Thoughts on CNN’s Black in America Series
by Latoya Peterson
I have been interested to watch how the Black in America project has been received around the blogosphere. It was an eighteen-month project that many think should have been thought about a bit more. A summary of the series is here.
Tariq Nelson provides an interesting perspective on why he isn’t annoyed:
Last night I watched the first part of the much anticipated ‘Black in America’ program on CNN.
The first thing that I really appreciated about this show is that it showed that in spite of the many problems in our community, there are black Americans that are hard working, have strong families, businesses and that there are black men that are working extremely hard to make sure that there children have a better life, even if they are struggling themselves.
I would have probably thought that this program was just a retread of what has been done so many times before, but I have been really irked lately by some “religious” people (black ones at that) that have been writing me, putting down blacks and demanding that I distance myself from my own background based on some misguided “religious principle”. Some of these self-righteous individuals have been trashing me in other places on the internet for my refusal to abide to their demands. In any case, from this, I know now more than ever that there is a strong need to tell the story of hard working black people that value their families because too many have bought into this myth that none of us care for our families.
Tariq also provides his perspective on the second part of the series, focusing on black men:
This episode was more depressing for me than the previous one because it just reminded me of all of the problems that face our community. It reminded me of the many people that I have met just like those shown tonight with similar problems. Many of them are dead now. We were presented (once again) with the crack epidemic, criminality, lack of job opportunities, discrimination, prison and on and on. So many young black men become resigned to a fate that they are doomed to a life of crime, violence and drugs. Many of them will die in prison.
This is the singular side of blacks that so many non-blacks think of when they think of the entirety of black America. It is totally absurd and maddening, but while many of us may not have lived like this, this dark side is very real and must be addressed. Anyone that denies the destructive impact of these ills is not in touch with reality. [...]
I saw these problems on similar specials 20 years ago and now I am seeing it again. Will we see the same problems on display 20 years from now? Do we want our sons and daughters of the next generation to be trapped in these same disastrous conditions 20 years from now? Whatever the case, we are failing them. With the world being more competitive than ever it is more essential than ever to make sure that our children are prepared for the challenges they will face in the fast changing world over the next 20-25 years.
Mahlena-Rae Johnson was miffed at the assumptions of TD Jakes about not understanding the need for a man in the household:
Looky here, Mr. Jakes. Just because I have continued to excel “educationally and academically” does not mean that other people, i.e. men, cannot do the same. Education is not a zero-sum game. I can’t horde all the education and prevent other people from getting it. It’s not my fault that men supposedly have poor self-esteem because they are “struggling to find their relevancy in the family today”. What kind of farkakte logic is that? If these men you are talking about choose to leave their family because they chose not to get an education and therefore cannot provide the kind of paycheck that their educated female partner can, how is that my problem? Why should I be responsible for men who aren’t even trying to do something with their lives? I have my own self-esteem issues. As D. L. Hughley says in his celebrity interview, those men need to get out of their own way.
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