Read A Book
angela
During a discussion about the power of the media and its ability to create new and diverse audiences (and yes, I was actually having this conversation), a friend spoke to me about a new short PSA that has spread throughout the Internet called Read A Book (Warning! Contains explicit language.). When I told her that I had not seen it, she immediately pulled out her laptop and made me watch it.
After its premiere in July, “Read A Book”, directed by Tyree Dillihay, has gotten over 761,000 hits on YouTube alone and let’s be honest. It is hysterical! It is so shocking that at some point while watching you must have laughed out loud (whether you felt comfortable about it or not.) Several websites are writing about the debate that has evolved around this piece. Some are all in favor it, quoting its brilliance. I too must admit that I cannot stop singing the part that goes: “Not A Sports Page. Not A Magazine ...” Some think it’s racist and reprimands BET for putting it on the air at all.
The open of the piece is so specific, so on target and so funny. The girls with the booty pants made me scream out loud. The message of the first few verses is clear. Just read a book! But when the song gets into raising your kids, drinking water and finally wearing deodorant, it starts to just feel like an episode of MTV’s Yo Momma. Sure, Yo Momma is funny but it has no real impact. (Nor does it really want to.) This piece clearly wants to leave an impact.
As a black person, videos like these are always conflicting. Yes, it taps into some realities that exist within my community. It points out our “bad behavior” but a part of me just wants this piece to be passed around the way I experienced it, from one black person to another. Do I really want to sit next to a white person on the subway humming “Raise your kids. Raise your kids. Raise your god damn kids” No, not really. Still, I know that is not the best way for this piece to have any impact so I have to swallow my pride and let the discourse flow.
The debate around this piece reminded me of the controversy around Cosby’s infamous “Pound Cake Speech”. Here he “reprimanded” urban (aka poor) blacks and their “bad behavior”. Michael Eric Dyson responded to Cosby’s rant with an entire book calling Cosby’s rant just one stop on Cosby’s “Blame The Poor Tour”. The debate sparked was a big wake up call about the enormous class division that exists within the black community. The reaction to Read A Book seems another good example as well.
Denys Cowan, senior vice president of animation for BET, said in an interview with the LA Times, “The magic of animation is that it can take complex ideas and present them in an entertaining and clear way. And this is a positive message.” It is a positive message but it is also a mixed message.
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| Posted on August 29, 2007
Comments
Thanks for your clear, insightful and thought-provoking commentary.
I’m a middle-aged white activist and educator who is saddened when I see kids of any ethnicity emulating “gangstas” of any ethnicity as role models. When I saw the video, I laughed, too because as you say, it is specific and on target, and it deliciously parodies a group which is hard to parody given that they’re such cartoons themselves, celebrating ignorance, misogyny and bling consumption…or as Stanley Crouch calls them, “the new minstrels.”
Critics seem to presume that every white person is going to miss that point and laugh “for the wrong reasons.” Which is…well…racial stereotyping. Just as all black people don’t think alike, neither do all white people. Still, I respect the concern about airing dirty laundry in public and I admit white people have a pretty poor track record. It’s uncomfortable. But still, it seems to me that if I were a black teenager who disagreed with the hip hop life style, this video would be very affirming because it would let me know I wasn’t alone in thinking these folks were idiots, and that there were better ways.
BTW, none of the commentators I’ve read have mentioned the possibility that couching the video as a “PSA” is a dig at Russell Simons et al who, having made multimillions off the bling consumption, are now organizing Hip Hop Summits “dedicated to harnessing the cultural relevance of Hip-Hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy and other societal concerns fundamental to the empowerment of youth.”
Which is as disingenuous as tobacco companies running anti-smoking ads.
Posted on 2007 09 04 by Tommy Bear
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Tommy. This video did get me thinking a lot about racial stereotyping from all sides.
Posted on 2007 09 11 by Angela Tucker
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Posted on 2009 10 13 by teltSpook