Well, I could understand Jon J's reaction. I was a bit apprehensive with the CNN reports since other Black townhall meetings have left me with asking for "the point."

But I've seen two installments on "Black In America": The King Assassination and one this past weekend, which I thought were impressive. The latter was based on marriage (or lack thereof) in the black community, AIDS and education. I plan to watch more of the series and blog it out personally.

Sent by Moji | 2:14 PM ET | 07-21-2008

I did not see the Black in America installment on marriage. I would like to see it. As for this new series, I will be watching and I am not as hesitant becuase Soledad, a minority, is behind it.
When I watched the hip-hop series and the series about what blacks live with in America, both of which were hosted by Paula Zahn I didn't feel like they really got to the root of anything and like Moji said it seemed pointless. I am definitely hoping for more from these two installments.

Sent by Melle G | 4:40 PM ET | 07-21-2008

Channel surfing during commercials of the ESPY Awards, I peeked in and saw the usual suspects, Julianne M, Cornel West in the audience, not sure if he made the stage. Heard from both of them for years, know their rap, nothing new. Not at all interested in TD Jakes.

Saw a small bit of the MLK piece , ok but It's been covered before on the history, bio channels & other documentaries.

Was more moved by the ESPY award special on Tommie Smith & John Carlos, they look & sounded great.

If CNN fills the stage with more of the same; preachers, academia, entertainers & the social science types, then it'll be the cliff notes to the 'State of Black America' event which rehashes the same themes every year, so I'll continue to peak in at best or pass altogether. And didn't MSNBC or someone do a similar special last fall?

The who's who you probably won't see:
Kenneth I. Chenault, Dick Parsons, Stan O'Neal, John W. Thompson,Clarence Otis Jr.,Rodney Adkins,Ayanna Howard, Greg Daniels,Art McGee, Geoffrey Canada. (well maybe Geoffrey)

Sent by Jon J | 5:25 PM ET | 07-21-2008

Yes I will. Although;I imagine those that report on hot button issues like race find themselves oft times in a contrarious position.
It never fails; after the reporting, someone will stand and declare the reporting inequitable. Citing everything from declassing to pandering. Some will choose to circumvent past victories and insist that nothing has changed, while others will say race based coverage is a dissipation of time.
Let's be very clear; I have not been hoodwinked or cajoled into naivete`. I know America has it's demons, but what country does not?
I think sometimes we want someone to blame other than the man in the mirror. Inspite of Americas' badge of racism, and her inequalities there's still opportunities and possibilities available.
Until you know why the caged bird sings, you will probaly lable me inscrutable or recondite, and that's o.k.

Sent by Randy Scott | 7:57 PM ET | 07-22-2008

I hope African Americans across the country will sacrifice watching Tyler Perry's House of Payne for one night to watch this special.

Sent by Bernzi | 11:08 AM ET | 07-23-2008

I did watch the Black female(family) Black in America program for about ten minutes during the last hour. This was long enough for me to have CNN prove to me that what I had told them they would be doing in three different calls earlier today of how any thing that they could/would show would be demeaning and false about the Black (community) family. This is because being black is an experience in SURVIVAL that can not be put into a spicific social mold as the media trys in vain to 'prove' expertees about the "Black family". And, for CNN to try to do this iwthout any actual historical study-history of our cultural ties to Africa would be 'demeaning' to our culture as a given. This was accomplished in less than one minute!

In three minutes, as a major in African and African-American study and having been Black all of my life, I saw right away that this was going to be a theme on every thing about our African heritage that main stream society has been trying to "Civilize" our of my people for hundreds and hundreds of years.

I called CNN one last time and told them that right after that last call I would be asking the FCC to investigate(along with CNN cable news network) why this has happened yet once again over our public air waves?

Sent by lunky | 9:49 PM ET | 07-23-2008

Watched most of the series and found the information to be "true to life". Facing the truth sometimes is difficult but truth is truth.
How can I get copies of both series?

Sent by Dot | 10:49 PM ET | 07-23-2008

The bits that I saw seemed to be the same old tired retread stories and the same old tired retread black talking heads. . . all for to reinforce the same old tired mindset

Mind you now, that many of us are doing the same old tired stuff, but WHY REPACKAGE IT AS THOUGH IT WERE SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN WHAT IT IS.

cheers !!

Sent by Gene L. | 1:19 AM ET | 07-24-2008

I haved watched "Black in America" with great interest. I am a "Redbone" black American. I was very fortunate to have my Father in my life until his desth in 1995. I am 64 yrs.old and avoided drugs and gang life because of the fear that my Dad instilled in me. It amazes me to this day, that all that he taught me is still with me today.Yes black children need their fathers in their lives. Thank God for the single mothers who have never given up on their children, but;I firmly believe that the prensence of a father makes a world of difference.
I could go on&on about this subject. It is tough being redbone or high yella but that's another subject for another time. May God bless you for "Black in America"

Sent by Alvin "Sparky" Collins | 5:46 PM ET | 07-25-2008

I watched both series of CNN's often slanted viewpoint of 'Black in America' with great disappointment. The overall program was a depiction of an ongoing presence of doom and gloom within the African-American community. Although there are problems within the race, there have been great success stories and contributions to American culture which were shrouded from this telecast. The depictions often appeared to portray African-Americans in this country as an enigma, or an intriguing aspect of this culture which warranted much more examination under a microscope more than any other race in the United States. All races and cultures have their issues and Black America is no different. Instead of portraying African-Americans so limitedly and dismal, why not tell the full story? While outlining problems, why not offer collective solutions in which all cultures can become involved in as one America. I would love to have also seen a 'White in America', 'Hispanic in America' or 'Asian in America' series if CNN is going to choose to dissect a particular race when this country does not consist of one particular racial group. Soledad O' Brien's attempt to spark debate and bring more exposure to the negative societal ills affecting the African-Americans within this country was perceived, in my opinion, as a proliferation of statistics and irreponsible journalism. Soledad, in an attempt to report the AIDS epidemic, labeled the spread of AIDS as a "black woman's problem" as if black women are infecting themselves?! Show me statistical information of people of all backgrounds who may have the disease and just have not been tested or diagnosed. I refuse to place belief in programs, biased news reports or any other media outlets which continue to portray African-Americans in this country as the poster children for all of the most negative characteristics and societal ills that could befall any human being regardless of their ethnic background. These programs contribute to the dismal, "woe is me" outlook that so many would like for African-Americans to continue as their pitiful destiny in terms of existing in American culture. I refuse to buy into it, and I hope many more African-Americans will do the same.

Sent by Mincey, Oklahoma City, OK | 11:45 PM ET | 07-30-2008

CNN's 'Black in America' keeping the uninformed uninformed
by NAYABA ARINDE
Amsterdam News Editor
Originally posted 7/31/2008

"It felt like 'Black folks 101' or 'Blacks folks for dummies,'" licensed clinical social-worker-turned-celebrated author Terrie Williams declared of the much hyped CNN presentation of 'Black in America.' Just as Congress passed a resolution "apologizing" for "injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow," acknowledging that Blacks in America "continue to suffer from the consequences," of both, Williams said of CNN, "I think an extraordinary opportunity was lost to lay down the compelling information about the backdrop and the history of why there is the condition we have in America. I think the two-part series did a great injustice by not providing the context in which to expose all that we have been through."
For two nights last week CNN premiered its look at some Black men, women and families in America. CNN, with host Soledad O'Brien, touched on: high incarceration rates; the disturbing numbers of single-parent families; problems in Black male and female relationships; struggles in education and housing and finding substantial employment; and the disproportionate percentage of Blacks living with HIV.
Post broadcast, spoken and blogged comments ranged from impressed to under-whelmed to offended.
"I felt as though CNN made a valiant and daring effort towards highlighting some of the social and economic issues confronting African-Americans in this country. I just don't believe that there was enough of a balance," said Washington-based political strategist Marjorie Fields Harris. "For all of the stories that were presented, these testimonies still only presented a microcosm of our community. Moreover, most of these stories left me feeling quite dismal about the state of Black relationships????--apparently the only option is to date outside of the race; the state of the Black male--they can't get jobs with or without a criminal record; the state of the Black female--we are lonely, socially irresponsible or battling a life-threatening disease; and the state of the Black family--are there any families not touched by economic or social destruction?"
Without acknowledging the constantly resurfacing impact of slavery, Jim Crow and institutionalized racism, CNN reinforced a heap of stereotypes, critics charged.
"To tell the real truth about us, would mean that they would have to surrender their stolen advantage," determined Virginia teacher Caleef Cousar. The relocated native New Yorker and founder of Transitions, a community-based self-help organization, is among the vociferous group rejecting the images that would still render the uninformed uninformed. He is a member of the chorus rejecting the presentation of members of the nationwide Black community as: dysfunctional, terminally in between jobs, notoriously criminal-minded, disease-infected and assimilation-addicted. Black pride didn't get much of a look-in in CNN's report.
Cousar continued, "If those who control the status quo actually broke down the reasons for the dysfunction they showed so boldly, viewers would turn around and say there are historical and current political, economic and social reasons that explain why those conditions exist. People are responding to situations they find themselves in, which have root causes which have less to do with them than the creation and protection of the very status quo which now judges them."
Fields-Harris analyzed, "If you wish to discuss the plight of being Black in America, then you must also discuss the innovative ways--the solutions--that we design every day to address the inadequacies in the social and economic structures in this nation. It was good to see that so many of our 'talented tenth'--the college professors, et al--are working to give back, but there are everyday heroes that are making strides that would have been nice to highlight as well. The solutions to many of our social ills will not only come from the Black intelligentsia, but from community and social activists and working parents and mentors and members of the faith community. "And whose bright idea was it to put Denise Huxtable's husband on the show? We ARE talking about Joseph Philips, the African-American Republican fashioned in the vein of Clarence Thomas. Was he angry at us because we embarrass him or because he needs a job?" Terrie Williams, author of the new book "Black Pain: It Just Looks like Were Not Hurting," told the AmNews, "There are concrete reasons why we experience the challenges, the pain and despair that we do, and I did not really see that on CNN's presentation. I want to see the backdrop, the impact of slavery and all the effects. We were tortured, beaten, raped, snatched from our loved ones. And we were not allowed to show any kind of emotion because if we did, the slave master would see fit to inflict further pain. So you had to act like you weren't hurting when deep down inside, our hearts were being ripped apart. We knew the only way to survive was to hold our emotions at bay, and that mechanism of surviving we have continued to pass on from generation to generation.
"While that might have worked during that time, clearly it is a mechanism killing us now. We walk around with our game faces on. But it is that unbearable pain which surfaces everywhere--in our homes, in our streets, in the workplace. So how do you talk about where we are now; how, and not talk about that despair, that dysfunction? They had a perfect opportunity to name it, to explain why. There is nothing more important than our emotional and mental health." Williams continued, "The violence that we witness every day used to be a criminal justice problem, but it is occurring at such an incredible rate now, it's a public health problem. So the studies have shown that if you're a victim of violence or know someone who is or are surrounded by gunfire--you are traumatized. You are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. So we have a whole generation of children suffering, and no one speaks to that. They are having nightmares. They can't concentrate in the classroom; they are smart but have turned off from the classroom. So they find an alternative way to be in the street. How can you talk about the condition Black folk are in and not talk about that?

"We see people playing around crime scene tape where people have been shot as if it is normal," Williams added. "You look like you did yesterday, and nobody asks, 'How does that make you feel--seeing someone shot down in front of you?'" The result CNN failed to analyze was how this post-traumatic slavery, which has its very foundations in America's slave-holding history, has some disillusioned and/or desperately "self-medicating with food, alcohol, shopping with no money, and having unprotected sex. They feel that there is nowhere to go with their pain, so the lash out. That's why see all this devastation. There's a reason why we see so many brothers and sisters going though the penal system. How does CNN have a two-piece series like that and they don't address the reasons why? I thought it would have been much more informative. I expected a much more definitive piece."

Williams stressed that the youth bear the brunt of much of the undiagnosed psychosis. As a result, she said some get caught up in gangs because they are in search of something and "they are hurting. There may be a fatherless Black child who is always trying to belong. There is an anger and rage, and they don't know where it comes from. There are so many single-parent homes with mothers and no fathers. So you have a generation who has intense rage and anger. Your father is not in your life because of his pain that he is not able to articulate, so he's passed it on to you. When your father's not there, you spend your life thinking that you're not enough. But, he's in pain, not unable to parent. CNN did not speak on any of this. Nobody is framing the issues."
"Dr. Frances Cress Welsing and Dr. Neely Fuller said if one does not understand racism --white supremacy, everything else will only confuse you. This was the foundation of the failure of CNN's 'Black in America," said Divine Allah, the New Jersey--based youth minister of the New Black Panther Party. "They did not put the stories they presented into any real context. They did not investigate how white supremacy affects our condition here. Dr. Joy Leary tells us often how Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome affects every aspect of our lives from families, to education, to housing, to the criminal justice system. No Black man wakes up and says, 'I don't want to feed my family. I don't want to work.' When a person's options are limited, other things come in to play. CNN's presentation enforces a stereotype.

"It's easy to ask the opinions of what they consider to be the average Black low-income worker, Black business person, columnist or talk show host, but what about long-standing nationalist historians revered by our community?" asked Allah. "How do you leave out the Dr. Bens, the Min. Farrakhans, the Rev. Jeremiah Wrights, the Sharazad Ali's, the Dr. Afrikas, the Queen Afuas, the Rev. Sharptons, the Conrad Worrills or the Marimba Anis? These are some of the people who put our situation in a historical, social, spiritual, psychological, religious, emotional and moral frame of reference. "CNN just left everything on one level. They showed no connection between our historical, economic, religious and health issues."

"If we don't like what CNN did, in the age of You Tube, camcorders, reality shows and independent film festivals--in every city--do your own," suggested social commentator Davey D. in an e-mail blast. "It doesn't have to be a big production. Hell, forget 'Black in America,' kick off your own series called 'Black in your hometown'...or 'Black in your neighborhood.' Do a series called 'Black in Oakland,' 'Black in Detroit,' 'Black in Compton,' etc. After you put this together, you can gather everyone to a local church and show a short film highlighting the heroes and sheroes from your town. Highlight the people, places and perspectives CNN overlooked. Get your own host, your own guest, break down your own analysis."

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Sent by Joseph E. McGee | 11:09 AM ET | 08-07-2008

Thank you, thank you for sparking this necessary and overdue civic dialogue. I too saw the show and was deeply disgusted and you are absolutely right Ms. NAYABA ARINDE -CNN's 'Black in America' keeping the uninformed uninformed, Amsterdam News Editor when you challenged us, the community to begin to take on representing ourselves within this arena.
I am a producer of a small radio show in Portland Maine called "the Mama Africa Show" and I have decide to take on your challenge.
It's on ya'll its on. The Mama Africa show is is actively seeking people to begin to share their experiences live on the air about being "Black" and living in Maine. In fact, it does not matter where you live. If you got an experience to share, tell us about it.
Contact me at www.myspace.com/themamaafricashow or at themamaafricashow@gmail.com if you want to be interviewed on the show or know of anybody who does. We can do the interview over the phone on our dime. call in, be heard!
This goes out to all you beautiful brown, mocha, chocolate, latte & cafe au lait people

Spread the Word! One love, peace
Lady SoulShine

Lady SoulShine & The Mama Africa Show
Featuring the Multicultural View!
Produced by Keita A. Whitten, MSW
Guest Co-Host Nadia Jackson

Sundays 12-2:00 P.M. EST. on WMPG Community Radio 90.9/104.1FM
On air #: 207-780- 4909
Listen Live nationally/ internationally: www.wmpg.org
Email: themamaafricashow@gmail.com
Community Calendar: www.myspace.com/themamaafricashow

Co- Sponsored by:
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The Mama Africa Show. Sundays 12-2Pm EST
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Sent by Keita Whitten/ DJ Lady Soulshine | 8:52 AM ET | 08-12-2008