I heard today that Justin Bieber has been nominated for the BET Award for best new artist. Now the fact that he is not Black does not bother me in the least. In fact, I completely agree with Justin when he says:

Music is the universal language no matter the country we are born in or the color of our skin. Brings us all together -

Yes sure, that is fine. What shoots up to me like a flare is the relevancy of BET anymore. To me, BET is an entity that is outdated and outmoded; both in its relevancy and in its purpose. Racial segregation went out of style a long time ago. So why do we still tolerate this in our popular entertainment?

BET could start to move the tides in the right direction by simply changing their name. How about “Urban Entertainment”, “The Johnson Network” or something along those lines? Now I am basing this radical proposal on the notion that cultural lines do not always move along racial lines; especially among younger Americans. The problem is that most of the executives in the entertainment industry are not ‘younger Americans’ and are continuing to push their ideas of culture and society onto a foot that it does not fit. They are out of touch, and it is annoying to still have deal with their racial and cultural insensitivities in entertainment.

I see BET as a slap in the face because there is no other cable television channel with the race or minority group listed in the name of the channel. For example, Oxygen is for women primarily; Univision is for the Hispanic population; TBN is for Christians, etc. So what is the big deal, I mean it is only a name right? Actually, the name of a company has a lot to do with its branding and its image. Not only that, but by taking on the name of a particular group, you make yourself into a de facto communication channel for that group. As a Black person, when I say, “I don’t like BET” it has a lot more stronger implications that saying as a woman, “I don’t like the Oxygen channel”. Because, by its name, BET is supposed to be for Black people, right? What is wrong with me if I don’t like it?

Personally (and I could be wrong), I don’t feel the fault is with me; but rather with the corporations that try to force these labels on a society that has outgrown them. These companies may be trying to market to ‘young African-Americans’ but the fact of the matter is, plenty of non-Blacks are patronizing these products as well. It would be smarter to move along cultural and regional lines when trying to identify target groups of consumers. Baby Phat is a great example of this, where Kimora Lee Simmons never honed in on the African-American community specifically. Therefore, Baby Phat will have a much further reach than brands such as Roca Wear which were originally targeted to the hip-hop crowd (although the line has been diversified; I still don’t think it is as popular).

It is now the year 2010 and we are beginning to move beyond Americans having their race tied up with their culture. This does not mean that we have entered a post-racial society…far from it. But we have to be willing to let go of these crutches that are holding us back. BET falsely pushes something out there that is being regurgitated as ‘Black culture’ and the reality is, if there is a ‘Black culture’ it is a whole heck of a lot more diverse than what BET shows. On Sundays, what does BET show? Gospel music. Well, my goodness…I can name so many Black people who either are not Christians or who are straight-up atheists. BET doesn’t have an hour for alternative rock or country music; in spite of that there are Black people who like those genres. While these people may not be the majority, they still are out there. Maybe your ratings would improve if you let go of your imagined stronghold on a certain race of people? If your name was more closely aligned with what you are really about. Yes that would be a start. The second step would be re-assessing your choices as to what ‘good music’ is (but that is another post)!