February is African-American history month. Today on TV African-Americans are still few and far between and those that are on TV aren’t always positive, fully developed or progressive. There are few excellent characters and shows but it’s like finding a full scholarship, they’re out there somewhere but you may have never seen one. So here’s my list of four steps forward and four slips backward for television, African-Americans and society in general.

1. Frank Pembleton, Homicide: Life on the street.

There are so many cop show clichés by now that they’re almost as familiar as fairy tales. But Homicide was a different breed, based on the book “Homicide: A year on the killing streets” by journalist David Simon, Homicide featured some stories based on true events. Not the kind on Law and Order when you can tell what famous case they were ripping off, but the real life stuff that happens close to home; drug killings, hit and runs, bar brawls and anything that could happen in any city. The cases weren’t always solved, sometimes the cops mess up, sometimes the criminals get off on not enough evidence or a killer gets found ‘innocent’ because they jury just wants to get home for the weekend; these happen more often then serial killers and celebrity murders. Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) is a complicated, complex cop. A devoted husband and father, a conflicted catholic, an ace interrogator and a black man who didn’t act like a stereotype or a white man on the inside. Along with Pembleton, the cops at Baltimore Homicide were unique, intelligent and fully developed from tough, gregarious Sargeant Kay Howard (Melissa Leo), old school Leautenant Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) of African and Sicilian heritage, and rookie Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) another television rarity, a bisexual man who isn’t promiscuous or unstable.

2. Lester Freamon, The Wire.

Sharing many of the same crew, cast and location as Homicide, The Wire is it’s spiritual sister show. The Wire goes where the NBC-made Homicide could not, into the “ghetto” to expose the drugs, the violence, the language and the sex. The ghetto and the law meet and intertwine to show us the lives of all sides of the law, and how similar they all are. The cops are flawed, the criminals sympathetic. The Wire renounces the cliché of good vs. evil, it’s just people vs. people. There are no easy answers presented to the problems of drugs, racism and poverty, it’s simply presented as reality. The majority of the cast is African-American, accurately reflecting Baltimore’s demographic and the characters are all just as rich. The Wire has some of the most complex characters, black or white, cop or criminal, on tv. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) is a good cop, he’s not a great, superman cop that knows everything and can do anything, he’s an older guy who just does the right thing. Banished to the Pawn shop unite for thirteen years and four months after charging a criminal with connections after he was warned not to. Now he’s back in action in the Barksdale task force doing what he does best, good police work with an eye for detail. He has a Morgan Freeman-like intensity, makes doll furniture in his spare time and knows the words to The Pogues’ “Body of an American”. He’s a surprise all around.

3. Kareem Said, Oz.

Not only the first Muslim main character on tv, Said (Eamonn Walker) was a Black man who grew up in the projects, converted to Islam and pledged to lead and help people wherever he was, no matter what colour or religion, he even acted as legal counsel for Neo-Nazi leader Vern Schillinger (J.K. Simmons). He’s not a terrorist or a bigot. He preaches non-violence and equality, fighting for the rights of all, especially those trampled by the system and society, those of colour, the poor and the most ignored of all, prisoners. As with everyone on Oz, prisoner and staff alike, he was flawed; with pride, self-righteousness and a temper that sometimes got in the way of his non-violent ideals. He was an embodiment of the ideals and flaws of not just the Islamic religion but all religions. Oz itself was a microcosm of society, with all races, ages 16-65, all points on the Kinsey scale, and questions about religion, law, life, love, hate, death and everything in between. It’s every issue in sociology and criminology today wrapped into on brutal, realistic story.

4. Oprah Winfrey and LeVar Burton.

Oprah, what can’t she do? She’s an actress, book critic, publisher, talk show host, and hero to millions of people everywhere. She’s one of the most influential African-Americans of the Twentieth century and the richest. She’s richer than God but she does some good stuff with it, she donates more of her money to charity than any other person in show biz. She gave to Hurricane Katrina relief, put 100 Black men through college with her scholarships, and instituted the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for girls.

LeVar Burton is a great actor, he was Kunta Kinte in the amazing mini-series Roots, Geordie LaForge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and tons of voicework such as Captain Planet, Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. Since 1983 he’s been hosting and executively producing Reading Rainbow on PBS. The show and LeVar encourage children to read, and teach about different topics like immigration, music, food and dinosaurs as well as topics not usually taught to children like slavery, poverty in U.S. inner cities, September 11th and prison. You’re never too old to have LeVar or another celebrity voice read you a story. Never.

Now here’s were we need to make progress:

1. BET. They said they were going to play The Wire, I was excited, then I changed the channel and all I saw was rap videos. Aaron MacGruder was right, it’s all just a black woman’s gyrating rear end. It’s only perpetuating stereotypes.

2. 24. Sherry Palmer, Julia Milliken, Marianne Taylor. All Black women, all untrustworthy. And almost all of the non-Americans and non-whites are evil.

3. Flavor of Love. Not just a disgrace to the Black race, but the human race. Flavor Flav, who already has 6 kids and 2 grandkids, whores himself out to a slew of women who degrade themselves and each other to win his affection. Flav gives them nicknames like nibblz, sumthin, like dat and deelishis and spends time with several different women a night. I feel bad for everyone involved.

4. Simply, we need more African-Americans on tv that aren’t tokens, stereotypes or insults. African-Americans make up about 12% of America and 2.2% of Canada, but are not represented as such on tv. We need more minorities on tv, we need to show their stories, their lives and their voices.