Not Sold on Empire

Pictured to the right is the cast of the smash hit, "Empire." From left to right, starting at top are: Bryshere Gray, Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett, Taraji P. Henson, and Terrance Howard. 

The show is very entertaining but there are serious issues that need to be addressed.

In this world of greed, pseudo religiosity, hate, grandstanding, and profiling, the night-time drama sends a rather disturbing message to a younger generation of African Americans. 

Since their ancestors set foot on American soil, the black race has been perpetually misguided.The duplicity surrounding the collective befuddlement of an entire race of people has its roots in Christianity. 

A historically despicable, manipulative, and belligerent religion that has millions of benighted black folks, worshiping a white deity, a white savior, supposedly coming out of the clouds to "save you" (it's a moot discussion regarding the ethnicity of Jesus because you're debating about a fictional character). A canonical sect that's duping 2.5 billion Christians into giving ten percent of their hard-earned income to a "God" that will punish 'non-believers' severely, for all eternity, if they do not believe 'He' exist.

An ignominious show like Empire will quite possibly hasten our collective metamorphosis to assuming the caustic and sinister characteristics of the aboriginal oppressors of the black man - and the rest of humankind as well - the Caucasoid race.

It's ok to be successful and wealthy but to do so at the expense of others is egregiously wrong. Sure, it's fiction, it's entertainment, but for young Black America, the show is morally and socially irresponsible.

There is little doubt that Empire will remain at the top of the charts. However, the unbridled avarice will do nothing to remove the injudicious cloud hoovering over African Americans since the slaves first journey aboard the 'Jesus of Lübeck' (Queen Elizabeth transported the first slaves on a ship called, "The Good Ship Jesus," aka 'Jesus of Lubeck', a 700-ton ship purchased by King Henry VIII).

In the final episode of Season 1, Lucious makes the statement, "Sometimes you gotta be willing to sacrifice your queen in order to win the game." The life that we live is not a game. However, on a daily basis, lower class Americans (this includes Black, White, and Brown people) are unwitting pawns on the chessboard of the super-rich.

The show pits brother against brother and black-on-black crime. In the midst of a completely dysfunctional family, the not-so-subtle message is clear: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is not a staple of the black family.

We sit in church on a weekly basis, praising the protagonist of a Roman story. Uneducated, unaware, unconcerned and brainwashed of the fact that the majority of the narratives in the 'Holy Bible' were stolen from Egyptian folklore.