You sound like a fish being asked is the water wet. How young are you that you don’t see those shows as stereotyping Black behavior, culture and attitudes? Are you serious?
What you are really watching on those shows is some Hollywood writer’s imaginings of Black life designed to reinforce stereotypes or else the show would get canned as too unbelievable. They are in the same tradition as the writers who scripted Black minstrels and reflect the fears and biases of the larger societies. Those shows aren’t mirrors any more than Sex and the City is a reality show about women. It is just Socialist grooming on both counts.
Do you think Don Cornelius invented Black culture? It is forced upon us in layers. We can be whoever we want in America - that’s the greatest thing about this country - that’s America. To be an American is to blend in as who you want to be, without all the baggage.
without all the baggage.
My parents taught me that if I work hard, I can be whatever I aspire to be, thank God. But my parents, who were born in the deep South during the time of segregation also told me of loved ones going missing only to found lynched later, having to walk by the local public library because they were not allowed in (even though her Daddy paid taxes like everyone else), my grandfather witnessing a black man being burned alive from a hiding spot in the woods. Being black in America means having to overcome the collective memories of you antecedents in order to progress toward your goals. It causes your view to be colored (if you will) by our history. I don’t consider it baggage, it is reality. However, no one should make any excuses.