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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Guilty Laughter
"Read a book, read a book, read a motha----- book!"
These are the lines of a mock Public Service Announcement, announced by a voice calling himself G Money, performing from "Raphael De La Ghetto" high school.
The video has been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube.
Many people seem to be taking the "get crunk for reading" commercial very seriously. Comments on the Website reflect a common divide in Black American public opinion - is it structural racism or lack of personal responsibility that causes the biggest problems in Black America?
Of course, the answer is BOTH. But that did not stop over 4,000 people from arguing the "either-or" debate on YouTube. That question is easy for me to answer, but I still cannot answer another question.
Why did I feel so guilty when I laughed out loud at this video? I think part of the reason is that I am not sure what or who is being made fun of here, and who is the audience?
You could say that this is a parody of BET's version of hip-hop, with all its message-less songs and women dancing around near-naked. The Read A Book video has a cartoon video girl in tight pants dancing with the word "BOOK" written on her bottom - clearly a parody of rap videos.
According to the creator of the cartoon video, it is not some commentary on Black peoples' personal responsibility, but is just making fun of the type of hip-hip that he believes is destructive. That type of hip-hop is often displayed on BET, a station many now call Black Embarrassment Television.
That makes me wonder why the creater D'Mite chose to launch the video on BET. It is hard to poke fun at a medium that you choose to use for publicity.