Singer/songwriter Kandi Burress shows off her Kandi Koated Spades

Playing video games all day may be perfectly fine for a college student, but the same usually doesn’t apply to men in their 30s and 40s. That’s unless you’re entrepreneurs Clemille “CJ” Peters, Jr., 34, and Marcus Matthews, 40, who not only play games but make them as well. The pair of Atlanta residents run Konsole Kingz, a company that uses promotions, event planning, gaming tournaments and marketing strategies to help video game companies tap into urban markets. After working with industry giants like Sega Sports and Rockstar Games, the pair recently released Kandi Koated Spades, an Apple Store spades game that’s endorsed by singer/songwriter and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burress. BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Peters and Matthews who reveal what role Twitter played in partnering with Burress, how folks like Tyler Perry and Spike Lee inspire their business model, and why they would prefer to have more competition.

How did the concept for Kandi Koated Spades come about?

Matthews: We wanted to do a Black game that was accessible. I grew up playing tonk and spades, and I would say sometime in mid-2000, I went to my family reunion back in Jacksonville, and everybody busted out spades tables and cards and I was like, “Man, this was made for mobile.” It’s a multiplayer game, it’s simple, people like to talk trash, it’s social, and it’s something that everybody knows, so casual people will play. It’s not like some new game where you have to learn the rules; everybody knows how to play spades in the Black community. You’ve just got to put the right product out there…

Why did it take so long from when you first had the idea for the game to come out?

Matthews: I started conceptualizing it in the mid-2000s, playing around and doing some stuff but couldn’t find the time to focus on it because I was dealing with other projects. When me and CJ hooked up, I told him about it. He’s a bigger spades player than me, so he was into it from the rip! So we just had to find the time and situation. Two years ago, before the iPhone came out, I started on a design. When the iPhone came out, it became a clear, strong platform. I redesigned the game on paper for the iPhone, and I started going down that path. I knew I wanted to work with a celebrity, someone who could bring some attention to the game, who was a gamer ideally. When CJ got involved, he really helped crystallize some things.

What did you bring to the table that was missing?

Peters: When I got involved, I was gathering all the rules and doing all the game play stuff. I was basically the game play producer; making sure it has the right feel, and that the [everything was] represented. I’m always on Twitter—if you’re not following me @KonsoleKingz, you probably should [laughs]—but I use Twitter as market research.

One night, I was throwing out tweets about how you play spades and Kandi replied to my tweets. We had a tweet exchange back and forth, going over rules, and after we did that, it started to form in my head. We were already looking for a person that everybody liked [to endorse the game] and Kandi fit that mold—she had a show coming out, and was going to be all over TV… [Marcus] liked the idea. I knew people that knew her management, we bought [the idea] to her and she liked it.

How involved was she in the actual creation and direction of the game?

Peters: We wanted her to have real input, so we’d give her test inputs of the game and let her play. She wanted certain nuances how she played in the game, so we put those in there. When you win and lose, we have quotes from her pop up, so it feels like she’s watching over all the games being played. We got her to do videos for it. She’s involved, she’s not just like, “Use my name and go.” She comes to the office, sits down and we talk.

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Konsole Kingz, Matthews and Peters

A big thing that many people love about the game is that it includes many of the varying rules of how to play spades. How hard was it to create a program like that?

Peters: To make a good, great polished game, is very hard. Marcus put a lot of late nights into this game, getting it right. It’s hard to do it right. There’s only been one attempt by somebody, but it hasn’t been companies really [making it regularly]. But we know how this game impacts the Black community, the minority community, the urban community, however you want to say it. We know it resonates high, we know people get really emotionally involved in this game. If we bring that same feeling and that same passion, and do it right in the execution, people are going to feel the same way when they play the game on their phone.

Matthews: I’ve pitched similar concepts to mainstream gaming companies back in the early 2000s, and we didn’t get any serious nibbles at all. When Tyler Perry went to pitch his first movie, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, he got rejected by every single Hollywood studio. The only one that bit was more of an indie studio, Lionsgate, which is not a major player—they’re based in Canada or Vancouver—and he had to put up most of the money. They put up $2 million, he had to put up $3 million. They didn’t even have enough confidence to give him $5 million for a big budget movie. That tells you most mainstream entertainment companies don’t understand the Black audience most of the time, and it takes people to do what Tyler and Spike Lee did to get your voice heard and out to markets. That’s pretty much what we’re out to do.

How do you feel about the success of the game thus far and getting placed in the Apple Store?

Matthews: In some ways, for me, it’s kind of surprising and disappointing, I don’t think there’s any other Black-oriented apps that are really doing well in the Apple Store right now. We’re one of the only Black-focused apps where Black people can come, hang out and socialize, and that’s made for them, that’s on top of anything right now. I wish there were more Black-focused apps and developers out there right now that are putting out content with things we can download.

What kind of success do you feel you guys have to have to open the industry’s eyes?

Matthews: Part of me is hoping that if we break though half a million apps, and you have one that’s broken in the top 1,000 of all apps, but we need more and a better representation. More people trying to do it, and do it right—put more money into it.

What is the profitability of mobile apps right now? It seems like there’s a lot of room to profit, with the consistent growth of Android and Apple. But it also seems like jailbreaking or app hacking would hinder that. How is it as a business model?

Matthews: I think in some ways, it’s a little better than doing Web development. It’s the same thing as building a Website. The barrier entry is fairly low, not as low as doing a Website but just like with a Website, if you can find that right voice and that right niche, that right marketing thing to gain visibility, you can make money. I think the same thing exists in apps. In general, I don’t think jailbreaking is a huge portion of downloads for games and apps, because the type of people that play games are casual fans, and they don’t want to take the time to jailbreak. It’s always a techy person, a high school or college student that’s hardcore anal about not paying or doing that kind of stuff, that jailbreaks their phones.

A lot of guys on Konsole Kingz have iPhones, I only think one has jailbroken their phone. The other dudes are like, “I don’t have time for that stuff.” It’s not easy, it’s harder to get updates because they’re always doing changes with the OS (operating system). Most people say, “These apps are two or three dollars, the cost of a value hamburger, it’s not worth the hassle. Maybe if these things were $30, $50, it might be a bigger issue. The question is really, just like with any platform—movies, books, video games, apps—do you have something people want to buy? If you know how to create something people want to buy, you’ll make money as an author, you’ll make money writing apps, you’ll make money making a Website.

Peters: If they like your product, they’ll support it. Within Konsole Kingz, that’s one of the three things that we do. We’re looking at creating different revenue streams to build companies stronger. We look at apps as encompassing those—as Black guys creating something that’s rooted. People can see that and applaud that, and at the same time, we can hopefully make some great money off of it.

For Better or Worse: Actress Tasha Smith (Image: TBS)

Tasha Smith—the Camden, NJ, around-the-way girl who we’ve grown to know and love as the feisty, boisterous, no nonsense Angela in Tyler Perry‘s Why Did I Get Married franchise—is unapologetically transparent about her personal struggles. From recovering from what she calls “heavy drug abuse” to her years earning money as a stripper, Smith’s ‘hood to Hollywood personal saga has not only made her relatable to so many, but earned her the respect of peers and fans alike.

Now, the newlywed actress makes her small screen debut as the leading lady of Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse (premiering Nov. 25 on TBS at 10 p.m. EST), a weekly sitcom that offers an extended and more in-depth look at screen life of the constantly bickering WDIGM couple Angela and Marcus (Michael Jai White).

BlackEnterprise.com kicked it with the uncensored, statuesque beauty about whether she’s helping to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Black women, why Black men are no punks, and learning who to trust when it comes to business.

BlackEnterprise.com: Congrats! You have a new hubby and a new show, Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse. What can folks expect from the small screen version of your Why Did I Get Married character Angela?

Tasha Smith: They are going to see more of a balance of Angela. Her home life is something that they didn’t get to see in Why Did I Get Married because she and Marcus were always traveling. She won’t just be going off and acting crazy, which I don’t really feel is her going off and being crazy as much as it is that she’s passionate and committed to her husband and marriage. Of course, Angela has some maturing to do, but a lot of women are insecure, fearful of abandonment, which makes them destructive and reactive. So people will see her as a wife, entrepreneur and mother, as well as see her vulnerability and her trying to change and do what’s right. Her fears and insecurities will resurface and bring back the old Angela, but I think she’s gotten to the point where she’s thinking, I’m sick of myself. I need to stop this cause it don’t make no sense going off and freaking out every time I think something is going to happen. (Laughs) She really is trying to be the bigger person.

There has been criticism that your character, Angela, promotes negative stereotypes about Black women: Loud, combative and ignorant. What do you say to those critics?

C’mon let’s be real: Any woman who has been in a relationship and has experienced anything close to what Angela and Marcus have knows things happen. People want to say Black women are loud, but everyone knows it was a white woman who cut off her man’s penis. You never heard a Black woman doing that! A Black woman might put a hoe in check; but she ain’t cutting off no penis. (Laughs) Angela’s passionate, and if people give [the show] a chance, they will see how she matures as we all do.

What do you hope people will walk away with from the show?

People are going to identify with a lot of the different relationships, and I want them to enjoy, laugh and be inspired.

Comedy on set: Smith with on-screen husband, Michael Jai White (Image: TBS)

Some men believe Angela’s hubby Marcus (Michael Jai White) must be a punk to tolerate her antics. Do you agree?

Marcus ain’t no punk! He’s just a bigger person and understands why Angela is the way that she is. Every man out there don’t take no junk. Think about it: when a man chooses to love [any woman] and understand her past and history, they give a lot of grace. The women who are in the relationship might suffer from abandonment issues because they might have grown up without a father, and if a man says, “I’m going to choose to love this woman [despite those issues],” then he’s going to be patient and kind. I think people are too quick to judge Angela and Marcus and don’t realize how much they love and understand one another—flaws and all.

Much like Angela, you speak truth and have been very candid about your past with using drugs and stripping. Do you think people have judged you about your past?

I think people have judged me and thought that I’m too transparent and I shouldn’t put all of my personal business out there. But for me, I’m free! There was a time when I had so much shame because of the things I’d done and been through. But to be able to have transparency without fear of anyone trying to hold that over my head, because we all know that people will try to do that if they believe it can destroy you. Can’t nobody tell your business like you, so I told it myself and I’m free.

We’ve enjoyed witnessing your growth on the silver screen. When you think about your career trajectory and personal brand, where do you see yourself in five years?

I gotta tell you, my husband, Keith Douglas [author of The Power to Get Wealth: No Money Required], and I launched SPI (Speaking Bureau Institute) to create opportunities for entertainers, singers and athletes to do motivational speaking. Between my film and TV background and my husband’s gospel music background, we felt there was a need to service all kinds of urban talent and give them a voice at conferences, colleges and other events. As a motivational speaker, I don’t believe enough Black talent is sought for these opportunities. Not that it’s only African-American talent, but we are focused on creating that voice in that space. Also, I just launched my own [unisex] fragrance called Us at justtasha.com, made from organic oil no heavy metals. We’ve already sold a few thousand dollars worth and it will be in some specialty stores. I’m excited we have body butter and body wash and this is something that my husband and I did on our own.

What is the best money advice you’ve ever received?

Best money advice was to save! Take an extra 10 percent and put it away. It’s not always about having a lot of money, but we are responsible. If we can go to the mall, then we can save.

What is the best business advice you’d give anyone?

I say this as a celebrity entertainer, we have to protect our brand. We have to choose our alliances carefully. People will try to be vultures, and if you have a brand of integrity and character, the wrong person can contaminate it if you don’t screen everybody who tries to approach you with a proposition. I believe this can apply to anyone who is starting a business or brand. Some people just want you just for your connections or simply just because you have something they don’t have. I’ve learned some hard lessons being introduced to the wrong people, and I’m still learning.

What is the one thing folks would be surprised to learn about Tasha Smith?

That I’m in bed by 9 pm! (Laughs) I swear I’m so corny. After I eat, I get ol’ school Black. You can catch me in the bed either eating some Twizzlers, watching my favorite TBS show For Better or Worse or just snoring!

How do you wish to be remembered?

That she loved God, people and tried to be a good person who helped and inspired many.

(Image: Facebook)

Cornel West and Princeton Part Ways

Public intellectual and civil rights activist Cornel West is leaving Princeton University this summer to return to Union Theological Seminary in New York –where he started out as an assistant professor in 1977.

Dr. West will teach philosophy and Christian practices at Union.

“I don’t have that much time, and I want to be able to do precisely what I’m called to do,” West said.

Read more at The Root…

No End in Sight for Foreclosure Crisis

The nation is less than halfway through its foreclosure crisis, according to the Center for Responsible Lending report released Thursday.

Roughly 42.2 million Americans took out a mortgage loan between 2004 and 2008.  By February of this year, 2.7 million households, or 6.4 %, had lost their homes to foreclosure. CRL estimates that an additional 3.6 million households, or 8.3 %, are at “immediate, serious risk” of losing their homes.

Read more at the Huffington Post…

White House Shooting Suspect Arrested

The four day search for the person suspected of firing shots from an assault rifle at the White House came to an end Wednesday.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was arrested at a hotel near Indiana, Pa. after being spotted by a hotel desk clerk. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in federal court on Thursday.

Gunfire was reported close to 9 p.m. Friday, south of the White House, the Secret Service said.  Upon investigation, they found two bullets struck the president’s residence. The Obama family was not home at the time of the shooting.

Read more at USA Today…

Persecution of Federal Fraud at 20-Year Low

It’s safe to say Wall Street is on front street these days.

But despite the public mistrust of banks, federal prosecutions for various financial crimes are the lowest they’ve been in two decades.

The federal government will file 1,365 prosecutions for financial institution fraud in 2011, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

The TRAC report notes that 2011′s relatively low number of financial fraud prosecutions is only the continuation of a trend spanning more than a decade.

Read more at the Huffington Post…

Black Girls Rock!’ scores high ratings

Black Girls Rock!, a television special celebrating the not for profit organization that provides mentoring to young, black girls, scored top ratings in black households.

It ranked second to a NFL regular season football game with over 1.9 million viewers.

Black Girls Rock! ratings beat out the highly popular The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Basketball Wives of L.A.

Read more at The Grio…

Tyler Perry Stands Behind Decision to Cast Kim Kardashian

Tyler Perry defends his decision to cast reality TV star and recent divorcee Kim Kardashian in his new film despite the barrage of backlash.

Perry announced Kardashian would have a role in his upcoming film
The Marriage Counselor just days before she ended her 72-day marriage to NBA star Kris Humphries. To many fans, the decision was malapropos.

In a recent statement, Perry asked fans to hear him out as he explained the premise of the movie. The director/producer said he wanted a younger cast to attract younger viewers.

Read more at CBS News…

(Image: File)

With news of Zuccotti Park being cleared out early this morning we wondered what would happen to some of the celebrity support the Occupy Wall Street movement’s been getting. When we first saw multifaceted mogul Russell Simmons showing his support for the movement back in September we were more than a little surprised. Here was a man with a reported net worth of $340 million cavorting with a rag tag bunch protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. “Russell Rush” even participated in their meditation flash mobs and invited celebrity buddies like Kanye West to press palms with protesters and witness the spectacle of it all.  Some think it hypocritical of the man behind the Rush Card to rail against “banksters” but if Simmons is willing to take a tax hike on the chin for what he feels is the betterment of the country,  more power to him.

Simmons’ support of Occupy Wall Street got us thinking: Which other notable blacks in the top 1% would show solidarity with the movement? Which ones wouldn’t be caught dead at Zuccotti Park? Here are five famous folks who’d only make an Occupy appearance if their limo got lost in lower Manhattan and they had to ask directions.

(Image: File)

Michael Jordan

Why wouldn’t the great MJ ever show face at Zuccotti Park?  A “baller” in every sense of the word, he’s worth half a billion dollars, notoriously apolitical and as owner of the Charlotte Bobcats he’s way too busy making sure that players don’t get a bigger slice of the NBA profit pie. Jordan has proven to be one of the most vocal and hard-line NBA owners who want to keep players’ revenue share at 50% or less. He doesn’t even want to share money with other millionaires! Clearly, he’ll have no interest in sharing revenue with the  99 percenters. However, if you want some comfortable shoes to wear while doing all of that marching, he’ll be happy to sell you some flashy kicks at the low, low price of $175.

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Tyler TV may be coming to a television set near you (Image: Getty)

Lionsgate May Launch ‘Tyler [Perry] TV’

As if Tyler Perry hasn’t already etched his name across Tinseltown, the multi-talented media mogul may soon follow in the footsteps of his dear friend Oprah Winfrey and launch his very own cable network, tentatively called Tyler TV.

Read more at HuffPost Black Voices…

Stocks End Sharply Lower Amid Fears About Europe

For yet another day, the stock market swung back and forth with ranges of hundreds of points.

After sweeping declines on Monday were followed by huge gains on Tuesday, stocks on Wall Street finished steeply lower on Wednesday as each of the three main indexes dropped more than 4 percent. Wednesday’s trading completely wiped out the gains of the previous day in the broader market as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Read more at the New York Times…

Police Force Beefs Up in London

In an effort to end the city’s worst rioting in a generation, London’s Metropolitan Police Service said Tuesday it would flood the streets with 10,000 more officers in addition to the 6,000 already on patrol.

Read more at USA Today…

Charles Gittens, First Black Secret Service Agent, Dies

Charles L. Gittens, who in 1956 became the first black Secret Service agent, has died. He was 82.

Read more at the Associated Press…

How Students Use Technology

It’s clear that today’s students rely heavily on electronic devices even when they’re not incorporated in the classroom. In one survey of college students, 38% said they couldn’t even go 10 minutes without switching on some sort of electronic device.

Read more at Mashable…

Tyler Perry, The Cashflow CEO Magnus Greaves, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed and White House Office of Public Engagement Associate Director Michael Blake (Image: Sue Ross)

“Everything that you need to make your business successful, everything you need to empower yourself, everything you need to grow and be all that you want to be is already in your neighborhood,” filmmaker and Atlanta-based entrepreneur Tyler Perry advised a packed house at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Theatre during his keynote address at the Atlanta Urban Entrepreneurship Forum on July 29.

The event, which included a live pitch contest worth $10,000 from 100 Urban Entrepreneurs for three lucky startups, was part of an ongoing national series being presented by the White Office Business Council and the White House Office of Public Engagement to jumpstart entrepreneurship across the nation, especially among African Americans. Michael Blake, Associate Director for the White House Office of Public Engagement and Deputy Associate Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, has been at the forefront of the initiative.

In a press conference with Perry and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed following Perry’s address, Blake spoke to the vital importance of entrepreneurship to the African American community by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship to the nation as a whole.

“The numbers don’t lie,” he stressed. “Two-thirds of businesses are small businesses in this country. More than half the jobs are coming from small businesses. Eighty-four percent of the population now is in urban America so the only way that we are going to be able to accelerate and grow as a country is by urban entrepreneurs being successful, and the only way we can help it be successful is by providing access to resources and access to capital,” he said, underscoring the significance of the Atlanta effort and others.

Earlier, as Hollywood’s multi-million dollar man addressed the crowd as “Tyler Perry, the urban entrepreneur,” he tagged Atlanta as a key place for other entrepreneurs to realize their dreams. When Perry left his native New Orleans to attend Freaknic years ago, he found more than a party. Awed by the many successful African Americans he encountered, Perry saw Atlanta was his “Promised Land,” and decided to join them. The rest, as we know, is history.

“Mr. Perry’s model is instructive beyond entertainment because what he did was dominated the space in his own community and then expanded that platform,” noted Mayor Kasim Reed in exclusive conversation with BlackEnterprise.com.

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Getting it started (Image: Thinkstock)

According to numbers taken from the Survey of Business Owners: Black-Owned Businesses: 2007, which is compiled every five years, metro Atlanta saw a 99 percent increase in black businesses from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, there were more than 127,000 black-owned businesses as compared to 64,000 in 2002 in the metro Atlanta area.

“More than 75% of the nation’s GDP is generated in cities,” shared the mayor. So, for him, “the urban entrepreneur is really the future if America’s economy is going to continue to grow.”

That’s why the Howard University alum, who won a tightly contested race that ended in a run-off election on December 1, 2009, has kept his eye on expanding entrepreneurship opportunities even as he has dealt with immediate crises such as pension plan reform and the headline-grabbing Atlanta Public School cheating scandal.

“Everything we’re doing today is about where I believe that the country is going and that the world is going and [I’m] positioning Atlanta at the center of that activity,” Reed noted regarding the importance of his administration joining forces with the White House for the Atlanta Urban Entrepreneurship Forum.

“In being a part of initiatives like today,” he said, “we are raising the level of interest and awareness regarding minority and women contracting opportunities with the city.” And that level, he noted, is substantial.

“Despite the fact that there are more minority business owners in the state of New York, no municipal government in the United States of America does more business by percentage of their budget and operations than the city of Atlanta does,” he boasted.

That precedent set by Atlanta’s first black mayor Maynard Jackson is one that Reed is committed to expanding. In addition to his continued support of the motion picture and television industry, Reed is eyeing a Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship where 20 women entrepreneurs will receive free office space and office resources such as computers and phones for 20 months because he believes “women haven’t benefited enough.”

The Atlanta native is crystal clear about his mission: “I want to make sure that, when I’m done being mayor, that the number of people that I helped has increased and that we had a program that was robust and fair and that we created a new cadre of entrepreneurs.”

For more information on opening a business in Atlanta, visit atlanta.gov

For more information on 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, visit 100urbanentrepreneurs.org

The moment Oprah Winfrey announced her farewell season, I immediately wrote in my journal: “Must attend the taping.” I entered the lottery on Oprah.com and thought nothing more of it–until I was notified via email just days later telling me that I scored 6th row-center seats for the final taping at Chicago’s United Center. This was truly one of my wildest dreams fulfilled!

The farewell taping was a two-hour tribute to Oprah peppered with love from celebrities, mentors, mentees and everyday people, and with the underlying theme of God’s anointing and appointing Oprah to greatness.

A virtual who’s who of Oprah’s closest friends–Dr. Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin, Halle Berry, Will and Jada Smith, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Queen Latifah, Michael Jordan, Usher, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Tyler Perry, Stevie Wonder, Maria Shriver, Jerry Seinfeld, Gayle King, Stedman Graham, Diane Sawyer, Dr. Oz, Nate Berkus, Dr. Phil, Rosie O’ Donnell, were on-hand to join the celebration.

Brand Oprah was moved with emotion, especially when close friend Tyler Perry took the stage and said, “With God on Oprah, she was destined for greatness.” The tone of the show became somewhat of a revival, a homage to whence we came. Aretha Franklin followed with a stirring performance of “Amazing Grace,” leaving not a dry eye in the room. The Queen of Soul got the spirit, and told Oprah to “continue to keep God first.” Aretha started dancing and the audience and celebrities started jamming–all that was missing was the collection plate.

Centerstage: Oprah is flanked by close friends Gayle King and Maria Shriver (Image: Karen Taylor Bass)

It was at that moment Oprah said, “I am done, can’t take no more.” But that wasn’t it, Usher came out and ended the phenomenal taping with “O Happy Days,” and the stadium was filled with jubilation, love, grace and completion.

For many, the Oprah Winfrey Show is where we witnessed the evolution of a Black woman who became a mega-brand; she battled with weight, family drama, racism and friendship, and still, she gave so purely and inspired us all to be better and want more for our own lives.

Although, there were no cars, makeovers or uber giveaways at the farewell taping, the audience received the greatest gift–a chance to be a part of history up-close and personal with the most powerful woman on earth.

Thank you, Oprah Winfrey, for 25 years of pure inspiration and aspiration. Looking forward to your next chapter on OWN.

Actors Laz Alonso, Paula Patton and Bishop T.D. Jakes know they have a hit on their hands. (Image: Vernon Bryant, courtesy TDJ Enterprises/The FrontPage Firm)

One of my favorite movies is My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a 2002 romantic comedy about what happens when a nice middle class Greek girl falls in love with an upper middle class, White anglo saxon protestant (WASP) guy and they decide to get married. Cultures clash. Hilarity ensues. Deep human truths are revealed. And, of course, love triumphs. This kind of film is common, though not always well done. But when it’s done right, it’s magic—the kind that makes you watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding over and over again on cable. Okay, maybe not you. But I just love that stuff (Love & Basketball, Working Girl, Sabrina, Pretty Woman—don’t get me started).

But here’s the thing. I’m not Greek. And I’m not a WASP either. So that’s why I’m not satisfied with just Black people going out to see Jumping The Broom, which had a great opening weekend week before last, delivering more than $15 million at the box office (it cost $7 million to make). This weekend, I went out of my way to get my non-Black friends to go see the film—and you should, too. Just as Barack Obama could not have become the first Black president of the United States if only Black people had voted for him, the future of Black film making will hinge on whether we can change the assumption that films with predominantly Black casts should only be marketed to and seen by Black people. Jumping The Broom deserves to be enjoyed by White and other non-Black moviegoers, just the way My Big Fat Greek Wedding was enjoyed by plenty of non-Greek (not to mention non-WASP) moviegoers.

To the surprise of Hollywood pundits, Jumping The Broom opened as the No. 3 movie in America, and definitely the No. 1 romantic comedy (coming behind Thor and Fast Five—not exactly date flicks—and ahead of Something Borrowed, another wedding comedy). Starring a great (and excellently utilized) cast led by Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Laz Alonzo and Paula Patton, the movie tells the story of what happens when a nice upper class girl falls in love with a successful guy raised by a working-class, now widowed, mom, and they decide to get married—before introducing one another to their respective families. (Cultures clash. Hilarity ensues. You know where this is going. Hollywood is nothing if not formulaic.)

With all due respect to Tyler Perry, this is nothing close to a “Madea” movie. TD Jakes Enterprises, headed by Bishop T.D. Jakes, teamed up with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Tracey Edmonds‘ Our Stories Films, to produce Jumping The Broom. However, although Bishop Jakes, senior pastor of Dallas’ The Potter’s House megachurch, and Perry have perhaps done more than any duo to usher Christian entertainment into the mainstream of stage and film (going back to Perry’s stage musical adaptation of Jakes’ book Woman Thou Art Loosed), the Christian faith of some (not all or even most) of the characters in Jumping The Broom permeates the context, but is not the driving force, of the story. The themes of faith and redemption are omnipresent, but not pronounced; nothing on the order of the rocking emotional church scenes and “hallelujers!” associated with Perry’s films. Similarly, the fact that the cast is predominantly Black is just the starting point of defining the characters and telling their stories, not the totality of who they are and how they interact with the world.

The point of all this is not to say that Jumping The Broom is better than say, Madea’s Family Reunion. But the truth is, the appeal of the films Perry is best known for is pretty much limited to Black moviegoers, especially those who identify with the Black church. Not so with Jumping The Broom, which has appeal and entertainment value far beyond being Black or a person of faith. Which is why we need the latter film to live up to its potential with non-Black audiences, as well as Black moviegoers.

Here’s the deal. Hollywood’s pipeline for producing and distributing Black films has narrowed incredibly over the past several years. In fact, only a handful of major film studios remain committed to distributing films targeting Black audiences, including Lionsgate (primarily via its partnership with Tyler Perry Studios) and Sony Entertainment Pictures. In other words, at a time with more Black filmmakers producing more films about Black people than ever before, the window of opportunity to get those films to movie theaters has narrowed to a crack.

We needed the presidential runs of Rev. Jesse Jackson (and before him, Rep. Shirley Chisholm) to make President Barack Obama possible. But if Obama’s appeal was limited to Black voters, he’d be the Democratic Party’s version of Sarah Palin—writing books, making big bucks on the lecture circuit and keeping his party’s base (i.e. including us Black people, of course) excited and engaged—not overseeing the elimination of Osama bin Laden. Similarly, Jumping The Broom was made possible by films like those made by Tyler Perry, Spike Lee, Robert Townsend and their peers and predecessors, who validated the economic value of Black moviegoers as a consumer market. But if the case is not made that you don’t have to be Black to vote—via the box office—for a movie about Black people, the progress of Black film making will be stalled, perhaps indefinitely.

Unlike Diary of a Mad Black Woman (another movie I can’t get enough of), Jumping The Broom is not a great Black movie. It’s a great movie about Black people. The future of Black film and Black filmmakers hinges on moviegoers of all races and nationalities appreciating this distinction, not just intellectually, but at the box office. If you really want to support Black film, urge your White and other non-Black friends to see Jumping The Broom. Better yet, take them with you.