Season 5 BET Sunday Best is a little rough

Where is Mary Mary when you need them? Kim Burrell is channeling Simon Cowell and it is not pretty. We know that this is a singing competition, but constructive criticism can be a good thing. Mocking the participants is never a good thing. It might be entertaining but WWJD?

Why are they doing Broadway on Sunday Best?

Did I miss the memo when did Broadway become a part of a gospel singing competition? American Idol does not have a gospel category it is what it is. Nothing more nothing less. So what do you think should secular music be a part of the competition? Tell me what you think.

Who is Kirk Franklin?

This season I did not watch American Idol, but one of my good friends watched it and gave me a recap the following day.  She persuaded me to watch the finale and I was glad to see gospel superstar Kirk Franklin singing with finalist Jacob Lusk. They were singing Franklin’s hit single “Smile.”  The next day my friend said that she was reading an article on the Idol Vote for the Worst site and as the site reviewed the finale they named all the superstars that performed but they had no idea who Kirk Franklin was. They refered to him as a “midget Ru Paul lookalike.”  Most people in the black community know who Kirk Franklin is. he has actually appeared on Oprah, but when taken out of the confines of the gospel experience he is viewed as an unknown by many. How could someone be regarded as famous in the black community and a nobody in the wider community? I often say “we have to know them, they don’t have to know us”, and this proves my point.

I Want to Believe Barack Obama Will Win

Gospel singer Kirk Franklin has a popular song called “I Want to Believe”. In the song he laments to God how he wants to believe and he implores God to help him believe. It is a struggle to believe and I think that is what black people are feeling as they watch this campaign. We hear pundits say that Obama is going to win. They are emphatic about it, but black people simple can not believe this is possible. Whereas, white Obama supporters say he will win and it could be a landslide victory. Why can’t we be this positive? Make no mistake we are going to vote for Obama on Tuesday, but the mind simply can not grasp the concept of a landslide. I used to just say I believe he is going to win, and I  think by using the term “I believe” I have created a sort of a safety net. It is only recently that I can say with confidence that he is going to win. It took me a while to arrive at this attitude so that is why the Kirk Franklin song is so appropriate for this season we need to believe and we need to vote, and next weekend we will be calling the Senator from IL, President-elect Barack Obama.