The Importance of Black Mainstream Media

If you’re not black, it’s hard to understand why it is important that we see black people in mainstream media, or why it’s such a big deal. There are certain things about our culture that most people will never understand. Watching movies like Love and Basketball, Brown Sugar, The Color Purple, Proud Family, and Martin–just to name a few, are some of the pillars of the black community–because in some way these movies shape our experiences growing up black with many of our parents raising us in similar ways, that have been passed down from generation to generation.

There are certain unspoken rules that make our culture unique when growing up. You do no talk back to adults, saying the word “lie,” is viewed as inappropriate for a child, and you better “stay out of grown folks business.” What does our dialect have to do with mainstream media? Everything ! If you are not us, and did not grow up like us, how can you produce content that is for us? I remember growing up my mother would go out of her way to find me black baby dolls–although I was born in the 2000s, this was even a struggle back then. Yet, every christmas, my mother made sure I had one, because her grandmother made sure that she had one. It seems small to others, but when you’re the minority–these things mean the world.

If you ever wonder how important it is that black people have representagtion in mainstream media, just think about the fact that I can recall receiving my first black baby doll–that should not be an achievement, it should be the standard. Even the concept of Barbie–idolizes the white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair standard that America has engraved in us since the beginning of time.

Similarly, there are certain phrases black people say to eachother that come directly from black people being represented in mainstream media, “bye felicia,” is one of them from a household favorite “Friday,” written and directed by Ice Cube. Ice cube is a rapper, actor, and director–who was a part of the notorious group, NWA. He came up in a time where it wasn’t okay to be popular and black. NWA rapped about police murdering black people, guns, drugs, and many other subjects that were deemed unacceptable, and subsequently, made them a target. Despite political outrage, the group had many platinum records, and was extremely popular in the 80s and 90s. NWA was one of the first rap groups to come on the scene and rap about the black experience, and not care about the consequences.

The group eventually broke up and went their separate ways, and Ice Cube decided to get into acting as well as directing “Friday,” and “Friday after next.” Not only are these movies staples in the black community, but there is currently another one in the works–decades later. People like Ice Cube have made it possible to see black representation on TV, although most of his work is comedic, and entertainment–there’s some truth behind every story. It should be noted that, black mainstream media is so important because we are able to laugh at our shared experiences, and sometimes our pain. Why would we do that? Because we spent years being oppressed, and forced to conform to a unspoken criteria. Not only is there the generational trauma of slavery, molestation, and segregation–there is the trauma and stereotype of growing up poor, or in single mother households.

Being able to see our shared experiences on screen, told by US–is what allows us to cope in a way, but also know that were not alone. Black people are not allowed to be creative, and dream about making networks that are just for us–yes, it has happened, but historically speaking–we still have a long way to go. Trail blazers like Oprah, Will Smith, and Tyler Perry have made it normal to see blackness on TV, and forced their way into mainstream media becasaue they had a plan, and goal to make their voices heard. It is thanks to them that I am able to watch House of Payne, Martin, A Different World, and countless other re-runs. I wasn’t born in the 90s, and yet these are shows that I still watch daily–let that sink in.

Above all, growing up watching Little Bill or the Proud Family was so important. There are not a lot of black cartoons, and I am so grateful that I was able to grow up seeing black people in fantasy worlds. Which, generally causes a lot of outrage for whatever reason, as we have been seeing with Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid remake, but this is just to show that white people are so used to being at the forefront of everything, that a black person as a mermaid somehow bothers them. A fictional character being black–causing cultural outrage, should not even exist. Unfortunately, this is the world we live in, but we can only continue breaking generational curses and undoing generations of self-loathing, when we prioritize black mainstream media.