Black in America on CNN: Are We There Yet?

No matter how strong their resume on race discussions was, there was no way CNN was going to broadcast a show called Black in America without causing a stir. And according to the network, they received more than 1000 bursts of feedback before the show had its final weekend encore. My magazine wrote about it a few days ago and there has been stuff on the HuffPo as well.

Black in America -- like the awkward conversation of race -- has at least two distinct audiences: For blacks, it is a call to arms, a celebration of socio- and familial- ingenuity, from the breakfast table to the church, to the classroom, to the street. It also sounds an alarm, a stark reminder that those in the rising black middle class, while the tip of the spear, still aren't the majority. The Katrina disaster drew that into the sharpest focus (Yes, many blacks were also shocked by the sights of grotesque and pervasive poverty in New Orleans), but it can't be overemphasized. Blacks who have escaped, or never felt the effects of, inner city or rural strife, need blunt force reminders too. We need to remember that our collective struggle is far from over. Back in December, I wrote the unpopular opinion that Barack Obama's leadership would be better suited for--and desperately welcomed in -- the black community. I've since come around to fully champion his presidential candidacy, but Jesse Jackson's recent comments show just how much conflict remains in how to address our problems, even among Obama's ardent supporters.

For whites, Black in America has to be just as complicated to watch. There are no forced fed finger-pointing segments aimed at white guilt (i.e. painful historic regurgitations of America's shameful past), and no easy saviors riding in from White America to make everybody feel OK. Nor is the documentary a parade of black overachievers like Oprah and Obama, propped up as evidence that we can all rest easy now, black folks will be just fine, y'all. I could imagine it even feeling somewhat voyeuristic, sitting on a comfortable suburban sofa looking at the dissected struggles of a people, once removed. And some of the endemic experiences of blacks in America must be downright alien. The series host Soledad O'Brien actually defines "baby daddy" to her audience, but I can't help to think that if you don't know that term that you might as well have been watching a PBS special on the rare Arctic Snow Shrew. But for conservative whites, I doubt the documentary will do anything more than support their argument that the personal responsibility mantra is all that needs to be repeated by black people.

Ultimately, CNN seemed to have made a conscious decision not to offer too much historical context for the issues in the Black community -- maybe hoping to avoid white dismissal of the series outright. I hope they'll remedy this in future installments, because offering context isn't the same as making excuses (there should be a monthly series covering all these bases in depth). The special does cite well-worn historic markers like the Little Rock Nine, but doesn't do much to decipher ugly chapters like the legal slavery that lasted well into the mid 20th Century -- and has a distinct causal relationship to black conditions still to this day. When Barack Obama was asked about racism on this morning's Meet the Press he said, "Our inner cities are a legacy of what happened in the past."

Admittedly, this is a slippery slope -- most Americans, whites especially, have grown tired of looking backwards, no matter how relevant the social history. In Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America, author Lee Daniels argues that the window is closing for blacks to finally break free of their social undercurrents before the rest of society simply stops caring. You could argue that this has already started to come to fruition.

Some of the most stubborn ailments in the Black -- and overall urban American -- community were not highlighted like they could have been. There was a frustratingly brief moment of much-needed advice dispensed by a single father of two, living in the inner city. "You've got to stay on top of your child," he implored for the camera. "If you're not, the child is just going to run wild." As the once-troubled son of a single mother, I can echo that. Luckily, I received a lot of other counter-balancing skills from my mom that allowed me to squeak just this side of lasting damage. But in my mother's 25 years as an inner city public school teacher, her most enduring challenge was the stubborn lack of parental involvement. All the money from Washington D.C. won't help if parents don't take a fully engaged role in their child's upbringing and education. CNN could devote a whole week to this critical deficit and the solutions being proposed to address it.

And noticeably absent from the discussion of education were some of the controversial battles being fought in two of America's worst school districts: The District of Columbia and New Orleans. Both have both been under intense scrutiny as their dynamic new superintendents attempt to dislodge decades of dysfunction in a last ditch effort to turn their systems around. In contrast to cable and network news (read: corporate), PBS's News Hour has been doing outstanding and in-depth coverage of these overhauls throughout the past year. The debate is complex and multi-tiered, and requires far more dialogue than the big networks will carve out. CNN also skipped over the school controversies, probably looking for better TV fodder like the student counselor who goes door to door trying to convince dropouts to re-enroll. That type of slow motion panning set to a dramatic music score and somber narration is the network's signature M.O. There was also a lot of time spent discussing a program that paid students to come to class, spearheaded by a black Harvard professor. (For the record, critics who bemoan this pay-for-play program as misguided thinking fail to note the double standard in that middle class kids get paid all the time for school performance, with cars, graduation gifts, vacations and allowances.)

One of the series' sponsors, McDonalds, was an unfortunate choice. Want to talk about problems in Black America? How about starting with our horrible eating habits and dismal nutrition options in most of our poorer neighborhoods. For too many residents, healthy lifestyle choices in a community where fast food is seen -- socially and economically -- as a family food staple, are few and far between. Black in America touches lightly on this health crisis, but leaves the subject for another commercial break, long before asking the hard questions as to why, and what is being done to change conditions. Everybody knows drugs and crime riddle black inner city neighborhoods, but how many people consider the impact of not being able to find fruits and vegetables, organic foods, or vegetarian options?

The series also stumbles into a closeted conversation, the suspected causes of the dramatic rise in HIV and AIDS cases in the community. Representatives of the black church hinted at the lack of robust dialogue on the subjects of abstinence and pre-marital sex. But I didn't catch the most unspoken pink elephant; the relationship between bisexual men and their female partners. Acceptance and dialogue about homosexuality is largely squelched by the prevalent homophobia in the African American worshipping class, not to mention rappers.

Ultimately, I applaud CNN for taking yet another chance in programming a discussion on race. This is never easy, as you're bound to misfire on all sides in some ways. Luckily, there are many stories that we can collectively celebrate as awakenings. I personally can't see enough on black and white families realizing they share a distant genetic lineage (when's that special on Cheney and Obama?), like the Rand families terrifically profiled in Black in America. And the unsettling statistics encircling the black community need to be repeated until they dissipate like death rates from the Black Plague or influenza (today, 1/3 of all black children, live below the poverty line). But we can also celebrate the advances too (40% increase in black college enrollment, according to CNN). The clichéd stories of racial profiling could have been trimmed to make room for the more insidious nuanced and subtle racism that occurs in job interviews, at dinner parties and in so-called polite company. Hell, let's talk about the lack of Blacks in print media, the web sector, advertising agencies, etc. These powerful societal arbiters do more to define how this nation sees its collective and individual self than 100 racist cops. To its credit, the series did give airtime to topics rarely discussed outside the barber/beauty shops, campuses and black kitchen tables of America. These included interracial dating, personal credit management and the acceptance of well-educated blacks.

I also give CNN a lot of credit for introducing a substantial amount of minority anchors on the air, seemingly more than any of their competitors. The network has always been at the forefront of multiculturalism in cable news. The bi-racial O'Brien was also a co-host of American Morning. And I can remember Bernard Shaw ducking for cover while reporting from a shell riddled hotel during the first Gulf War, pretty much establishing him and the network as icons. Since then -- even though no anchors of color have come close to the blue-eyed star power acclaim of an Anderson Cooper -- CNN has put plenty Asian, Black and Hispanic faces out front. And with their base in Atlanta, for many, the southern Black metropolis, it's fitting that they take the risky plunge into the touchy arena of the series. Regardless of the lapses in this inaugural effort, consider this a primer for understanding the challenging and intricate black experience. Black in America was a tasty sampler platter, but it definitely left me feeling hungry. And that's a good thing.

Go here for a deep web archive on the subject matter, and much more info on the series.

Follow Raymond Leon Roker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondroker

Comments

[PoliticalRockChick]

I know some whites dismissed this, but you will never know how it feels. I just wish some of them could at least try to understand the situations of blacks and minorities, instead of dismissing it and denying it’s not happening. I really believe the reason for whites dismissing these situations is due to the fact that they know they have discriminated and treated people of color differently. It’s hard to own up to it.

I do agree with some of you. Black Americans need to take responsibilities, stop the blame game, and stop killing each other. I am a black woman and I'm educated. I'm single with no kids. I don't have a boyfriend or live in boyfriend. I do believe in waiting till I get married and have kids. I'm a very old fashion kind of girl. I don't make excuses. I know the reality is racism still exist. I know I have to work 100 times harder than my white counterparts.

[PoliticalRockChick]

No matter what college degree or how wealthy you are, it does not matter, blacks are still being subjected to racism everyday. A couple of years ago, Oprah, the most powerful woman on the planet was denied entry into a Hermes store in Paris. The clerk said they were having problems with Africans lately. The clerks did not recognize Oprah. She had not done her hair or makeup. Now Hermes later apologized to Oprah and fired the clerk. Obviously Oprah is in a different plateau from all of us, but if that could happen to her then it shows how racism still exist.

The court system gives harsher sentences to blacks with minor offenses, case in point: Blacks are more likely to spend 10-15 years or more for selling crack, than whites who snort cocaine. Majority of drug users are white, but they either get lighter sentences or sent to rehab, most likely to rehab. The school systems in the inner cities are disgusting. Some of these teachers are just giving up. There’s discrimination when blacks apply for a job. Every black person has experienced the initial phone interview. They speak well over the phone, they are qualified and then you meet the hiring manager face to face, their faces drops. They were not expecting a black person coming into the door. They would prefer the white person for the sales, manager or executive positions. These kinds of things happen a lot.

[PoliticalRockChick]

Racism is not what it used to be, where there were lynchings & Jim Crow. Today racism is subtle. It's institutional. I wish CNN could've talk about that as well, but I guess they didn't want to offend whites. Police are pulling innocent blacks for just being black. Blacks call it while driving black. Case in point: Just a couple of months ago a white police officer pulled over a black man who turns out to be an off duty cop. The reason for the stop, he was driving slowly and he looked suspicious. Now I don't know what happened later, since there was no follow up to the story. I believe the NYPD made sure they brushed the story under the rug, so it wouldn't look too racist. Another case in point: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who hosts programs on PBS, brought a house in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. He decided to go to the police precinct and introduce himself to all the cops, so they won't pull him over for driving into his own neighborhood. Now I don’t know any white people who have to go through all of this and prepare for these kinds of situations, but that's what blacks have to do.

[daddysboy]

Thanks for a very thorough , balanced review of fare I will probably not ever see as I don't watch that channel for any reason excepting of course content that has been made available online. This sounds like it was a mildly successful overview of some of the challenges and successes for blacks as a community in America in recent history. Any documentary that is well made is worth watching and worth making and I realize that there is no established rule, but it strikes me as INCREDIBLY arrogant and manipulative for a national news channel to be programming a general documentary on what it means to be black in America at this time; four months before a historic election in which hopefully we will have finally overcome an ugly cultural aversion to diversity. Regardless of intent or design, the only purpose this could serve at this time is to solidify any opinions that white voters may have. As you mentioned, the likely conclusion will be the 'pull themselves up by their bootstraps' crap that has been far too pervasive since the '80s. The answer to many of the systemic problems you mentioned was already conceived of in the '60s (in the south even) and it's called 'Head Start'. If our government would just see it's way clear to actually fund this program, we might be rid of much of our poverty in a few generations.

[barackobama4prez]

It was pretty good. Depressing but necessary convo. Wish BET would get it together.

[katmeyster]

I am mostly Caucasian. I grew up in a mixed neighborhood (mixed by class and race) and have a mixed-race family. I saw the special and feel that what is mostly missing is history. I teach about government and I find it hard to explain where we are today without understanding the history of this country. I have to admit that I see institutional racism as a big part of the problem, and that has its roots in slavery and a Constitution that accepted it. Anyone who doesn't believe that this country is still strangled by racism, should ask yourself why Barack Obama is identified (by himself and others) as African American when he is just as much Caucasian? If you can't trace the problems of African Americans and Native Americans back to slavery and genocide, then the solutions will be incomplete. I am not saying this is 100% of the problem -- I just don't see how you can leave out history and understand how attitudes and traditions have been shaped and formed that still infiltrate our society today. If we can't reconcile the true pain and suffering that occurred, it will be hard to move forward.

[tree9255]

In a college history class covering 1865 to the present, we focused mainly on things that were written at the time. I was appalled by what we found. The publicly stated goal of the slavery establishment was to use fear to keep the black race enslaved forever. The stark & horrific nature of these methods is rarely discussed, at least as far as I've heard. White people in America nowadays -- & I am one -- very often simply refuse to acknowledge that our society has that history. This is what you reference when you talk about things "that still infiltrate our society today".
Those who insist that blacks "quit blaming everyone else", that they simply "assume personal responsibility", miss the point that not all the problems resulting from slavery are simply matters of degree. They say "everyone has problems", but many of the problems faced by communities living beneath generations of entrenched poverty are not just different in degree from those we all face : they are different in kind. I don't have solutions to them except to say that hiding from & ignoring the past (or lying about it) doesn't work.
It occurs to me that pluralism is required. Otherwise, whoever you are, whoever I am, all we have is your way or mine forced onto us both, and one of us is destined for hate. It's not a pretty picture & it's what we must all overcome. Let's have it your way *and* mine whenever we can.

[kself]

Great analysis and assessment of what we must do to adequately wrestle with, then move beyond these issues.

[realistic2008]

One blogger noted " stop with the excuses" One could argue whether this may be a good statement but at the end of the day one can coclusevily determine that there are many causes that make human beings act and react not as homo sapiens but as preys. Human nature, perhaps and yet we live in a an advance society where theoretically we all should be civilized to the extend at least that we can tolerate eah other. Your historic and current assestment of our society is shamefully accurate and not for the purpose of making one race feel guilty but to enlight people of their obligations as civilized human beings and as Americans.
We all kow that discrimination still exists and not only against the Afro American people but also for the poor and the sick where the opportunities are few or nill; therefore, I submit to you that if we do not offer the same opportunities to everyone, descrimination and misery will continue to exist and eventually chaos and perhaps anarchy will be society's biggest problem.

[SignifyinandTestifyin]

I have not to watched yet, and will not. I knew from the moment CNN began promoting this special that it would be a rehash of all the "stuff" we have been discussing for the last 40 years without any in depth discussion about how institutional racism helped create and encourages that "stuff". America will never learn about the true history and current status of Black folks or its own racial future via CNN, or any corporate-owned media source.

Who's Your Daddy, Baby! Mmmph!

[FdeBear]

Again, here we go jumping to conclusions about something or someone - what do we call that? You missed the wonderful and encouraging images of the Rand family (which told the truth about blacks and whites in this country being RELATED) and as far as the "babydaddy" issue, you would have met a remarkable young black woman who saw a problem and came up with a proactive, innovative and humane solution. Small scale, but SHE DID SOMETHING! How about you?

[syrupcore]

What a great write up. Thanks.

[neesy08]

I'm not sure how many of the posters hre are of African descent, but I am one of them, I only watched some of the show because, as the article states, there were too many stereotypes for me. Single, never married mothers, black, uneducated men who can not find/keep a decent job.
the two worlds of B & W: Blacks live in poverty, low income jobs, with crime, etc. Whites live in the burbs, affluent, well educated.

True, I did see black middle class familes in tact, but I did not really see ME! I grew up in a upper-middle class environment with a stay at home mom and a dad that worked as an engineer for GE. My mom was biracial (white dad of scots ancestry, and a mom of african/sc­ots/englis­h ancestry), my dad black (with irish/scot somewhere in the mix).

i never wanted for anything. did not grow up in the hood, etc.

Nevertheless, I found the show somewhat depressing. I did not need three nights of looking at black men with criminal records that keep them from finding work. CNN could have done better.

To be honest, white people already have these negative stereotypes about us. CNN reinforced it. Who cares if whites are uncomfortable. let them be uncomfortable, what will it hurt!

[steamboat]

I'm NOT the least bit uncomfortable when it comes to any people. I live in a totally mixed blue-collar neighborho­od.....But having said that, what I'm about to say will make you uncomfortable of me. But I don't care. I know whats inside my heart ( unlike the phony liberals who make sure they live far from you).

Here goes: No more EXCUSES ! Graduate high school. I'm sure you are an educated person. However, MORE then 50% of African-Americans in our major-cities won't finish high school. Thats pathetic. Have you heard----only 19% graduate in Indianpolis. Only 25% in Detroit. Only 31% in Baltimore.­....NO EXCUSES, please. ALL of our major cities have democratic-party controlled government (mayors & city councils). Which is why the poverty pimps like Jesse Jackson are mad at Barack Obama and Bill Cosby. Because those two also said this is pathetic---and no more excuses. Self-respo­nsibility, please.

Seventy percent born-out-of-wedlock ! Again, PATHETIC ! No excuses, please. Do something about that. Stop blaming everybody ese.l

Stop killing each other ! More young African-American males have been killed by OTHER young African-American males in the urban-cities of America in any ONE year after 1990 then Jim Crow/KKK killed in an ENTIRE century...­....And more been killed by other young black men since 9/11 in our cities then Americans killed in Iraq.

.......(se­e Stanley Crouch archives, NY DailyNews)­.....

[PEACEandTruthLOVEr]

..."good" stats...bu­t as usual, those that have "Dominant Group Privilege" tend to make another error in JUDGEMENT, called, "Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)," whereby YOU blame the "victim" and NOT the "Victimizers" !?! (do a "Wikipedia" search on "FAE," or take a Socio-Pyschology course to TRY to understand CAUSAL factors that have engendered these social "ills." Just as Euro-Americans, in general (as I know NOT all...just look at WV), have benefitted from "Whiteness"/ Dominant Group Privilege !!
HIS-story DOES matter, just as the many war vets suffer from "Post Traumatic Stress" syndrome..­.but I suppose you'll explain their neurosis or worse yet, pyschosis, as simply "EXCUSES" !?! ...before YOU JUDGE, "Walk a mile in MY moccasins !!! " ...otherwi­se, you're like your "name"... FULL of "Hot Air" !??!!

[ScarletKnight1307]

Is the society ready to be fully inclusive ? yes

are we ready to take advantage of that ? No way

First, I didn't see the whole series but I did see some on the Black Family, the Black Woman which was an eye opener but did see the whole thing on the black man.

this report could been the same as 20 years ago

it was filled with familiar themes and stereotypes of the stereotypes

even positive stories were show with a so-called racial motivated arrest or crime.

There is no doubt it is still tougher to make in America if you Black but now it is more of ankle and wrists weights vs carrying a 50lb pack on your back.

I didn't see a profile of Bob Johnson or Kenneth Shanault would have been nice.

[yhgtup]

I applaud CNN for even attempting this topic. This topic is HUGE! Hopefully, white people who watched this came away with a better "overall" picture of black people, and not just what they see on the evening news. The AIDS epidemic in D.C was especially troublesome to me.

[PEACEandTruthLOVEr]

Mr. Roker, in regards to your article, "WELL Said !! ," AND to the many who understand that what the 1968 Kerner Commission noted that "America IS still TWO Nations, One Black & One White: Separate & Unequal," with its ramifications too vast to attempt to enumerate in just four hours; to cover a history of INJUSTICE that spans from the early 1600's , when the first African slave landed on these shores of N. America (Caribbean notwithstanding). As a Social Studies/History teacher, let me share an epigram that I've coined, "Perspective determines Perception," which should explain why European Americans perceive "Race" & "Racism" differently. It's a case of viewing life with a "Worm's Eye" view, that of the OPPRESSED, as oppose to the "Bird's Eye" view, that of the Oppressor, who has " his ("white")foot on one's neck!! " It amazes me that some people/bloggers MISTAKENLY accuse one from the OPPRESSED group to be "Racist"(or any of the other"isms") when they do NOT have the POWER to Systemically IMPOSE their BIASES upon the "Subordinate Group." This is per Socio-Pyschology 101, & issues of "Dominant Group Privileges­." Speak of a PERSON's BIAS(es), but do NOT use an "Ism" when they are part of the Oppressed Group !! I strongly suggest reading, "Chains & Images of Psychological Slavery" by Dr. Naim Akbar, to understand the "legacy" of Slavery & the Jim Crow/KKK era (Terrorism US Style), and its IMPACT on today's African-American society and Family structures(or lack thereof) !!

[PEACEandTruthLOVEr]

[PART TWO to the prev. post] … Also note Dr. Edwin Nichols of Wash., DC to better understand the "Different, NOT Deficient" World View of Different Cultural Groups, within this country & elsewhere!!! From my own scholarship, as I posited to Dr. Cornel West once, the very "Secondary Deviance" LABELS of "Black" and "White," which are denotatively & connotatively antithetical (opposite) MUST be done away with !! Because they are POLARIZING, DIVISIVE and perpetuates the FALSEHOOD that Biologically there are Different Human SUB-SPECIES, which is to say, "RACE"...a­nd BIOLOGY 101 teaches just the opposite!! PBS's "Race:The Power of ILLUSION" documented the FACT that "RACE" is a "Social Construction," and if we are to BECOME a UNITED States of America, then we MUST start by rejecting the USAGE of such DIVISIVE, POLARIZING, "Colorizing"(which speaks to phenotypical diferences & NOT genetic) TERMS...ju­st as we are striving to remove the "N-word" or any other term that DIVIDE or insults, not only our intelligence, but HUMANITY..­.there SI but ONE "Race" / Homo sapien sapien Specie,and it IS HUMAN !!! ...and in a Metaphysical sense, WE are ALL "Children of ONE Creator (GOD) !!! " ...Peace & LOVE to ALL !!! GOD Bless not just the US, but the ENTIRE World / Creation !!!

[1849]

Excellent critique! I was offended more by the commercials surrounding the program than the program itself. It was edited like an MTV video and the MTV videos have better editing. I didn't learn anything new; but I could have if they had bothered to do some history.

I have seen much the same on the perilous path to adulthood as you. If this country wants to seriously arrest the "problem", the first place is to start is education; most all else dovetails into a solution.