TV Gets It: Blacks Are More Than Sidekicks
The Kansas City Star‘s Jennee Osterheldt: “I love that we are no longer reduced to just the sidekick, the angry black man or woman, the eye-candy or goofy comic relief. There is no better example of dimensional black storytelling than on Wednesday nights. But for the first time in a very long time, the entire week of television offers a lot of options for how African-Americans are portrayed.”
Wednesday’s gala thrown by the Paley Center for Media, paid tribute to African-American achievements in television. Not only was the event meant to highlight current inroads by blacks in every area of TV, but, as Oprah Winfrey told those gathered, “part of the power of this evening is to honor our history” — which, in fact, stretches back seven decades and more, to the birth of TV.
