Is gay the new black?

As I read both the fall movie and fall tv preview editions of Entertainment Weekly I noticed that there's not a lot of shows on television which feature African Americans aside from the returning shows on UPN and Fox's The Berny Mac Show. I will say Hispanics are making tinsel town see color, but its all about passing the paper bag test as far as I'm concerned.

One trend I've noticed is instead of a racially diverse cast on the big and small screens, more and more you see that sexuality is the preferred way to bring color to the monochromatic crew. In this instance it seems that rainbows draw more interest than the darker hues.

Remember when EVERY show on television had a wise-cracking black person. I particularly like those big 'ol black ladies getting mad niggerish with the man cause of his obvious ignorance. You know we think all others are just plain ol' crazy anyway. These people just made sure that if you were the kind of majority that felt the urge to cross the street and/or preach about your color blindness, somebody had to be the one to give you a verbal "blackslap" to make you realize just how dumb you really are. Actors Robert Guillaume, Nell Carter and of course Marla Gibbs made paying for the sins of your ancestors a must on any prime time sitcom. In fact, I feel comfortable saying it was the rule, not the exception. Oddly enough the concept of the hired help disrespecting their employers happens even to this day, you can find it in any fast food restaurant in any black neighborhood in the metropolitan Atlanta area. I'm sure it's the same around the country. If Condi can just do the same to her hus..uh I mean boss, well that would be "must see tv." but i digress.

Now, whenever you look at a movie or something on tv, you see a wise-cracking, dolce and gabanna, unionize white gay man throwing zingers and keeping the heterosexuals dazed and confused in order to push their zany antics to some ridiculous result or the other. What the fuck is that all about? At least you don't have that as much in the dramatic movies, it's usually a sexually confused person. In those instances, he's typically homicidal, now if that's not a slice of life, nothing is...right.

Is the new face of diversity a gay or lesbian, if so how will their plight affect the message of tolerance and social change in our society? As a blacks, should we take this lying down and if not, how do we stand up and make Hollywood take notice. Things to consider, the average gay household income is $60,000 with no dependants. This is a great market to appeal to for any advertiser and consequently, the studios and networks.

This rant is a generalization of course, but on the scale of equality I see my brothers and sisters on the way down.