CNNs Black in America
After watching CNNs Special Report “Black in America”, commenting on the phone during the commercial breaks, and furiously text messaging during the documentary: “Did she just say, MARRY YOUR BABYDADDY? I finally relented and faced four simple facts that I think I knew prior to tuning in…
Fact #1 The much hyped documentary is not for me.
Fact #2 CNNs target audience had to be white folks because I already know how it feels to be Black in America.
Fact #3 I need Prozac, Effexor, Well Butrin, and a (maybe 2) shot of Patron before thinking about screening tonight’s episode.
Fact #4 If this is the state of Black America then I give up now…this ish is beyond depressing.
Sometimes I think I am way too critical but the following link helps to assuage some of my guilt for not embracing the documentary. I won’t be watching tonight. Too depressing and unbalanced for my taste. Sorry, Soledad.
Read more critique from viewers on the show on Roland Martin’s Blog on Essence Mag’s website. Be sure to read the comments on this post, too.
Filed under: Jim Crow, Rants | Tagged: CNN, CNN Black in America, Porzac, Soledad O'Brien
‘Unbalanced’ how? When it comes to these things, what does balance look like?
unbalanced b/c the realities painted in last night’s documentaries are not exclusive to my existence nor most of my friends. I’m not fronting. I work in public education in urban America and have crackheads in my family BUT that story is well known…the stories of my colleagues and peers are lesser known hence the global infactuation w/ Barack.
I did hold out hope that the stories of people I know were going to be told…we know about all the stuff being reported on…Barack is a novelty b/c larger America thought most black men wore sagging pants and are either in prison or on the corner
so if it were called ‘Black and Middle Class in America,’ you’d have less of a problem with it?
is it the poor urban part that bothers you?
i wasn’t expecting to glean anything important from the documentary. To echo Stacy – I am black and live in America sooooo I consider myself fairly well informed on the subject matter. HOWEVER what i have found interesting are the responses from other black americans.
for example on an afternoon talk show a caller said she didn’t believe the statistics they quoted regarding the high number of black women contracting aids. she said she thought “they” were trying to scare “us”. Continuing she added that “they” were trying to scare “us” out of procreating. LOL!!!! Now that i am writing about this – it is actually remarkably funny and profoundly depressing.
Two things:
1. Let’s suspend rational thought for one millisecond and say the statistics are inflated does that mean that one should now happily ride the non latexed penis of every man in the city? Ummm no. That would still be completely ridiculous and regardless of whether or not aids is an issue – a host of other unwanted STDs exist and why on earth would one deliberately go about collecting those????
2. again giving into this completely loony tune conspiracy theory i would then argue that this particular scare tactic ISN’T WORKING as evidenced by the high percentage (she didn’t question those) of black women with multiple children.
My point is for some of us the documentary simply reiterated struggles we were already keenly aware of and if anything it didn’t delve further into more nuanced issues – a fair assessment.
For others clearly the documentary was a well planned plot devised by ‘the establishment’ to frighten black people into practicing abstinence. (insert knee slapping, eyes watering, belly shaking laughter here) good luck with that one!
even when the truth is slapped across a person’s face denial and good ole fashioned ignorance are damn difficult to overcome.
No. I would not rather the documentary be called Black and Middle Class in America. I did not originate from the Black Middle Class nor do I subscribe to bashing poor black folks, either. I am an educator on the Westside of Chicago. I teach to empower and facilitate the maturation of analytical minds.
So here’s my point, Black and poor has never meant what it, obviously, means now. Black folks have resided on the lowest rung of American society for generations BUT poor and black never meant impolite, thuggish, materialistic, disrespectful, self-loathing, murderous, hopeless, or pathological. Poor is a condition of one’s finances. Poor is not a condition of the spirit. I am sick to death of the equation that has poor equaling disease, babymamas, babydaddies, under-education, and the like. Black people are so much more than poor.. My grandmother bore my mother out of wedlock when she was sixteen after her mother left her and her siblings to fend for themselves. My grandmother raised her four children in the projects as a single mother in the 1970s after moving out of my great-grandmother’s house. Each one of her children graduated high school, acquired stable employment, married, and bore children who have made it further than them financially and educationally. That, too, is the story of being Black in America. As far as I am concerned CNNs Black in America only further extends the imbalance of the black story though what can one expect with only four hours. Honestly, our story is more like an Eyes on the Prize-type documentary.
What Stayc says makes sense. I grew up in a small, poor, mostly white town right next to a small, poor, mostly black town. Soledad didn’t even report on rural Black folks! There are lots of them, too. Anyway, both places had poor (really poor) people, but most everyone graduated high school. If you listened to the program, though, they did talk a lot about modeling and how young Black children need to see successful, intelligent role models. Well, that goes for all children…it’s probably the most important thing in the success of raising a responsible citizen. It seems like even when there is only one person who has their sh*t together in a child’s life (even an aunt, or a cousin), the kid will latch on to that person and be better for it. I’ve seen it over and over. I do think there is something to be said, though, for living rural and poor rather than urban and poor. I think that in rural areas, kids can’t get away with as much punkish behavior. Everyone knows what you’re doing before you even do it. I think it’s harder to “be good” for kids living right on top of one another, whatever race they happen to be.
NO JUST WASN’T YOU….weren’t there supposed to be some solutions being discussed on the program??? where we they…CRAZY…man Bill ain’t never lie when we said we like to air our laundry….guess imma marry a white man too…
I had to LMAO, just to keep from affected by the mockery of who I AM supposed to B…
guess I gotta marry a white man too?! GO FIGURE
When yoo do make sure you discuss yall’s worldviews especially before you procreate…I think that was the nugget of wisdom given to us from the lady in the interracial relationship.
Stayc,
I’m not a fan of this series either, but I think in your talking about ‘balance’ underscores the problem with this. For you, balance seems to mean more ‘positive’ portrayals of black life, a la ‘Eyes on the Prize.’
But even when it comes to the Civil Rights movement, you have to remember that wasn’t EVERY black person’s story. The majority of black America actually SAT OUT the Civil Rights movement on the sidelines.
there are millions of black people who came to the U.S. after the C.R.M., and for whom that movement is — at best — a tangential part of their experience as black Americans.
There is no ‘our story,’ which is what no one seems to get. That’s where CNN is messing up: trying to tell a coherent, cohesive narrative out of a population of 30 million people —- among them Christians and Muslims and atheists and gays and the transgendered and the apathetic and activists and progressives and conservatives. It’s just not possible.
Thanks for reading and commenting…I appreciate the dialouge. Broadens my perspective.
I agree that the documentary was extremely disappointing. In addition to being negative, I believe it failed to provide any insight. into the issues that the documentary chose to highlight. Providing insight would have provided some redeeming value. And naming the program Black in America? Sorry guys, I’ve been black all my life and I saw only the slightest glimse of those who mirror my life or so many others within my community, who by the way, represent the VAST majority of our people. The program was not entitled Poor and Black in America, therefore it should have sought to provide more balance. I am middle class, have a MBA and Yes I live in the Black community with other middle class Black Americans. I did not have to leave my people and move to the white community to have a successful life and a strong value system. I feel the show was very negative and very much out of balance. There should have been some appropriate representation of our Entire community including the struggles and successes of all the people; Since the documentary failed to do this, broadcast gave incorrect perception of who we are as a people. For example, climbing the corporate ladder has its challenges for Blacks in corporate jobs, institutional racism keeps blacks in jail, many times for crimes they did not commit , and the effect our difficult history in the country has been a significant burden to our people. We have soul and a spirit that sustained us throughtout the years, most notably we are a God fearing and a spiritual people. Yes we have some major challenges that face our people and we must work on them. But we are NOT a “problem people”. WE have a much larger picture in this country, and Soladad I my opinion you failed to show it!
[...] be Black in America.‘ After the first series aired, most Black folks were not impressed (See here, here, here, and on and on). Therefore, CNN has decided to bring us a part 2, called Black in [...]