Were you excited when BET first launched? I was.
Coming from the Caribbean twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, it took a while before our little country got cable television. One of the channels I was most excited about was BET along with MTV. Music was always my passion.
Do you still feel that enthusiasm for BET and its programming in recent years? I don't.
And what do you think of BET's recent statement about its refusal to air the Million Man March 20 year reunion held in Washington, D.C. on October 15th? Here it is, according to TMZ.
We decided not to air the Million Man March beacuse we are working towards racial equality and to end division among whites and blacks. Although we understand the reasoning behind the Million Man March led by the Honorable Minster Louis Farrakhan, we can stand behind a theme that is “Justice or Else”. The ideology behind the theme encourages violence towards whites and we do not condone violent acts of terror against whites or any other races. We started as a black entertainment television company but now we have moved forward and we have viewers of the white community we wish not to offend by airing the Million Man March”
Read more at TMZ.
While I find the patriarchal and separatist nature of the march to be very problematic, I do find it curious that a station calling itself Black Entertainment Television would ignore an event attended by so many.
Coming from the Caribbean twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, it took a while before our little country got cable television. One of the channels I was most excited about was BET along with MTV. Music was always my passion.
Do you still feel that enthusiasm for BET and its programming in recent years? I don't.
And what do you think of BET's recent statement about its refusal to air the Million Man March 20 year reunion held in Washington, D.C. on October 15th? Here it is, according to TMZ.
We decided not to air the Million Man March beacuse we are working towards racial equality and to end division among whites and blacks. Although we understand the reasoning behind the Million Man March led by the Honorable Minster Louis Farrakhan, we can stand behind a theme that is “Justice or Else”. The ideology behind the theme encourages violence towards whites and we do not condone violent acts of terror against whites or any other races. We started as a black entertainment television company but now we have moved forward and we have viewers of the white community we wish not to offend by airing the Million Man March”
Read more at TMZ.
While I find the patriarchal and separatist nature of the march to be very problematic, I do find it curious that a station calling itself Black Entertainment Television would ignore an event attended by so many.
