Originally Posted by filtherton

It's like the old chicken and egg question.

Which came first, racially differentiated marketing or the marketability of racial differentiation?

I think the issue is much more complex than what is laid forth in the OP.

I think that one can advocate equality when it comes to fundamental things, like civil rights, racial profiling, basic human decency, etc., without necessarily needing to advocate homogeneity in terms of individual cultural expression. It is bad to treat people differently because of their race. It isn't necessarily bad to draw lines between different cultures and/or celebrate differences between cultures.

Blackness is a race, but it is also a culture. Though the distinction might be rather murky at times, it is still important.

BET exists because there is a market for it; prior to BET there were people who want to watch the kinds of things on BET who couldn't because there was no BET. No doubt that there are some people for whom BET provides a sense of cultural identity. So what? In my mind that's no worse that people deriving a sense of cultural identity from desperate housewives. It isn't something i'd personally strive towards, but hey, whatever floats your boat.