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BET Awards: Black Excellence At Its Finest


Jaw-dropping Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar performance at 2016 BET awards

The BET (Black Entertainment) awards are back at it again with another hype show that shows just how much Black entertainers rock. Especially this year, where we’ve suffered through a white-washed Grammy’s and Oscar’s- well we needed this win, to say the least.

Although the night lacked a few fan favorites like Rihanna and Drake, it made up for any missed appearances with the stunning Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar performance. To be honest, none of us really expected BET to make it on Beyonce’s level, but they proved us wrong in the first minutes of the show, showing that they not only knew how to step it up a level or two but also how to reel in a crowd- props to you.

Before we continue this article, I figured that it’s best to get this out of the way: the BET awards or the franchise for that matter is NOT RACIST. Just because they showcase black talent does not turn them into reverse-racist (which doesn’t exist by the way) monsters that they love to ignorantly preach about. No one says anything about the hundreds of channels that strictly stream the same sitcoms and dramas with the same white casts that endure the same white problems. But once we try to showcase just a portion of black excellence, all hell breaks lose. The bottom line is, if you can’t appreciate one of America’s very few ( and I mean very, very few) attempts to bring diversity into entertainment, then the least you can do is not rain on our parade- although your white superiority fueled whining won’t shut us down anytime soon.

Yes, I’ll admit that the BET awards have become a bit of a joke in a sense throughout the years, it’s notoriously loud and colorful and all-around outrageous, but so is the excellence that is the black culture. So it’s perfectly okay to let us have our night of over-the-top performances (cough,cough Desiigner) and revamped references to trending topics that make you shake your head but also put a smile on your face. From the fashion to the speeches to the performances, and of course the winners, the award show delivers a much-needed acknowledgment to the black entertainers of the world that are killing the game.

Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without its fair share of Prince tributes by artists such as The Roots and D’Angelo. You also can’t forget Jennifer Hudson’s stunning emotional rendition of “Purple Rain” that made every bystander stand to their feet. The performances were a way of portraying the late artist’s impact in the black community and although the tributes were expected, they still blew the crowd away.

And, as always, BET knew how to keep it real by keeping it’s following woke and urging them to stay active in the upcoming presidential election. I know what your thinking, I expect you to take voting advice from BET? Yes! In the words of Taraji P. Henson, we keep saying that the worst would never happen (cough, cough Trump), but our nightmares will become a reality if we just sit back and watch the election lag by without actually doing anything. The power of voting was a reoccurring message throughout the award ceremony, and it’s a message that I am definitely not mad at. If it takes relaying this powerful PSA to the youth through the widely-viewed televising of the BET awards, then so be it.

The honorees also did an excellent job at bringing the topic of gun violence to the table and moving the audience to do something about the hundreds of mass shootings that have continued to take America by storm. A particularly moving speech by Humanitarian honoree Jesse Williams dragged to light the disturbing details of police brutality and the blatant murder of black lives in our own streets. It’s refreshing to see someone manipulate their winnings into spotlighting a movement that needs to be brought to attention and using their fame to do something great in the world.

If nothing else, the award show was an awaited celebration of black entertainment excellence through the arts. In a time like this, when the world seems to be hanging on its last threads and racial tension are thicker than ever, it’s nice to know that I can still count on a break if so much black joy and happiness. Thank you, BET.

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