Dr. Boyce: Let Me Explain the BET/KKK Comparison in a Bit More Detail (Video)

June 28, 2011 By Staff 36 Comments

In this video, Dr. Boyce Watkins more carefully explains the logic behind his assertion that BET is the new and improved version of the KKK. The article had an emotional and mixed response from the web, with thousands of readers expressing approval, but some questioning whether or not Dr. Watkins was aiming for the right target.

In this video, Dr. Watkins expresses his viewpoint in plain English to help readers better understand where he’s coming from.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

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Filed Under: Black News, Dr. Boyce, Entertainment, Featured

Brook

Nicely put…..I’m glad to see that we have some real black leadership in the world.

Pass_it_further

http://yourblackworld.com/2011/06/24/dr-boyce-why-i-am-ditching-lil-wayne-completely/

Computercq

Please do not ever compare Tupac to little Wayne!!!

Belle

Thank you!!! I could not agree more. I don’t understand where this dude is coming from. Contradicting if you ask me.

RealTalk

Little Wayne is a joke
http://www.facebook.com/people/Avisjay-Savisti/617630819 Avisjay Savisti

HEY I LOVED EVERY BIT OF THE ARTICLE! Here’s the thing, most comments want to redirect responsibility of those in the community (i.g. “Let’s keep blaming the whiteman”). But the truth of the matter is that the more you talk about issues in Black America, the less you talk about “White People”.

Here’s the absolute truth for those that defend Hip-Hop (a music that I also love). HIP-HOP is the “ONLY” music today that a parent would restrict there kids from listening to, mind you a art-form that was created by and for kids in the ghettos of Black America. And we’ve allowed it to be dragged to such a low level that it stands alone in popular music. The only thing more filthier than today’s hip-hop would have to be porn. And that’s video, audio wise nothing is touching it. Now, the thing is to call a spade a spade. I’ve been guilty of promoting such music, and even producing some in the past. But there comes those moments when you have to put your defense of yourself to the side and use your god-given intellect to make rational decisions.

Bar none, hip-hop is destroying Black America. You have to be blind and dumb to not see what its done to the morality of Black America. Look at any self-made video of young women stripping in front of a webcam. You ain’t going to hear Country Music playing. The most ignorant of Black society listen to the most degenerate forms of Hip-Hop and take it’s lyrical content to heart (i.g. “We don’t love these hoes”. “Money over Bit*hes” and plenty more slogan that we can all join in on. Lines that are so revered that millions of Black Youth have them permanently tattooed on their body).

Now here’s the situation. So many Black youth adore the imagine of the iconic Malcolm X. But we have to really analyze the legacy of Malcolm. And just as I and many others, Malcolm was once a pariah to his community, then came a time when he was able to reflect, began working on a new personality. The personality we all hold dear. This transformation anyone that is willing but aside his or her ego and begin critical self-analyses can achieve. And with all selflessness begin calling a spade a spade.

In our community this issue is no different than a diabetic lying to themselves about the effects of too much sugar consumption. You love the sweet taste therefore you wish to defend it. But, it’s those come to grips with the reality of it that defend themselves from it’s effect. And Hip-Hop is the sugar that is killing the Black Community (in part). Of course not Hip-Hop alone, and not Hip-Hop primarily, but it’s contribution cannot be overlooked.

We all agree music inspires. Love Music inspires romance. Gospel Music inspires faith in God. Elements in Country Music inspires love for country. Military Music inspires a mentality that benefits the Military. Black Pride Music inspired the Black Pride Movement.

So, with all truthfulness, what is today’s popular Hip-Hop inspiring? Now, around this time if you’re ready to respond you should feel that sense of ego creeping its way to the forefront. I ask that you fight that off, and give your heart the platform.

Avisjay@ http://www.livelinklounge.com
Snbeck

I agree with Dr Watkins. BET has very few positive examples for Black youth. As a 24 yr old woman, I can no longer stomach watching BET for too long. BET is not just harmless entertainment, because, like MTV and VH1, it has no positive message to counter the negative ones. The young men that Bet is helping to breed leaves very little hope for the Black family.

My view of relationships was so messed up,that I finally went to the Bible and do you know what it says about relationships. In order to live the best life for you and leave a legacy for your descendants, choose a husband that loves you and treats you as Christ treated the church. In the Bible, husbands are to love their wives as an extension of their own bodies. Love her as you love yourself, (Ephesians 5;23-32).

Today men are so disrespectful to themselves and to women, and its destroying the black family. BET’s programming is not promoting the Black family at all. It’s promoting increased revenue for BET.

Ms. Make It Happen

I agree!!
Sonshyny

Well put! Wonderful scripture.
Brook

When BET is pushing hard to promote an artist who said that women should be murdered, they are adding to the disrespect in a major, major way.

Belle

As soon as he said he liked Little Wayne music, I lost interest in what he had to say. As a brown woman, Rap/Hip Hop music is barely appealing to me. Back in the days, you had talent and real lyrics. Now it’s all about tits/a*s and cash. Check them down the road few years down the road and most of them are broke! This dude is talking pure garbage!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/OOMGO/105306552834498 OOMGO

Good Afternoon Dr.Boyce, I am absolutely and completely in total agreement with you on this issue. Thank you again for having the courage to speak the TRUTH regardless of how popular the message. We all know BET prints MONEY off our heads and it is know accident that many of US are NOT shareholders of Viacom. That said, Lil Wayne is a Neo-coon and HE RELISHES THIS LABEL I believe with a smile as he drives to the bank. Yes he is not the only one as we all know but the one who has our attention for this discussion.

The most powerful message you gave me in this video is that RACISM is most effective with a black face. How true, we allow them to use propagandist to perpetuate the Black Inferiority Complex Machine

I am a firm believer that just because something/someone makes money it is not the only factor to determine IF IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!

PEACE OUT & STAY BLACK
http://www.facebook.com/people/SistaNeish-Ellington/1532021827 SistaNeish Ellington

gOOd stuFF
Aidengeogear

I don’t find your information on the current status of the KKK very current. I know that it has only been 3-4 years in Kokomo, MS, since a black American has been killed via hate crime. The KKK is still very much existent, and relatively active.
Aidengeogear

However, I do have to quite agree about BET.
changegocome

First of all I’m 39 year old black
male, and I still love rap. Lil Wayne,
Roscoe Dash, Rick Ross, Gucci, Fabolous, Wacka and all those fools. I don’t listen to any other form of
music. Lil Wayne stays is my ride on cd,
iPod, and Pandora. The thing is I know rap is just entertainment. It does not influence my day to day actions,
BUT I have children and I can see how rap influences them. The negative image does have to change or we
will have sooooo many years of set backs as Black Americans.

The Dr. is 200% correct. But here’s the issue, the USA is ran on
money. Everything revolves around money
and money is the root to all evil! We
live in a place where basketball, football, soccer, baseball, players get paid
more than teachers, police officers, military personnel, and the President of
the United States of America. Right
there should completely prove to you that America doesn’t give two-sh!ts
about you or me that its only concern is money and the people with money.

With that said people with
money or people who have the image of having money will always influence those
that are less fortunate. Money in this
country gets you the finer things, which
can get you groupie women (because it use to be a time when women couldn’t even
work, so they had no choice but to depend on a man with money. So some women have been conditioned to
believe that they need a man to take care of them and it stems from women being
deprived for so long) and in this country you can be above the law when you
have money.

Another American flaw is the
whole “bad guy” image. Look at how many
TV shows that worship Al Capone, Scarface, Bonnie and Clyde,
Billy the Kid, etc. We have shows like
“American Gangster” that praise the “bad guy”.
We cheer for the “tough bad asses” in the movies.

Money and the role of the
“Bad Guy” is what America
is made of, so when you look at people like Lil Wayne, he has the image of both
as most rappers do. With that being said
it will be VERY HARD to wreck that train.
Wayne
has the image of LOTS OF MONEY, he’s a bad boy, he’s been to jail and SURVIVED
it, he has women throwing themselves at him, he has unprotected sex with
actresses and has kids with them, I mean to the naked eye this guy has it all
and he brags about it. He is what most
people in America
wish they could be. How can you stop
that?

You stop it at the root (the
BET’s, MTV’s, and the record labels) as the Dr. mentioned, but its such of a
force to reckoned with because of the basis of the American Dream. MONEY! These entities have long money and this is a
free country that promotes money making.
Black people have to have their own TV stations, radio stations and
record distribution company to control what music is put out to the public. We own NONE!
Every rapper would have to stop rapping and protest the labels. But if rap is feeding my family, will I
stop? NOPE!

I’m 39, when I was younger
rap was just starting good and we all knew that the rappers didn’t make much
money like they do now. We knew that
music was just ENTERTAINMENT as it still is, that’s why rappers will tell you
that they aren’t doing anything wrong (and they aren’t technically) and that
parents need to parent better. Rappers
tell you that they are not role models.
I’m 39 and I know rappers aren’t role models and I’m old enough to know
that if you are on records dry snitching about you moving 300 kilos and killing
70 ni**as a song that you will be in jail IF you really were doing those
things. So rap is entertainment
technically. The kids don’t understand that
rap in entertainment. From about age 0 –
30 grew up on rap as a life style not entertainment.

Somewhere down the line rap
became mainstream and instead of rappers just rapping they ARE ROLE MODELS
NOW. So it went from entertainment
(which it technically is) to rappers being held accountable for their actions
just as more so than actors, TV personalities, rock bands, etc in the
entertainment business.

I believe things came to
where we are now when rap started to generate more money than most genres of
music and started to reach every household via TV. Now that rappers are role models they do have
to take into consideration that children are watching their every move. Rappers saying they are not role models is
history. If your art form reaches out
and touches everyone in some kind of way everyday, via iPod, TV, commercials,
Hip-Hop Harry, movies, you are a role
model whether you like it or not.

BUT what happened is, the black
community didn’t have many positive role models WITH MONEY in America since the Africans were
forced here. Black people gravitated to
pimps, pushers, prostitutes, hustlers, entertainers and athletes when black
people were able to play professional sports.
Those were our role models that had the image of money power, and
success and the American Dream. In the
white community, it was doctors, lawyers, and politicians, so white people
gravitated to those images of power and success. All these facts still hold true today! It hasn’t even been a good 50 years, which
only equals one non-complete generation that black people in this country could
even vote, work in corporate America,
play professional sports, etc. Now there
are many black millionaires, lawyers, doctors, TV personalities, and
politicians. So we are living in a “transformation” time. Where the children see way more role models
in every profession than I could ever imagine when I was little and I’m just
39! So change go come, but we are just
living it now and it’s frustrating.

Everything happens or exists
for a reason and when people live in the time in which these things or events
happen, it’s harder to see the cause and effect of what’s going on. Some things like rap is getting worst, but
there are plenty of other things that are a lot better than 50 years ago. Then you could count on one hand the black
millionaires, now it’s too many to count.
We have billionaires. We have a black president! If that aint a role model what is. White people went thru this same process in
the 30’s wit all the gangs, drugs/alcohol, and violence to reach the American “So
Called” Dream. They were shooting and
killing each other like crazy too, it’s just our turn now. Read up on President J. F. Kennedy’s
dad. He was basically a drug
dealer. Not saying its right, it just
seems to be the American Way.
myvoice

I totally understand your point and where you are coming from. However, I couldn’t really take you seriously after you said that you listen to Lil Wayne. You were contradicting yourself. You can’t have such a strong opinion about putting a stop to things if you can’t go a day without it. It just does not make any sense.
Although I know you probably listen to it as a source of entertainment as opposed to finding inspiration, there are many young kids, like myself, who do the same thing. These guys are rockstars, singers, and rappers. They are not guidance counselors, kindergarten teachers, or the president of the United States. They are going to make music about whatever they want. If it happens to be a good inspiration to kids, then great. If not? Oh well . It is YOUR job as big brothers and sisters and parents to make sure that we do not listen to this music, not BET’s job. And if we do listen to it, it is YOUR job to make sure that we have good judgement and that we know that we should not follow what entertainers do just because they’re doing it.
That’s the main issue these days. When parents fail at doing a good job with their kids, they want to blame it on other sources. Kids are going to be exposed to a LOT of bad influences such as some music, drugs, alcohol, parties, low lives etc. However, if you do your job as a parent, when kids are exposed to these things, we will know how to deal with them instead of joining the crowd.

Ministersanders

in a perfect world what you’re saying is true…HOWEVER…we do lack good parenting in our community whether you want to blame it on Slavery or Welfare or whatever, it’s the truth. So a powerful media tool like BET at least should be sensitive to the issues that are more negatively affecting our community and gear programming to at least address some of these issues. It’s not their responsibility its their duty to not just get rich off the Black community but to also give something back. Some positive programming is the least they could do!

myvoice

What do you mean by saying in a “perfect world” ? I would not be saying these things if I did not experience it. I am a 19 year old college student maintaining a 3.8 gpa. I’ve been listening to hip hop and rap all my life. I thank my mother for being a good parent by continuously showing me that following what rappers do will only cause you trouble. Also, people fail to realize that, just like everyone else, BET needs to get paid. They will advertise any successful music artist, whether they are a positive or bad influence on kids. If they just put on a bunch of gospel, do you SERIOUSLY think anyone is going to give BET the time of day? Go home and ask your kids if they changed the channel or lost interest when Mary Mary, Ceelo, Patti Labelle, and those other older singers performed at the BET awards.
The difference between BET and parents is that BET is trying to make money and parents are trying to raise young adults. You can’t just go around trying to put an end to every little thing that can possibly be a bad influence to your kids. Do the absolute best with your kids starting at a young age. Don’t just wait until they’re 15 or 16 and start saying “Don’t have sex, don’t do this, this and that” because they’re not going to listen to you!

Courtneylthomas

Lil Wayne is an artist and has free will to say whatever and as a result of his musical genius, he is a role-model. Maybe becoming a role model wasn’t his intentions, he’s the prominent voice opf my generation. Personally, I wish we had a better voice but it is what it is or what you make it. I agree fully with what Dr. Broyce said. The KKK promotes the devastation and ultimate extinction of my proud people. If BET wants to relay a message, good or bad to my generation, what better way to do it than lil wayne. I’m all the way down with what is said here by Dr. Pryce. Illuminati

Seeking Truth

You are the TRUTH. Plain aand simple.
guest

Dr Boyce,
I applaud you for having the courage to speak out regarding a unpopular topic!. However, we as a black community, must hold ALL media responsible for the things they are filtering into our homes,radio and or computers!

BET has lost its purpose! Debra Lee seems articulate,educated and intelligent! I am quite disappointed in SOME of her programming choices. For example, THE BET awards continue to highlight rap/hip hop music(no shirts and underwear showing). Correct me if I am wrong I thought there was a show called the BET HIP HOP AWARDS? So what happened this year?
Kingtroyboy

POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK. I agree with you except for your apparent hypocrisy. How can you compare BET with the KKK and criticize them for promoting the negative messages in Hip Hop, when you yourself purchase the music. You are worse than BET in my opinion. The only reason Lil Wayne is even allowed to be on such a grand stage is because people like YOU BUY HIS MUSIC. You mentioned capitalism several times, but do you not understand capitalism? The consumer drives the market. If there is no demand for Lil Wayne then there will be no supply of Lil Wayne.
ThaTruth

I agree that on voicing your opinion, and i respect it. Music is an ART. It comes in many forms, you can look at people and tell what type of music they listen to. If you listen to hard core Rock n Roll, then you will have the look. Its the same way with Hip hop. My point is, everyone must have a balance. Just dont listen to country, or salsa! If you do, then being and living that lifestyle is evident. Hard core rock n roll folks live their music. Hip hop heads live their music. If you have one pastor, find 4 more. If you have one white friend, find one latino and a black. Diversify is beauty. Those that are parents or mentors , teach the kids this, teach them that its ok to listen to Country music, eating sushi or speaking in Korean. This is our fall as humans, its not a black or white thing. a hip hop or hard Rock n Roll. KKK or Hitler. The beauty we have access to it all now, make it all part of your long life! Be Pollen, and pollinate the world!
thatruth

BET is only one stage of many! All forms of Art need a stage, if you looking for a specific type, then you have the right to chose that stage. Now, if BET was every stage then you might have a valid point. If you want to be a Nun i guess you can find a specific stage for that. Once again, be your remote to your mind. Change what is not stimulating you for whatever the reason may be. At the end of the day, we our responsible for our own actions. Lil wayne , Tupac , Spinoza or whoever has had a chance to step on a stage they are just speaking their ART form which is only a SPECIFIC! Not a HOLISTIC! I feel that everyone in life that had a chance to have a open mic to our world is blessed and was gifted. The fool who kept it on the channel too long, i dont feel sorry for him. My point, just change the channel sometimes!!!!!
thatruth

BET is the KKK is like saying MTV is Hitler. None of it make any sense! I feel exactly what you think you try to say, on the cultural issues. Now black folks are like Mick Vick dogs? Im a 36 year old black male from the projects. Is life hard? hell yea!! Did I grow up around violence and drugs, hell yea! Do I feel its part of my life today? Hell no! Change the pieces in your puzzle, make it look more colorful! If your a Black male struggling, change just 2 of your friends!!!!
http://twitter.com/BlackTonyDanza Boss-B

How about we raise our children to not be such impressionable youths… Then while we’re @ it, stop putting Jesus into every Awards show… I think this would help us tremendously. Its not hip hop’s fault. Raise your kids to know the difference.
Paradise Gray

Dear Debra-A Letter to BET – Jasiri X
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWIaJ35ZyCo
GTF1788ND

It is so unfortunate, rather it is disturbing that this kind of music is accepted, and lauded, by our own people and culture. Dr. Boyce is more than 100% correct with what this is doing to our young people. Trashing, denigrating, violence-laden to females that have been the epitome of family stability through terrible times of slavery and pre-civil rights is so demeaning. When one of our own advocates killing, raping, cutting to pieces the women and “sending the pieces back to ya” shows he has not yet learned our history. Is this what Lil wayne would like for his daughter? Dr. Boyce, you don’t need to defend or clarify your remarks of the KKK reference. Intelligent minds understood you loudly and clearly. More should be speaking out against this. The KKK doesn’t need to continue its philosopy of dirty deeds against Blacks, we have our own Blacks to do it for them.
Wyntonwhite

Thank you Dr. Boyce! You better prove my point! Beyonce’s song “Party” is just as corruptive as Lil’ Wayne and anybody else! She is a grown woman. Why is she making a song about letting sex go after a prom night….this is promoting risky, careless sex among minors!!!…but no one wants to hear that or talk about it…SO THANKS DR. BOYCE AGAIN!!!…I guess it don’t mean shit when I say it cuz I don’t have Dr. at the beginning of my name….yet…..
Ray Lee

As a father of a daughter, I thank you for speaking out. LiL Wayne has angered me for years speaking death to black children and no one has ever, taken a stand and exposed him. I honor your courage and respect You for speaking UP!!!!
Uziel777

If you really would like to understand the significance as to why and
how detrimental S.H.I.T. – Hop is please visit anyone of these sites.
Thank you and YWHY Bless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Grenoble

Too many damn clicks to get to the video! One from the eponymous site to your black world to blip tv.
Brian S.

Great piece…I felt as though he should have went all out with the facts…on how fraudelant the “hip hop” industry really is.
Dre

Every since Bob Johnson sold BET, the quailty of information being given by the network has been negative. It went from health shows and town hall meetings to comedy, singing,and rapping 24 hrs a day. It hasn’t been watched in my household for more than 8 yrs now. BET is a mental genocidal tool use destroy black youth.
TAS

The best Commentary I have ever come across on the social impact of HipHop music and other kinds of lurid entertainment in mis-educating our youth and communities…WELL DONE!!!