Does BET Get a Fair Shake These Days?

Very Smart Brothas' Panama Jackson asks whether the network is finally giving us what we're looking for — and whether we even know what that is.

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A few weeks ago, I got into an argument with a friend of mine who happens to work for what I once dubbed "The Evil Empire". That company is BET. The argument was about the fact that I seemed to lack any sort of positive vibes towards BET. Basically upon mention of those three letters in order caused an impressive array of profanities that would leave a person afflicted with Tourrette's in awe.

And I cuss real good.

Her point was that I was so prepared to dislike anything associated with BET that I wouldn't even give the lineup of shows they had a chance. Perhaps — the plea went — if I were to give love a chance, I'd find that the programming was worth my time. Also, given how much I tend to b*tch and moan about Black programming, its possible I was doing a bigger disservice to the community by not only not supporting, but actively UNsupporting. I was like one of Aretha's bras.

Can't lie. That hurt a little. The bra parallel, not the lack of support comment. I mean, have you seen one of her boobs? Cleveland is hiding in there.

Moving on. While I could easily shoot down her latter argument using two words — Tyler Perry — I realized that I wasn't even sure why I hated BET so much … anymore (the former arguments were very strong). Hell, I watch "The Game" even though I think the show has totally devolved into dramatic f*cktasticness. I attempted to watch "Let's Stay Together" and "Reed Between The Lines" …

Read Panama Jackson's entire piece at Very Smart Brothas.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff. 

Panama Jackson is the co-founder and senior editor of VerySmartBrothas.com. He lives in Washington, D.C., and believes the children are our future.