WAKE UP!

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake Up It's the first of the month" is a lyric throughout the year that crosses my TL almost every first day of the month.  Since we're not too far from that first day, I'd like to challenge us to wake up in a different sense.  On my timeline last night were hundreds of tweets about VH1's show Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta's (LHHATL) reunion. Then this morning, I got up and was watching the Kelly & Michael show and TV mogul, Oprah was a guest. I thought to myself, "Can we go back to wanting to be like Oprah and Barack instead of the ratchet mess on VH1?" It's absolutely disgusting that black folks tune into mess like this.  As a black woman who is fighting the stereotype of who so many believe she is before she even opens her mouth, I cannot and will not endorse shows like  LHHATL. This show and anything like it, set us back so many years. THEN, we have the nerve to wonder why folks stereotype us. Really?! I mean, really? 

If I could ask the black community to do one thing, I would ask them to stop supporting shows like Love and Hip Hop. Here's why:

Shows like Love and Hip-Hop (and countless others) reinforce the thousands of stereotypes that whites have about blacks. Some of the stereotypes are: We're loud. We fight. We're "ratchet." We hate each other. Can anyone tell me that Love and Hip-Hop does not embody all of the things just mentioned? No. What is absolutely astounding is that we have the nerve to be offended when folks call us niggers. May I say, that something as simply as watching a tv shows in turn makes it okay for them to place all those stereotypes upon us. 

Thus, our own actions are why this society less of us. My beautiful black people, we are our own worst enemies. When are we going to take a stand and say no more? I thought the Trayvon Martin situation would inspire us to begin making a difference, but I was regrettably mistaken. We unfortunately, are going to continue to keep letting our wheels spin. 

Maury Povich is the one who has been making the most money off of black folks niggnorance. Young women with five to six potential baby daddies. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Black people wake UP! Wake UP! If you didn't watch, it wouldn't be okay. But no, we endorse it and have been (and will continue to) for years to come. It's sad really.  

So you see it's almost unfair to be upset at the Riley Cooper's and Paula Deen's because the entertainment actions are supporting an age old mentality. The old saying goes, "If we knew better, we'd do better." Well, it is time that we begin to know and do better because if we do not, who will? We cannot and will not move forward unless we make a difference. How do we make that difference? Just by doing simple things like not watching a television show is taking a subtle stand. Remember that it has to start with us. If we want respect, we must first act as though we deserve it.