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Don't Worry Be Happy -- On Film, On the Tube, African Americans are Our Favorite Cheeleaders

By Michael Datcher

Date: 12-13-96

These are volatile times for Black Americans, but TV and film viewers around the world get not a hint of that. Instead, music-loving, good-hearted, inoffensive African-Americans fill the screens -- almost as if they were an antidote to the reality of the news pages. PNS correspondent Michael Datcher is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and co-editor of "Tough Love: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur".

LOS ANGELES -- "Homeboys in Outer Space" are representing America in the global village this Christmas season, and not just on the movie screens.

Black culture -- or caricatures of it -- has long been America's biggest export to the rest of the world. In the last few years, the dominant images have turned dark -- scenes like the Rodney King beating, the civil unrest in Los Angeles, the O.J. trials, and the Million Man March have sent out the disturbing message that all was not well in America.

But this year, in need of an antidote, the American media machine has been pumping out images of sated, fun-loving black folk. Their message is a post-modern version of a toothy Louis Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World." Black people are being quietly eased into the world's living rooms as the ultimate public relations device.

Black people are now the stars in American rituals the world devours. This year, Whoopi Goldberg hosted and Quincy Jones directed the Oscars program, among the most-watched events on earth. Ironically, the show came under intense attack from the black community because there was only one African American Oscar nominee. A hastily-planned move, led by Jesse Jackson, asked black celebrities to wear a ribbon in support of a boycott of the ceremonies.

Given the size of the world-wide audience, the ribbons could have been an effective way to comment on Hollywood's racism and the destructive images of African Americans it has broadcast for decades. The problem: the black celebrities wouldn't wear the ribbons. They knew that sending a message that all was not well during Hollywood's annual coronation could dismember their careers. So they smiled and told the world that America is treating black people just fine.

And on the screen, black people are treating the world just fine in return. This year, Will Smith saved the planet from war-mongering extra-terrestrials in "Independence Day," the highest grossing movie of all-time. Smith played the good American who answered the call to duty and inspired peoples from around the world to unite and defeat the aliens. The message: when good black people become team players (and don't gripe), everyone wins.

One episode of "Spark's" -- a new TV show about a black father & sons law firm -- told of a woman who claimed she gave up her singing career when her boyfriend promised to take care of her. They break up, and she sues for financial support, but must prove that she could have had a successful career. The episode ends with the woman singing a gospel tune in court -- with the black jury and the black judge singing, clapping, dancing around the courtroom. The message: this is how we do it.

This is especially troubling because public interest in court-room dramas is high and black people are attempting to address enormous challenges through the courts. But the show's producers choose to show the world that black people would rather use the courtroom as a Soul Train training ground than a venue to fight for their rights. A televised cooing "it's not that serious."

From homeboys tripping through space to Whitney Houston trying not to trip while skating during Macy's Christmas Parade telecast, black people are playing happy host to America and animated ambassador to the world. Each weekday, Bryant Gumbel sits next to an attractive white woman and greets the heartland and the deep South with a non-offensive (and non-sexual) good morning. His brother Greg presides over Sunday morning football -- America's only national religion -- with an integrated cast of football analysts on NBC's pre-game show.

So it is that, at one of the most volatile times for black Americans in recent decades, blacks are seen to be sending out one consistent message to our fellow Americans and to the world:

Don't worry, be happy -- like us.