BET First Annual Hip Hop Awards a.k.a.
The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show Makes Atlanta Debut
By Cicely Bland
I will go out on a limb and say that 2006 has been a good year for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After a 40-year separation, he and the love of his life, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, were reunited in Glory. The Voting Rights Act that he fought and died for was extended yet again. His papers were sold for $32 million to his hometown and enshrined at his beloved alma mater, Morehouse College. Moreover, in November, ground was broken on the King Memorial in Washington D.C., making Dr. King the first African American to be commemorated with the nation’s founding fathers only footsteps from where he delivered his famed “I Have A Dream” speech.
Consequentially, a good year for Dr. King could mean a good year for Black America, as well. In some respects, yes. In others, well … more work needs to be done. Our city is well known for its extraordinary population of astute, affluent and educated African Americans. More recently, we have gained international acclaim as a hotbed for hip hop music. I recently received an interesting and insightful editorial on the recent BET Hip Hop Awards which was held in Atlanta in November, and I have decided to share it with you all. Until next time … be blessed.
BET First Annual Hip Hop Awards a.k.a. The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show Makes Atlanta Debut
By Terence McPhaul
It’s official, the BET First Annual Hip Hop Awards a.k.a. The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show, got underway without a hitch. The glitterati, with glazed eyes and carnival-like expressions descended on Atlanta, with reckless abandon, for almost a week. Major names in hip hop were drenched in bling and encapsulated by the typical and stereotypical Bentley, Rolls Royce Phantom, Maybach, Mercedes, and an assortment stretch concoctions. Unfortunately, all this showed was that African Americans with money and the ability to travel, still remain ignorant, foolish and in some cases, deleterious. The tone was set for the first annual event when the host, comedian Katt Williams, was arrested earlier this week at LAX on weapons violations.
The hip hop community continues to play lead roles in the minstrel show perpetuated by those who really do have power (i.e. Sumner Redstone Chairman of Viacom, owner of BET). Positively puzzling is that the hip hop mainstays and powerbrokers really don’t understand, that what they purport and believe to be power, is simply a false sense of security on loan from predominantly white males who control media outlets.
Foolishly, the “Blingers” appear to feel that because they can rent palatial estates for private parties, and hire virtually every high priced stripper and call girl in the southeast to perform publicly their exploits of self-deprecation; this somehow validates their perceived sovereign authority. What’s more, the pseudo-leaders at BET went along with the massive campaign to market its event week as nothing more than a celebrity laden “hoochie” hunt.
BET continues to sink into the abyss of moral turpitude of its own volition. Debra Lee does not possess the power to do anything more than purr when the bosses at Viacom rub her head and thank her for keeping alive the image that African Americans are as ill-educated, ill-advised, ill-mannered and ill-equipped as the media images seen around the world suggest. BET has accomplished nothing more than could be achieved by well-heeled pimps or drug pushers armed with an aspiring event planner, publicist and stylist. This is not to imply that conscious professionals are completely nonexistent within the ranks of BET – some really do exist.
Several hip hop performers have been in a position to prepare themselves to exit the hip hop status quo, even going so far as to establish foundations providing nominal gifts to poor individuals and communities. However, they turn right around and negate any potential good efforts by contributing to the machine that glorifies teen pregnancy, teen fatherhood, crime, violence, drug abuse, disintegration of family and its virtues, as well as the abandonment of education; at least where African Americans are concerned. Moreover, those same proponents of hip hop contribute to marketing adult messages and images to children who are harmed by the displays.
African Americans were provided with a venue where they could feel placated by an opportunity to recognize those hip hop artists and courtiers, who have impinged on the music industry, and pop culture. The biggest problem is that the participants didn’t realize they were the victims of a ruse - a charlatan act designed to assuage African Americans of educational and economic resources.
Hip hop has made an impact on other cultures as well, but, of those stirred African Americans are still the most marginalized economically, socially and educationally. The vicious cycle of teen pregnancy, drugs and crime creates a lack of the appropriate parental involvement in the African American community that exists in other cultures, which enables those others to gather the emotional and cerebral fortitude to debunk many of the long-term influences perpetuated by hip hop on a child’s mind. The BET Hip Hop Awards is proof that some of the public is far too willing to dismiss the lowering of standards in media and entertainment as “a sign of the times.”
About Terence McPhaul: Terence McPhaul is the founder and director of McPhaul Consultants and Personal Advisors, the only agency in the world providing counseling, therapy, life coaching and personal advisor services exclusively for celebrities. A graduate of Tuskegee University, McPhaul is regularly sought by program directors of TV talk shows and national media as an expert in the field of Mental Health – to deliver perspective or response to programming regarding social and behavioral issues.
He resides in Atlanta.
http://www.atlantatribune.com/
The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show Makes Atlanta Debut
By Cicely Bland
I will go out on a limb and say that 2006 has been a good year for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After a 40-year separation, he and the love of his life, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, were reunited in Glory. The Voting Rights Act that he fought and died for was extended yet again. His papers were sold for $32 million to his hometown and enshrined at his beloved alma mater, Morehouse College. Moreover, in November, ground was broken on the King Memorial in Washington D.C., making Dr. King the first African American to be commemorated with the nation’s founding fathers only footsteps from where he delivered his famed “I Have A Dream” speech.
Consequentially, a good year for Dr. King could mean a good year for Black America, as well. In some respects, yes. In others, well … more work needs to be done. Our city is well known for its extraordinary population of astute, affluent and educated African Americans. More recently, we have gained international acclaim as a hotbed for hip hop music. I recently received an interesting and insightful editorial on the recent BET Hip Hop Awards which was held in Atlanta in November, and I have decided to share it with you all. Until next time … be blessed.
BET First Annual Hip Hop Awards a.k.a. The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show Makes Atlanta Debut
By Terence McPhaul
It’s official, the BET First Annual Hip Hop Awards a.k.a. The Sodom and Gomorrah Awards and Minstrel Show, got underway without a hitch. The glitterati, with glazed eyes and carnival-like expressions descended on Atlanta, with reckless abandon, for almost a week. Major names in hip hop were drenched in bling and encapsulated by the typical and stereotypical Bentley, Rolls Royce Phantom, Maybach, Mercedes, and an assortment stretch concoctions. Unfortunately, all this showed was that African Americans with money and the ability to travel, still remain ignorant, foolish and in some cases, deleterious. The tone was set for the first annual event when the host, comedian Katt Williams, was arrested earlier this week at LAX on weapons violations.
The hip hop community continues to play lead roles in the minstrel show perpetuated by those who really do have power (i.e. Sumner Redstone Chairman of Viacom, owner of BET). Positively puzzling is that the hip hop mainstays and powerbrokers really don’t understand, that what they purport and believe to be power, is simply a false sense of security on loan from predominantly white males who control media outlets.
Foolishly, the “Blingers” appear to feel that because they can rent palatial estates for private parties, and hire virtually every high priced stripper and call girl in the southeast to perform publicly their exploits of self-deprecation; this somehow validates their perceived sovereign authority. What’s more, the pseudo-leaders at BET went along with the massive campaign to market its event week as nothing more than a celebrity laden “hoochie” hunt.
BET continues to sink into the abyss of moral turpitude of its own volition. Debra Lee does not possess the power to do anything more than purr when the bosses at Viacom rub her head and thank her for keeping alive the image that African Americans are as ill-educated, ill-advised, ill-mannered and ill-equipped as the media images seen around the world suggest. BET has accomplished nothing more than could be achieved by well-heeled pimps or drug pushers armed with an aspiring event planner, publicist and stylist. This is not to imply that conscious professionals are completely nonexistent within the ranks of BET – some really do exist.
Several hip hop performers have been in a position to prepare themselves to exit the hip hop status quo, even going so far as to establish foundations providing nominal gifts to poor individuals and communities. However, they turn right around and negate any potential good efforts by contributing to the machine that glorifies teen pregnancy, teen fatherhood, crime, violence, drug abuse, disintegration of family and its virtues, as well as the abandonment of education; at least where African Americans are concerned. Moreover, those same proponents of hip hop contribute to marketing adult messages and images to children who are harmed by the displays.
African Americans were provided with a venue where they could feel placated by an opportunity to recognize those hip hop artists and courtiers, who have impinged on the music industry, and pop culture. The biggest problem is that the participants didn’t realize they were the victims of a ruse - a charlatan act designed to assuage African Americans of educational and economic resources.
Hip hop has made an impact on other cultures as well, but, of those stirred African Americans are still the most marginalized economically, socially and educationally. The vicious cycle of teen pregnancy, drugs and crime creates a lack of the appropriate parental involvement in the African American community that exists in other cultures, which enables those others to gather the emotional and cerebral fortitude to debunk many of the long-term influences perpetuated by hip hop on a child’s mind. The BET Hip Hop Awards is proof that some of the public is far too willing to dismiss the lowering of standards in media and entertainment as “a sign of the times.”
About Terence McPhaul: Terence McPhaul is the founder and director of McPhaul Consultants and Personal Advisors, the only agency in the world providing counseling, therapy, life coaching and personal advisor services exclusively for celebrities. A graduate of Tuskegee University, McPhaul is regularly sought by program directors of TV talk shows and national media as an expert in the field of Mental Health – to deliver perspective or response to programming regarding social and behavioral issues.
He resides in Atlanta.
http://www.atlantatribune.com/
