Entertainers - Fatherhood vs. Image

Tomorrow is the day in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be remembered. While that is an important thing, I noticed something else today. It has been reported that rap artist Juvenile was arrested related to child support. Of the many things entertainers do this is one that ranks at the top of the list in annoying me. There is nothing that riles me up like a father who abandon’s children and fails to live up to their obligation created by their actions.

Now let me clear a few things up. I do not want to pick on rappers, though they may be more high-profile in this matter, as I will discuss later. Entertainers and celebrities such as Damon Dash, Ice-T, Latrell Sprewell, Zab Judah, David Oakley and others fall into this category. Questions of paternity have fallen on Stephen Bing, and Mr. Bill Cosby among far to many others. While some have lived up to their obligations, others have not. Some, like Wil Smith, have children from previous relationships/marriages and are active in the lives of their children. To the fathers that are doing the right thing I think more needs to be said in acknowledgement. But I wouldn’t mind stoning those that aren’t.

I also don’t agree with some of the things that are done against some of the celebrity entertainer fathers, or fathers in general. While Puff Daddy, does and should pay for the well-being of his child, I can’t say that $35,000 a month or more is needed to raise a child. We are talking about monies that equal or exceed some of the real median household incomes of many Americans. I don’t know about others, but my friends and I grew up where the total annual family income may or may not have equaled the figure given to one child a month. Children deserve a good life, and when it can be afforded it should be given. A court should not be required to remind a father of what his obligations are. Given that, mothers should not seek to supplement their livelihoods based on the wealth of the child’s father.

But there is a bigger issue here, and this is why its on my Black Entertainment USA blog as opposed to my Vass blog. The issue is what does the existence of these high-profile cases do to our children? As we remember Dr. King, what can we say that has happened since the late 60's? Black African Americans, along with Hispanics and other minorities, have gotten a chance to live the American dream. Many have prospered and lead lives their grandparents could never have imagined. But as time has passed there has been an erosion that has occurred as well.

Two thirds of all black marriages end in divorce, and 2 of 3 black children will experience the dissolution of their parents' marriage by the time they reach age 16. In 1970, 68% of black families had both the husband and wife present. This number dropped to just 50% in 1990, a decrease of 18 percentage points over 20 years, compared with a 6-percentage-point decrease over the same time period for white families. When looking at this data, take a moment to also consider this fact. In a growing proportion as you go from 1970 to today, the amount of entertainers and entertainment that is targeted at the youth is oriented on little more than sex. That is not so say that Mr. Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, or Prince were not suggestive or risque. It is to say that O.P.P.[for those that don’t recall it stands for Other Peoples - the last one you can imagine for yourself, but that was the group’s name and lead song as I recall], 2 Live Crew, Sisko, Khia and a growing number are far more than suggestive or risque. Not only has the music that Black African American, Hispanic and other youth listen to become outrightly descriptive and declaratory on the issue of sex (particularly sex without marriage, attachments, responsibility, or respect); with the creation of music videos there has been a race to promote misogyny, and a lack of moral values.

I can’t say that all music videos are without charm, wit or attraction. I won’t deny that occasionally [I rarely watch television] I watch music videos of rappers and others and enjoy the titillation. Of course I am 38. Music videos of this nature were never available when I was in my mid-teens and few in my early 20's (though they never reached the type of actions/displays seen regularly today). Based on the proliferation of this entertainment, are we surprised that there are so many that decry the death of the Black African American family? How shocked can we be when the youth abandon children and applaud their status as a “baby mama,” or “baby daddy?”

Emulation of celebrities and entertainers is not a new thing. Whether it was the desire to be a home run hitter like Babe Ruth and Mr. Reggie Jackson, dunking baskets like Mr. Michael Jordan and Mr. Kareem adul Jabbar, or a star like Mr. Denzel Washington, Mr. Laurence Fishburne, or Mr. Sidney Poitier. It’s the American culture to desire to be the famous celebrity in the spotlight. It’s personal morality to put out a product that you can be proud of and reflects the ethics you hold. It’s an obligation to be responsible for your actions and the reasonable consequences from what you do, especially as an entertainer (Black African American, Hispanic or otherwise). If you can’t live by that, or worse yet actively chose not to, perhaps a rock to the head will help.

This is what I think, what do you think.