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in this bowl of mixed salad that has become the America we live in, its hard to say how black America is portrayed quite honestly. You have the extremes: nothing but the negatives of life, the things that force non blacks to run right out and call ATP to install an alarm system on their homes....even when they live in a tightly secured gated community. then there's the other extreme of so damn fluffy and nice that blacks look at it and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

How does the media portray black America? Poorly at best. I once saw a documentary on drugs in America the perception one has based on media coverage. The argument was the media will show up to watch cops break into a housing project and arrest 4 or 5 blacks and collect all the drugs, money and weapons. We see this and say...there is the drug problem in America, right there in the urban setting. There, where "those people" don't have jobs, or health care or education or ANYTHING...such a desperate group.

Well, if all of that is true, asked the producers of this piece, why are all the drug rehabilitation centers in the suburbs? To which, there was no real response from the person asked. After all, stated the producers, you put a rehab center in a place where people can pay for rehab, and have the health insurance and jobs to pay for it, right? No response. Meanwhile, cough syrup is being pulled off drug store shelves because one of the ingredients in it can be used to make a drug that far exceeds the potency of crack.

How does the media portray black America? They portray it the way we, as black Americans let them. Our music says we're sexual animals and money grubbing freaks. Our "political" awareness says we're uneducated and uninterested and easily moved by the "leader du jour". Our television entertainment is a mixed bag: trying to "keep it real", but at the same time, catering to the majority. We're a mess.

here's a question for you? how does the media portray white America? Why is it, there "is no problem" with drugs, or disease or education or jobs in this country, until the problem becomes a "white" problem. Crack was crack in the hood and barrio...until little white boys and girls got a hold of it. Hip hop was a "black thing" until white boys started buying the music, identifying with the sense of hopelessness in their lives that is expounded between curse words.

Does the media realize there is no black and white or red or brown or yellow or gray...in America? how does an industry that has the job of reporting and presenting the reality of our world manage not to do that? Can the media present a clear picture of America from the 56th floor? Why do we allow them to present the picture they do present?

So many questions, so few answers.

how does the media portray black America? any damned way they feel like it. Apparently, this...is ok with everyone.

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