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Recently CNN presented a two part series entitled Black in America, which was designed to explain and explore what being black in America means in today’s society. In short, it failed miserably. Instead of going on a tirade of all of its shortcomings such as: separating the segment on black men from women and family (that definitely will help us to unite), devoting 30 minutes to Black women at most for the entire piece, failing to name homosexual men as one of the top reasons black women aren’t married/dating, giving statistics on incarcerated black men without any in-depth analysis, feeble attempt to discuss complexion in the black community, failing to mention the divide between old and young, discussing black women’s role in the work force, lack of educated strong black male figures/role models, lack of middle (black) America; every illustration used showed either a very positive or negative figure with no in between, overall an inaccurate depiction of black America….I digress, this is not what the objective of this article is. Which poses the question, what really was the objective of CNN in the first place? The purpose of this article is to create a foundation in which we can begin to right the wrongs of our community.

Some of my colleagues argue that at least this CNN special was an attempt to discuss some of the ills of our community and that some of the younger or less educated of our society might have gotten something from this. On the contrary, I believe misinformation is worse than less awareness. It reminds me of when Puffy/Diddy/Sean Combs/ whatever, started the whole “Vote or Die” campaign. No doubt I had a shirt, it was hot, but then I was like who are we really telling our youth to vote for and also why. If you’re black and you believe you should vote Democrat just because you’re black, then to me you’re lost. Am I a Republican? Hell no. However, people need to be educated on the decisions they make. With that said, if I were a white person watching this presentation I would have patted myself on the back for being right all along. The topics discussed, and I use the word discuss loosely, by CNN were so outdated and inaccurate it reminded me of being a kid and choosing between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to do a presentation for Black History Month, as if these were the only two influential negroes in our history.

So what type of awareness was really brought to light from this? Understand, I mean this with all humility, I’m not one of those self righteous/conscious “I’ve been to 5 demonstrations this year how about you Negroes?” I honestly would like to know what was to be learned from this series. Who didn’t know about the AIDS epidemic in the black community, the school drop out rate for young blacks, men in particular; single frustrated black women? And I say this not to demean or belittle those of you who learned something new from this series. If you walked away from that special and felt enlightened….well, uh..good that’s a start. Not saying that all of these topics aren’t important, but it is imperative that we stop just naming issues to feel good, we need to start searching for answers as to why and how do we stop this madness.

I want to know how 3 kids coming from the same background with both parents at home can end up so differently. I want to know why when it comes to biracial children; blacks are so much more accepting than other races. I want to know why and sincerely why, the disparity of race in the criminal justice system. I want to know why black children are raised to be stars and individuals instead of helpers and team players. I want to know the difference in motivation of black women seeking out education as opposed to black men. I want to know why BLACK owned dance companies still criticize our women of their figures, as if the white companies don’t do this enough. I want to know why our older blacks (yes you 50/60 year old people) feel the need to bring down our young people and point fingers as if they didn’t raise us….or maybe that’s the problem. I want to know why the even older blacks, whom we actually get along with, don’t tell those 50/60 year olds to shut up and sit down. I want to know when it became a trend/fad to be gay. I want to know why America is under some false illusion that Hip Hop/Rap created Misogyny and the N word. I want to know why Nas can’t name his album Nigger but it was fine for O.D.B. (r.i.p.) to name his album Nigga Please, and receive no controversy or backlash…..Nigga please! Speaking of which, I want to know why we get so caught up on the WORD Nigger, and less caught up on the actions behind the word. I want to know why America is only interested in showing either the Huxtables (Cosby Show) or the Evan’s (Good Times) family, what about the rest of us? I want to know why Eddie Murphy made Meet Dave. I want to know why little boys/girls continued to get molested by family members and we sweep it under the rug in the black community? I want to know why so many black men continuously degrade our women and also why so many women bump their heads and grind on dudes to the same songs that do just this. I want to know what possessed CNN to have that coon Joseph C. Phillips (the nigga from the Cosby Show, Denise’s husband) as a representative of black people. Do you know he told Spike Lee to get over it (paraphrasing) “everything isn’t about color, just look we have Oprah and Will.” How white of him! I want to know why “The Wire,” hasn’t received more Emmy nods/media attention. I want to know what possessed Jessie Jackson, (he is by no means a Reverend) to say he wants to cut Obama’s nuts off, like really who talks like that? I want to know since when did speaking articulate and with sense and pronunciation means you were trying to sound white. I want to know why the church is scared to discuss homosexuality. I want to see a White in America series, all jokes aside, what are you guys going through, I want to empathize. Forget the apology; I sincerely want to know why McCain voted against giving Martin Luther King a holiday. Speaking of apologies, I want to know why we’re receiving one for slavery now.

With that off my chest, it is only fair to pose those questions if I have recommendations about finding those answers. Now although this list is not exhaustive, I’ve broken up possible solutions into four parts: Education, Family, Understanding and Spirituality.

(1) Education.

“To educate a man is to unfit him to be a slave.” Frederick Douglas.

Only 3 out of 100 Black males entering kindergarten will graduate from college. (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2003. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.) I believe it is your civic duty to learn your culture and your society as well. Statistics can be very misleading at face value. For instance, blacks get pulled over at a rate of 10 times more than whites by the police, therefore, the probability of them getting caught with drugs/weapons etc is automatically that much higher. I had a professor in college who tried to convince me that Slavery was actually not that bad because it helped the economy. The scary thing is some of my fellow classmates, people of color, actually were nodding their heads in agreement. People wake up.
“We reading history but who’s the author.”
Nas

(2) Family.

“60% of black children are growing up in one-parent households.”
(Source: 2006 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov.)

When is the last time you sat down for dinner as a family, and I don’t mean Sunday night eating on the couch watching “I Love Money.” Today’s youth is lost, and as we continuously dismiss and judge them, we are only beating them down more. Growing up with a 2 parent home is an exception/privilege today. Think about all the CHILDREN forced to become adults at a young age due to their own lack of parental guidance. How many 13/14 year olds do you know who have to look out for their younger siblings? Why do parents only show up to the game/play, etc, if their kid is the star or leading scorer? How many “grandparents” do you know in their late 30’s? 1.2 million, Number of single-race black grandparents living with their own grandchildren younger than 18. Of this number, 51 percent were also responsible for their care. (Source: 2006 American Community Survey http://factfinder.census.gov.)

(3) Understanding.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Carl Gustav Jung

How many times have you walked pass a young man/woman and been offended with their dress? What’s the first think you think when you see a little girl practically falling out of her clothes? Not excusing her attire, but how are we to know that she doesn’t come from a poor family and she’s merely wearing hand me down clothes? Or maybe the lack of a strong male/female figure has led her not to know her true self worth. God forbid she is one of those “secret” children who have been continuously raped/molested by an older relative. Or what if her mom dresses the same and actually thought the outfit was cute? I only use these examples as an illustration of how quickly we are to judge one another without even the attempt to understand one another’s possible conditions.

(4) Spirituality.

Last and most important is the influence of God in your life. Simply put, regardless of how well you were raised or how educated you may be there comes a time in your life when you realize if not but for God you wouldn’t make it. Think about all the great parents who unfortunately have to send their kids to school with all the ignorant parent’s children tagging along as their best friend. Whether you want to believe it or not, your kids are more influenced by their peers, so you can only pray that they will get it together. Regardless of your domination, how can you not believe in a higher being? God is what gets you up in the morning. God is who helps you to make it through the week and smile although your boss constantly berates you. God gives you the strength to laugh/love knowing the rent is due on Monday and as of Sunday you have $20 to your name. For as much wrong as we can gather from the black church (stealing, hypocrisy, adultery, molestation, etc.), we must remember God is bigger than the church. Regardless of how or where you dress people up, the fact remains they are still people. Which means, we still sin. But if you don’t have a personal relationship with God, even with the other elements satisfied, you are still lost.

If I offended anyone by some of the things mentioned, good, wake your dumb ass up! Once you have been offended, you’re open which allows you to absorb and obtain much needed information. Let’s not just continue to write articles and have our own panel discussions in our living rooms, we really have to incorporate what we want our world to be in our everyday lives. If you agree or disagree with some of the thoughts of this article, either way comments are welcomed and appreciated. Let us get this forum going, we need discussion that merits action, which in turn gives us results.

Recommended Material:

• A Girl Like Me (documentary)

• Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card (HBO Series)

• Warriors Don’t Cry – Author Melba Pattillo. (Thank you for this one Don!)

• The Wire (HBO series) – all five seasons!

• 1 Strike (Chad Quinn)

• Sexual Harassment Crimes as it Relates to Black Women in Film (Chad Quinn)

• Injustice is not blind (Elliot Milner)

• Mashaun D. Simon: AIDS in the African American Community (Chad Quinn)

• Saving Darfur: The New Black (Kristen Moorhead)

• Another Country (James Baldwin)