I also found this video with some interesting thoughts about pan-africanism....enjoy
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Black in America
So I was watching CNN today and they had a "preview special" of "Black in America 2", which is a follow up on "Black in America" which you can see the website for here: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/index.html. As you may have deduced from the title, these are programs which aim to show what it means to be black in America today and what exactly that means for the future of blacks in America. They delve into education, crime, poverty, and the disparity found between blacks and whites in each respective category. I tried poking around the site, its very confusing but has lots of information. While I couldn't find one long amazing video there are quite a few shorter ones. I could not find a link to the "preview special" which I watched on t.v. today (though I did record it, so I will try to make that available to everyone) but they do have a few clips that were in the special, like the one embedded below. If you look at this website: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/26/btsc.journey.change/index.html#cnnSTCVideo you can also see below the video to the left an add for the preview of Black in America 2. I do not really get CNN (they make watching a show or special they aired so freaking hard) but maybe ya'll could be on the look out for that too. Anyway, in the show, they talked about change in American sentiment, and how it has opened up avenues for much needed discussion, which should hopefully lead to more improvements.....soon......hopefully. Have a good one.
I also found this video with some interesting thoughts about pan-africanism....enjoy
I also found this video with some interesting thoughts about pan-africanism....enjoy
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I actually watched the first series of these shows during this past summer, and I must say that I HATED THEM. I think that CNN, the host, and whoever else was associated did not do a very good job of capturing the life of African Americans. The episode on black women as well as black men focused SOLELY on the stereotypical perspectives of blacks and did nothing to dismantle those prejudices and stereotypes. I think that so much more could have been done with this series, and it could have been used as an educational tool for this country. There are so many other stories in the black community to tell than the single black mother story, or the dead beat "baby daddy" in jail story.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that made me stop watching the series all together was that on the second night of the series which focused on the black male thre was a story about a man who was raised in the ghetto, with very little money, and a single mother but his life story was one of success. His mother encouraged him to go to school, he ultimately became a doctor and came back to his old community and created some kind of program to give back to the children in his old neighborhood as role models and resources to create a better future. But this story and stories like it were treated as the exception, were quickly told and forgotten and glanced over. These stories were not the conclusion of black life, were not used to show the growth and development of the black community, but were thrown in as afterthoughts and the series was ended the way it started, with the stereotypical images that are steadily portrayed in the media.
IT is disheartening to me that while CNN can step up to do a series that on the outside appears to be doing a great service to the community, is actually perpetuating the systems and images that have for so long depicted the black community as inferior, struggling, and having little to no positive growth
Interesting enough, I was showing the episode I saw to some of my friends, and they had the same reaction to some of its components. The worst for me was their depiction of the Black Elite (they plan on having an entire section when this airs in February) and the negative stereotypes that those interviewed gave about black Americans. The lady even said that the black elite was the unnoticed and unrecognized facet of society, and that they somehow deserved some spotlight. I found this incredibly disturbing, especially since many of the socio-cultural problems that minorities feel are not experienced by them. One might perhaps argue that even the successful black person will never be as recognized as the most successful white person, and thus really are, in some way, unnoticed. Regardless, they have no room to complain compared to all poverty ridden families in America, regardless of race or culture. I think that CNN puts out what sells, and if this is what sells, then they do not care what the content really does for America, another one of those sad byproducts of mass media unchecked. I did like there deep drive to push education into underprivileged communities (into elementary schools/middle schools/high schools), where the education problem starts, instead of trying to fix it when all of the wheels are already set and in motion (i.e. affirmative action). If we just make sure that everyone has the same opportunities for a basic education, then there will be equal numbers of every race getting into college, and then we will no longer prescribe racial biases into admission(which arguably furthers the problem). I would also like to note how difficult affirmative action makes it for people to feel self worth. How can one know if it is one's own accomplishments that gets them to where they are, or a biased helping hand. It devalues the educations of those minorities, and it continues the bias in hiring, and other aspects. Once again, fixing the educational system from the bottom up is the way to fix it, not trying to repair 18 years of failed primary education with 4 years of college.
ReplyDeleteThe journey for change seems fascinating. I'm curious to see the entire episode/series. There is nothing more eye opening than traveling and seeing, first hand, how others live. Something like this program could be transformative, not only to these individuals but an entire community. Very thought provoking, thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteI think what is truly significant here, is that there is even a segment on CNN called "Black in America." I think that CNN is perpetuating a racism in that they are simply stating that to be Black in America is wildly different from being White. While this is most likely true, it is not the fact that they are Black that makes them different. It is, as Locke stated, the idea that culture has produced our notion of race. By airing segments like this one, CNN is only continuing a cycle which leads Whites to think of themselves as different from Blacks and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take issue with that characterization, obrient. It is not racist, outside of just acknowledging that we use separate race categories, to point out social inequalities that disseminate along racial lines. If I was to go back in time to Georgia in 1830 and remark that "Nearly all slaves on Georgian plantations today are black" that wouldn't be a negative racial statement that perpetuated a cycle of thinking of blacks as fundamentally different than whites. It would simply be a statement of historical fact. It is only when normative claims seep into statements of fact about racial inequalities that negative racism enters the picture.
ReplyDeleteAlso I imagine the ultimate goal of programs like "Black in America" is really are to bring about an end to social inequalities, and not to advocate sustaining them. Although I do definitely think we can rightly take issue with the ways CNN tries to make this point, for the reasons others pointed out.