by Melinda Clayton

Created on: March 17, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2010

In the current age of multimedia, any marketing executive knows that teenagers rule the market. Television shows, music videos, movies, and clothing lines all market to teens, with the recognition that teens drive the biggest revenue within the market. In spite of that, all too often what sells isn't always what's in the best interest of our teens.

This is particularly true for the African-American teenaged girl. Unfortunately, in an age where all teens, particularly young women, and most especially young black women, are seeking prominent and respectable role models, the entertainment industry once again disappoints, and terribly so.

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s a thing of the past, racism is unfortunately alive and well in the teen and young adult African-American entertainment market. While we like to deceive ourselves that racism is a thing of the past, our current media proves that this isn't so. In the midst of an outcry against such blatant displays of racism, young African-Americans were recently called upon to boycott several American television shows, and with good reason.

The current selection of entertainment venues for African-American teens and young adults is rife with unflattering, stereotyped images. Instead of honoring the African- American woman as the strong, multi-faceted and vibrant person she is, current entertainment venues rely upon hollow stereotyping that in essence belittles and simplifies the complicated African-American woman.

Historically, it is the African-American woman who has been the rock of the family. Strong both in emotion and in honor, she has kept the family together through hardship and poverty, persevering in the most difficult of times. With a combination of love, moxy, faith, strong principles, and hard work, the African American woman has protected and raised her family for generations, in the worst of circumstances.

It is the African-American woman who so often is responsible for the successes of the children, as well as the grandchildren. By enforcing the structure, discipline, and sense of history needed to ensure the successful continuation of the family, black women for generations have been the glue that has cemented the family together and ensured their success.

But this is not the African-American woman we see so often on television and in the movies. The woman we see in the entertainment industry bears little resemblance to the honorable African-American woman who dominates the real world.

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