T.V. Segregation?

Recently in American Studies class Mr. Bolos presented his views of "TV Tokenism". He led a discussion in which we discussed the limited appearance of minority groups, and also the symbolic inclusion of minorities in some network dramas solely to appear as if the shows have a diverse cast. One key point raised was that African-Americans rarely play leading roles, if ever, in network dramas. The validity of this prompted me to hypothesize why that is. Surely, there are African-Americans on television, but compared to whites, and particularly on network dramas of mainstream channels (NBC ABC and CBS) there are none playing a leading role. Take a look at the Office's cast to the left, and notice the two people of color have very minimal roles, and the third person of color plays the role of a custodian.

At the same time, channels such as BET feature all African-American casts without the inclusion of a single white. However, this is a cable channel and is not viewed nearly as much as a show on any mainstream channel, and consequently does not attract a significant white audience. Strangely enough, white audiences do seem to be attracted to shows that portray people of color as foolish or ignorant. Unfortunately, many black sitcoms portray the "silly African-American " stereotype, for instance, the Amos 'n Andy Show -- which was widely popular among whites and blacks. (That show was finally taken off the air after protests from the NAACP). The following are a few lines of script from the an episode of the show:

"Amos: We is supposed to call dis man at nine o'clock tonight. His wife say dat he wouldn't be home till 9 o'clock.
Andy: Well, yesterday when it was nine o'clock, my watch was eight o'clock an' I didn’t change de time on it. Now today dey stahted dis daylight savin' bizness so dat make my watch two hours off.
Amos: Well, den, it's ten o'clock den, aint it?
Andy: We was supposed to call de man at nine o'clock.
Amos: Den we is a hour late, aint we?
Andy: Not if de man's watch is wrong, we aint.
Amos: Dis heah's de biggest mess I done ever got in."

Andy and Amos are unable to figure out a time issue related to daylight savings. This show was characterized by such silliness, that essentially was an attempt to appeal to a larger white audience. The producers of this show knew many whites would find it humorous to portray African-Americans as ignorant and simple-minded.

We must consider as a society the effects of this television segregation. Some whites could develop a biased and racist view of minority inclusion in network dramas. These people could possibly perceive blacks as they are presented in such sitcoms and could easily be disinclined to, for example, live in an African-American community. Some whites would avoid socializing with these groups in everyday life. Because of this segregation, over time, white audiences have become comfortable seeing blacks in all-black sitcoms but not in all-black dramas, as these do not reinforce common stereotypes. By choosing to the limit the appearance of African-Americans in dramas, and include them often times in sitcoms, are these networks deliberately supporting racist beliefs? What end result do these network's actions have on our society?