Prez Relaxing on Election Day

BET Honors

The first annual celebration of the BET Honors, which aired this passed Friday night, was truly a celebration. The event was hosted by Cedric “The Entertainer, and included an all star line-up including such notables as Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Gladys Knight, Wyclef Jean, Jill Scott, Brian McKnight, Ne-Yo, Raheem DeVaughn, Blair Underwood, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Idris Elba, Hill Harper, Vivica A. Fox and Kiesha Cole.

Friday’s broadcast showed the inaugural celebration of the BET Honors, which was held on January 12 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. The show recognized six honorees across a range of achievements. The honors went to Dr. Cornel West, (noted Princeton University professor at the Center for African American Studies), for education; Tyra Banks, (producer, reality-show host, talk-show host, model, actress), for media; Janice Bryant Howroyd, (the chairman, chief executive officer and founder of Act 1 employment services corporation that she started out of a storefront and now has 90 offices across the nation and $500 million in 2007 revenue), for entrepreneur; Alicia Keys (musician, actress AIDS/HIV activist), for entertainment; Richard Parsons (Chairman of the Board of Time Warner), corporate citizen; and The Honorable Maxine Waters (who is serving her ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives), for public service.

It was a wonderful event but while they were having fun inside, on January 12, the date of the actual taping, a crowd of a couple hundred protesters shouted from behind police barricades across 14th Street. A group called Enough Is Enough led the protest saying the show was an expensive fig leaf to mask the corporation’s sins of exploitation. Signs in the crowd read “I Am Not a Pimp” and “I Am Not a Gangster.” I wonder if “The Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder, who over the years has had his comic-strip characters ridicule BET for its programming content, most notable for its habit of profit-pushing thuggish rap videos. The protesters have to admit that BET has aired much more family oriented programming lately.

Each honoree received an introduction, then a video bio and then a musical tribute. Wyclef Jean pitched in a foot-stomping take on "She's a Bad Mama Jama." Brian McKnight crooned "One." Wonder came out and ripped up "As," dedicated to Keys. It had the horn section dancing, the ushers keeping time in the aisles and the crowd rocking. Debra Lee, BET's chairman and chief executive, pointed out that each recipient has also "given back to the community in a significant way."

NAACP Image Awards

Actor Hill Harper, winner of the NAACP Image Award for his role on CSI: NY, expressed my sentiments exactly (The Nubian Epistle focus: presenting positive images of Black people without bringing others down) when he stated, It's called an Image Award and I believe they're not just looking at acting, but they're looking at the image you portray and how you live your life. I'm very proud to win it, because I try to lift up and break stereotypes about the African-American male, and I'm proud of my work. It's not just about acting."

Other winners included Actor Denzel Washington, who won for his roll in the movie The Great Debaters, which won for best movie. He said, "I'm happy for everybody up here," who also directed the film. "I'm very grateful for this award and particularly just happy that some of these young people got recognized. Denzel sported a shaved head, for his upcoming movie, The Taking of Pelham 123. The Great Debaters also produced other winners including younger actors Jurnee Smollett and Denzel Whitaker. Alicia Keys won four awards in the music category -- album, song, music video and female artist.

Senator Barack Obama didn't earn any trophies at this year's NAACP Image Awards, but he was a winner even though his name was not mentioned. Many stars such as actor/director Tyler Perry just dropped campaign catch phases such as “Yes we can.” Perry, whose House of Payne TV series picked up three awards and is known for playing multiple characters, joked, "I'm voting three times: one as myself, one as Madea and one as Joe." House of Payne's additional wins were for its stars LaVan Davis and Lance Gross.

Hill Harper, who is a member of Senator Obama campaign finance committee, revealed, "Barack Obama and I have known each other for 20 years. We went to Harvard Law School together." The timing of the writers strike was perfect for Harper to hit the campaign trail in support of Obama; he's due back on the set the day after the March 4 primaries. Other winners were less partial to a specific candidate, but did point to politics:

Stevie Wonder, inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame, used his time onstage to praise the 99-year-old organization, saying "it's through this organization that we now have two (presidential) candidates, one a female and the other an African-American. … I say let them both win so that we can have a strong, united people of the United States. I'm very, very excited about the possibility." Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams, supporting actress in a comedy series winner, said: "This is such an exciting time in our lives. We can all feel the change happening and we all have the power. Vote." And Regina Taylor, who won an acting award for her role on CBS' The Unit, said the trophy was a great honor, partly because "when we're looking at the news and seeing a woman running for president and a Black man running for president, you have to look back and see how we got here, and the NAACP is the organization that was in the center of it."

Special honors went to veteran Oscar-nominated actress Ruby Dee and to singer Aretha Franklin. Aretha said she had attended the NAACP ceremony since the early days, "when the sets were falling down and cue cards were being written in the wings just before the artists walked on stage," she said. "This is the icing on the cake for me."

Obama-related works actually did win awards: a TVOne interview and a biography by David Mendell.