Here is a simple question for you. Why does the accusation of using the “broad brush” only apply when folks like Oprah says something negative about the Black community? Can she also be accused of using a “broad brush” for the millions she has spent addressing the problem? Following this logic here, one can easily make the argument that she has spent way too much on a few Black colleges (this could be a case that the brush was not broad enough), or just overkill to prove that she is down with her peeps. In fact, if she REALLY cared about the education of Black folks, why did she not donate any of those millions to Black colleges like Martin University or Voorhees College? While I will be the first to tell you that this “other” argument is weak, it still has some validity to it in this line of logic. Because to state that a person is using a “broad brush” when addressing negatives in the Black community is an admission that a person can equally use a “broad brush” in their philanthropic input to the solutions.  The question then becomes “Has Oprah been too generous?” I think that if you are going to use this argument, you are going to have to use it both ways for it to make any real sense (to me at least).

I think that most fair minded folks understand that when she said the following in her comment “If you ask the kids (referring to inner-city kids) what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”, she is not talking about ALL inner-city kids or all Black kids for that matter nor is she talking about all South African children wanting uniforms. If that was the case, then she would have to pull the plug on her Angel project or kick out the 80 or so families that she built houses for down in N.O. if she believed that ALL inner-city kids were not worth the investment.

Having to go out of your way to make it clear to folks that you are not speaking about the whole I think has run its course in open forums. While I always believe that assumption can be very dangerous, I am always willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt especially after knowing something about the person and past actions.

Despite all of this, while my wife loves the show, her getting me to watch it with her is like getting my teeth pulled and following it with a kerosene wash.

I go into why, here