Impact on the Black Community
I had the opportunity to speak with a couple of inspiring people on Kent State’s campus. Traci E. Williams, an associate lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, who specializes in film and television, opens up about her love for the black sitcom A Different World and closes out about the lack of character development in television shows today. I also had a chance to speak with Marvin Logan, the executive director of the Undergraduate Student Government. Both of their passion for 90s television truly reflects in this conversation.
A Few of my Favorite Parts
0:38 Me: What was your favorite television show in the 90s and why?
0:45 Traci: A Different World because it was a show about African-Americans. It dealt with African-American issues, but it wasn’t per say considered like a Black show, if that makes any sense. It was about students having student issues. It just happened to be that the students were African-American characters. That’s something that’s like rarely done. I don’t think there has been a show like that since. It was fun to watch. It made me excited about going to college.
2:20 Me: What do you think is missing in television now?
2:25 Traci: We only see one type of character or very limited types of characters on television right now. If it is an African-American character, you have the educated Black b****. You have the musical thug…It’s just the same thing. It is a very one-dimensional character when it is an African-American.
4:28 Traci: I’m actually really into right now Orange is the New Black. This is another show when you have women of all different background, but it’s about women’s issues. It’s not this is a Black issue, this is a White issue, this is a Hispanic issue, this is a female issue.
5:34 Marvin: You had shows like Martin and The Jamie Foxx Show that really reinforced things about the Black culture. You know sometimes it was some not so positive stereotypes but other times it was about supporting black business, supporting historically black colleges and universities
6:12 Me: How do you feel about television shows now and how they portray the black culture?
6:20 Marvin: I think TV itself and media started to change after the 1996 with the passing of Telecommunications Act. You see a lot more or a lot less diversity. Not just diversity in terms of color but you see a lot less variety in programs. It’s a very narrow point of view you see on television, not to say they are not good programs, but certainly not the caliber of programming we saw in the 90s.
Sidenote: The music in this podcast is called Be Nice by Jahzzar.
90s Feen 