Demonizing African Americans for Exploiting Their Culture when Every Other Race Does it ??

There is a double standard at play when it comes to pundits who are quick to criticize other African-Americans for making a few profits for exploiting the issues surrounding making money off of exploiting issues in the Black culture. There are far more individuals who make a nice sum by exploiting the rhetoric and insecurities of their race or creed than not! If Woody Allen, Adam Sandler, and Larry David can continuously poke fun at their own culture why do we then hate Tyler Perry for doing so with his own African-American culture? One may make the argument that buffoonery and showing a monolithic, elitist view of your race are two different things.

One can also argue that exploitation is exploitation, and that any work that does not show the full range of possibilities of the race, as opposed to those that show a one dimensional, monolithic viewpoint that is often used in comedy for cheap laughs essentially has denigrated the culture, so why the outrage? We say that we should support Black owned businesses, but then are upset and cry foul and hint at usury because we do not like the prices at the retail establishments of these businesses. However we run to the ticket booth to see movies and plays that do not show us in the most positive light, or comedians that like to put the mirror to our to culture so what is the difference?

You would rather save more money to buy more stuff elsewhere and essentially spend more money at the discount store instead of buying just one thing from your own where is the logic in that? You already know that if you use the same products that mainstream America uses and attempt to wear the same clothing that mainstream America does that it will not work the same way, and will not fit the same way, so in attempting to save a few dollars you are actually spending more. The irony of this is that there was a time when no one provided services for African-Americans at all, and we were forced to either create our own goods and services or we did without.

So you then had entrepreneurs like Madame C.J. Walker that offered goods and services to African-Americans, and became rich, because no one else wanted to offer those services to us. These days it would seem as though everyone but African-Americans are involved in anything but entertainment. America pays good money to see African-Americans put their own unique perspective to whatever it is that they do; they are not interested in seeing us emulate mainstream society at all. Unfortunately, we fail to see this for what it is worth and then hate the next man for doing what works to make a few dollars.

Why did we stop supporting filmmakers like Spike Lee? Is it that we did not grow and change with him, or that we weren't true fans to begin with? We talk a good game, but there are plenty of artists that just happen to be Black that are incredibly skilled and talented, but because they aren't exploiting the rhetoric of what it means to be Black in this country, no one is interested in their work. African-Americans had been designing their own clothes forever, and have always had fashion lines. It was not until a group of individuals declared that their clothing was "for us by us" that anyone took notice.

It took us a while to realize that this may mean that the quality of the goods may not be as good as that of those who weren't us, that we just happened to wear. Yet how serious about the fashion business when so many of us start up fashion lines just to sell them off after five or ten years? People who think that their favorite lines are still Black owned would be surprised to learn which companies own them now and how they are no different from any other line. People forget that while it took a lot to get these businesses and franchises off the ground the money that keeps them going is often coming from somewhere else.

In real life a lot of us like ideas that are prototypically "Black", or of whichever race you may find yourself to be, and ideas that aren't as well. I like a song by the Black Eyed Peas "Meet Me Halfway", because it transports me back to the disco floors of 1975, but it isn't a "Black thing" that they are doing right now. The irony of the Black Eyed Peas is that when they were "Black" per se, no one listened to them, so they "crossed over" and to look back on it one would think that they are more comfortable in their skin now than ever.

A lot of us cannot get ahead by doing what we think people want us to do and will never fit in playing up to those stereotypes. The truth is that in this country, you are either exploiting your own culture or finding a creative way to play by the rules of the mainstream and in many instances indulging in a little bit of both just to get ahead if you do not look or act like everyone else. I would love for America to get out of its own way and accept people for who they truly are, for the great ideas that they truly have, but until we recognize each other on the same level and with the same respect for doing a good job as we do with doing something "Black" better than the next person you cannot expect any real change to come about ...