Where Are Positive Images?

I recently spoke with a young black film producer, and we talked briefly about movies and TV shows (Clifton E. Tiddle’s “Tales From the ‘Hood Need to Be Told,” Counterpunch, Dec. 2). He stated, “Well, if it’s a black story, it’s got to have that hip-hop/rap flavor.’ ” As an African American actor and writer, I thought to myself, “Isn’t it a real shame that nine out of 10 stories about blacks or Hispanics have to be hip-hop/rap and in the ghetto or barrio?”

Isn’t there more to us than foulmouth rap and gang movies? Sure, it’s a real side of us, but so are positive sides. We as blacks and Hispanics have enough negative images on film and TV and in rap music to last until the next century. As hard as parents may try to teach their young sons and daughters that using the “N-word” or referring to a woman as a “B” is not respectable, what will kids hear away from home with friends or walking home from school? Yes, there may be a message behind the music, but it is not a positive one.

NAY K. DORSEY

Hollywood