The debate has been raging about the debasing treatment meted out to our artists at the BET Awards every year after this year’s awards came around and nothing had changed.
However, more disappointing than BET’s treatment of our supposed top artists is the implicit acceptance of the treatment, both from our artists and some of us back home. Whilst you would hardly expect a corporate entity like BET to be concerned about the (so far) minuscule complaints of a few Africans, the fact that some of us are willing to condone, or even quietly accept this treatment, is a far bigger problem than the discrimination itself.
Whilst people like GhanaCelebrities.Com editor Chris-Vincent and Fuse ODG have been fighting for recognition for our artists, the opposition hasn’t come from anywhere but within us. It smacks of being willing to put up with bullsh*t from authority, because you hope one day they would realise your everlasting meekness and decide to reward you.
Yet history has shown us that is a futile exercise, as there is no real change without affirmative action. Throughout history, all the big changes have come about because people realised the problems and took concrete steps to deal with them. So long as you are willing to ride with the status quo, it is not going to change.
As brilliant a piece as any I’ve seen on the subject is ‘Why Are So Many African Artistes Willing Participants In Their Own Degradation’, by a blogger known as Malaka. I‘ll be rehashing just a few of the points in her piece, which I think should be required reading for all Africans who are rationalising this dehumanising treatment from BET.
The first step to solving any problem is realising one exists in the first step. I find it incredible that people are still contending that the Best International Act (Africa) award is given off the main stage, before a crowd of less than 30 that possibly includes cleaners. Similarly, our artistes are forced to perform before such a disillusioning audience.