The Cosby show vs. The House of Payne

The Cosby show has been very popular for many, many years. Why? The Cosby Show was a show in which was family oriented and very funny! But what made The Cosby Show stand out from the rest? It was a show that did justice for African Americans. But this I mean, it showed a black family simply being a family. It had drama, it had soul, it had realism and most importantly it showed love. It showed that African Americans are smart, filled with life and can function just like any other ethnicity. It appealed to all ages and races. It wasn't a show that portrayed your "stereotypical" African American family that may depict someone on drugs, loud, ignorance and pure foolishness, like The House of Payne. The House of Payne is a show that actually annoys the hell out of me. The acting sucks first of all, second of all the moral of the show is very unrelatable. You have an old man who is funny only because of his ashy knees and his ignorance. It's a dysfunctional family of multi generations living under one roof due to drug use, irresponsiblity and lack of income for the adults to support their own selves and children. I feel as though we have had enough television broadcasts of dysfunctional African American families that The House of Payne, in my opinion, is not needed on the air at all. The Cosby Show is a positive image for black people, it should be more shows like that. 

To be black

To be black is to be able to see the struggles that you will have simply because of your skin color and have the ability to overcome those struggles. It is to recognize the unrecognizable, to understand the misunderstood, and it is to expect the unexpected. 

To be black is to be proud of you who are and where you come from. It is to be able to dodge the bullets that will be shot at you from all angles. It is to understand that you are a rock turned diamond from heat and stress. It is a beautiful curse that allows you to learn to love yourself regardless of how often you will be put down. 

To be black is to be what "they" want to be. To the point where they mock, make fun of & felt the need to make society look at us in a negative light because of how mad "they" are at the fact that WE ARE GREAT, WE ARE THE ORIGINATORS, WE ARE IMMORTAL. 

To be black? Is to be the best thing that can happen to anyone. 

That melanin though!

***I did not understand the question for the HW at first, so this may seem off topic. But this is what I did. So yeah***

In the media, black people are often put on as bad people who kill one another, gangsters, plain out ignorant and dumb. In my opinion, the media is merely a reminder and a form of promotion of how black people are expected to act. I often ask "why is it that the only black history we learn about is when blacks were slaves and segregated against. We never learned about when black people were kings and queens. Never were we taught about our history that took place before African Americans were kid napped and became slaves. Therefore, this is all we know (well most of us). Because of the fact that the true history of African Americans is being swept under the rug and there is this constant negative image being promoted about blacks, leads me to believe that there is a great deal of African American history that if found out about, could lead blacks to our full and comets freedom. There is clearly something about blacks that is so great, we are feared due to our uniqueness that cannot be explained nor copied. I do not believe that blacks are fears because of how the media puts us out to be, we are feared because of how much power we hold. That melanin though ;)