Stop being pimped

Let's get things straight. I don't like Robert Johnson, the creator of Black Entertainment Television, nor do I like the Reverend Jesse Jackson. But before we discuss Johnson and Jackson, let's play a little game of "Ghettopoly."\nIn case you have not heard, the game is a take on the age-old classic Monopoly. But instead of the favorites like Indiana Avenue and the little silver race car, it has "playas" acting like pimps and game cards reading, "You got yo' whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50." The object is to put crack houses or project buildings in some of the worst neighborhoods in America while trying to stay alive. \nThe game has been sold on Yahoo! Online and in Urban Outfitter stores across the nation. But due to vigorous protest by black leaders and others, Ghettopoly has been pulled from shelves. No passing go, no collecting $200. \nMost people thought Rev. Jackson would step in with the calls for boycott; however, he has not. The only reason why Jesse has not gotten involved with the Ghettopoly controversy is that there is no financial stake in it for him. Jackson, someone in his family or his close personal friends always seem to benefit from the after effects of his racial tirades. Remember in 2001, when Jackson attacked the Toyota car company for its lack of minority employees and its racist advertising? Well, according to the National Legal and Policy Center President Peter Flaherty, guess who Toyota gave those advertising contracts and minority upstart dealerships to after the smoke had cleared: none other than Jackson's close network of cronies. \nToyota aside, the man behind the Ghettopoly phenomenon is David T. Chang, an immigrant from Taiwan. According to the Oct. 12 Washington Post, Chang has said the idea for the game came to him when he was watching a rapper brag about his "ghetto-fabulous" mansion on the show MTV Cribs. Chang is just an entrepreneur trying to make a buck off his product and pimp the "ghetto" image. \nChang is not the first person to cash in on ghetto stereotype. Ghettopoly isn't the first product to do so either. Those honors are bestowed to BET, Rev. Jackson and Robert Johnson. \nJohnson received a $15,000 loan to start up his company in 1979. According to Forbes magazine, when Johnson sold the company to Viacom in 2000, he banked over $1.6 billion. He is still chairman and chief executive officer. \nBET has been a constant propagator of the "ghetto" image. It shows music videos that degrade the black community. It encourages the same images that are being disputed in the board game. Yet, I don't hear Jackson's cry of "Boycott!"\nJohnson and Chang both have a product that "pimps out" the stereotypes of blacks living in the ghetto. Both are unapologetic about their work. Yet, one is heralded and the other is bashed. One is boycotted the other is not. \nInstead of doing something to help the black community, Jackson and Johnson have been pimping it. Still, blacks have long supported these supposed "black leaders" and BET. Why? \nThey have averted the eyes of black America away from BET and other real issues in the black community to focus on projects that involve their own gain. \nWe need to stop getting our hopes caught up in these "black leaders" of today, on their own self-serving style of political brokerage. They get payoffs, while we get the privilege of their symbolic leadership. We need an alternative. We need to get rid of those pseudo-leaders and, as my dad once said to me, "We need to go for the jugular"