BET’s WE
GOT TO DO BETTER, an in-your-face half-hour clip show, whose
real blend of tough love and social commentary challenges and inspires
its viewers to improve themselves and their communities. It’s
original, relevant and irreverent, with the mission of sparking
dialogue, debate and, most importantly, change – because we’ve GOT
to do better.
Not a newcomer, Charlie Murphy has been on this
journey for 17 years, working with actors such as Denzel Washington,
Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, Danny Aiello, Vanessa Williams, Rip Torn,
Peter Falk, Redd Fox, Angela Bassett, Wesley Snipes, Jamie Foxx, Samuel
Jackson and Sammy Davis, Jr. He became a household name when he joined
the cast of the three-time Emmy-nominated “Chappelle Show” creating
‘Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories.’
Murphy’s current and upcoming films include
“Retirement,” “Unearthed,” a sci-fi horror film, Ben Stiller’s
“Night at the Museum” and his first starring role in “Twist the
Cap.” Murphy and Mike Epps will also co-star in Fox
Searchlight’s “Garbage Men,” a spin-off of “Roll Bounce”.
Charlie also stars in Queen Latifah's "A Perfect Christmas"
alongside Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Terrance Howard and Faison
Love.
Murphy’s features films have included New Line
Cinema’s “Kings Ransom,” Fox Searchlight’s “Roll Bounce,”
Chris Rock’s hip-hop parody classic “CB4”, Spike Lee’s “Jungle
Fever” and “Mo’ Betta Blues,” Eddie Murphy’s “Harlem
Nights” and “Vampire in Brooklyn,” for which Charlie was also
credited as a writer. Murphy's latest writing endeavor, "Norbit"
opened at #1 at the box office.
Murphy’s additional writing credits include a remake
of “The Incredible Shrinking Man” for Imagine and “Paper
Soldiers” for Jay-Z’s Rockafella Films. Most recently, he wrote
“Tales of the Dogg,” an animated pilot for Snoop Dogg and MTV.
Murphy has also been heard on a wide variety of
commercials and other projects including Budweiser radio commercials,
Cartoon Networks’ Adult Swim series “Boondocks,” multiple Boost
Mobile commercials, Rock Star Video Games’ “Grand Theft Auto – San
Andreas” and Marc Ecko’s “Getting Up” video game.
In 2004, Charlie embarked upon a sold-out national
comedy tour, the “I’m Rich Bitch” tour, featuring “Chappelle’s
Show” cast members Donnell Rawlings and Bill Burr. In 2005, his
stand-up career continued to grow with a sold-out follow up tour,
“Charlie Murphy and Friends” as well as a co-headlining tour with
Mike Epps. More recently, Murphy co-headlined on the 20-city
“Maxim/Bud Light Real Men of Comedy Tour” with Joe Rogan and John
Heffron.
Don't miss him in BET's new show, We Got to Do
Better, airing weekdays at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
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