CNN’s Black in America: Success or Failure?
If anyone has been around a TV at all in the last week, you would have heard about CNN’s documentary special entitled: Black in America, hosted by Soledad O’Brien. It was presented as a two part series, the first being on the black woman and black family and the second on the black man.
Everyone is talking about it and there have been some seriously heated discussions. Personally, I think the first installment, was horrendous. 95% of the show portrayed black folks as poor, disease ridden, downtrodden, convicted, evicted, uneducated and looking for a hand out. I seriously cannot remember one positive thing from the episode. Please. What about ALL the amazing projects, businesses, etc that black people are doing and creating? Not a single thing about single mothers who are making it do what it do, starting businesses and creating jobs for people in their community. What about the families that are not broken, the father is still around, or even the families that have raised uber successful kids even in the presence of divorce or health ailments.
This especially pisses me off because who is the audience? The people who watched that episode, other than black folks who know whats up, are led to believe this is how most of Black America is which is simply. not. true.
Needless to say, I wasn’t really excited to watch the second episode…but I did. Not that it wasn’t as bad as the first, but at least I didn’t leave wanting to boycott CNN. Def didn’t know that Michael Eric Dyson had a brother in jail. The piece about the guy who didn’t show up for his kids birthday- sad, but real. I do believe that our fathers need to step up and be just that- fathers, but I also think the change cant just come from them, it has to be culturally. We have made it culturally acceptable for men to duck out on their responsibilities. In some cases, being a single mother has become a badge of honor.
NOW DONT GET ME WRONG, before I start getting crazy emails, I am not saying that Single mothers are not among the strongest women in the world, who have built institutions, created enterprises and contributed immensely to society. What I am saying is that, as a culture, we need to start demanding more…and being more responsible ourselves.
Finally, the piece about interracial marriage was interesting. All the way from the historic Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia in 1967 till now, in 2008, interracial marriages do not have it easy. What is it about interracial marriages that get people all riled up?
Okay, I’m done lol. What I really want to hear is what ya’ll have to say about it. Did you like the installments? Good? Bad? So So? Speak Up!
If you didn’t get a chance to see it, the documentary will be replayed this Saturday, July 26th at 8pm eastern time.
For interesting discussion about the topic, click here, here, here and here
And great articles from a favorite website, The Root: Keith Josef Adkins talks about the Light Skin Privilege and Amy Alexander says, Now What? Also, Blogger Jam Donaldson over at Conversate Is Not a Word talks about refusing to watch the series.
Good. Stuff.
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Was this whole series about Soledad working out her own race issues? She has a white father and is married to a white man, and yet she’s badgering a bro for having two sons involved with white women? Wha’? Why not interview the ladies’ white daddies?
I have three issues with this series:
(1) What did anyone really learn about any Black experience in America? To me, this series just reinforced stereotypes, although I would assume that it was trying to undermine such notions about Black Americans. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, it presented Black folks in the usual “pathological” sense—focusing on problems and linking success to whiteness.
(2) Anytime you focus on the negative aspects of difference, you reinforce difference. So if anything, this series reinforces (just to keep driving the point home) how Blacks are different, particularly though focusing on problems in the community. This series did not celebrate any Black cultural form—any meaningful and positive aspect of difference.
(3) Where was the diversity in experience? There is not a single Black experience in America. Furthermore, where were the successful Black business owners? Where were the successful Black woman married to successful Black men with 2.5 kids and a picket fence? Where’s the diversity in religious experience? Guess what…all Blacks in America are not Christian! Where was the GLBTQ experience? Where were the experiences of Black immigrants?
If you want to teach something about being Black America, show the stories that aren’t seen on a regular basis.
Wendia, you know, I didn’t even think about Soledad and her own struggle with race ’till you mentioned it. Thinking about it now, I am sure that played a major factor in her hosting the series. Given her background and her family, I wonder how accepted she feels in the black community. Def would have liked to her personal experiences in relation to being “Black in America.” I am sure her perspective would have been very interesting and probably controversial.
Ebs, great points. I def agree that I learned nothing new as a result of the series. The same old stereotypes were emphasized and reinforced. Also, the program seemed too narrow in terms of topical focus, failing to include all the different types of “Blacks in America.” You cannot limit being black in America to be defined as being poor or middle class, sick or disease free, etc. How can you define a people by 1 or two of the hundreds of different aspects that could be analyzed.
I certainly hope CNN does a follow up, using all the feedback that has been written in the blogsophere and on the internet in general- now that would be great to see.
I have a confession: I didn’t watch the show. Quite frankly, I don’t think CNN can capture the full progress of Black America in a show, without fully depicting the challenges confronted by us each day. Why doesn’t White America or CNN speak on unfair hiring practice or the disadvantage from attending public schools determined for failure by student’s neighborhood? Or why are European degrees over valued than a degree from Africa? Now, if the show was titled, “The Success of Black America and the Struggles they overcome,” I would have watched it. Personally, I think it depicts Black Americans as dysfunctional when the media fails to speak on the realities we face in an open and honest fashion. The struggles are real, so speak on it CNN.
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Omoba – D’Prince
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