Not My Black America

Everyone heard of the CNN special that aired last week that highlighted being black in America. Hopefully some of us took the time to view it and gained some insight as well as conviction. I've had a couple of offline conversations with colleagues in this regard. Some more in-depth than others, but this morning I received a scathing analysis of the series that I really can't disagree too much with. Therefore I thought I'd share it here.
A graduating senior from Spelman wrote this blog on her facebook and sent it to CNN. She makes some great points and asks some poignant questions of the news magnate. Some of the questions we may have asked ourselves while watching or discussing with our contemporaries.
Take the time to read her comments and contemplate on what we can do to promote a better image of who we are as a people. Our image was less than stellar, while not disastrous. If you haven't watched it...make the time to do so. When you do...bear this sister's viewpoints in mind when you do. In all...be blessed.

Here are her comments as I received them:

April wrote this on her facebook blog and sent me a copy. She was pretty disappointed in the content and depth of the CNN special. I thought I'd pass it on for your thoughts (older folks).
Take care,
Casey
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CNN BLACK AMERICA
Certainly Not Mine....By A.E. Curry

1. Who represents the black experience in America, the experiences and the realities of the majority or the experiences and reality of the handful they could find?


2. I know that CLEARLY we're not the majority, but how do you do a segment on black people living in America without even mentioning the middle/upper class, and without visiting the places that are heavily concentrated by African Americans?


3. Where did they get the black people from?


4. WHO ALLOWED Soledad O'Brien to host this series?? Furthermore, where did she get the questions that she selected to ask those she interviewed??


5. I wonder if she feels a sense of accomplishment?


6. Before airing, a group of people saw this series and probably gave it the go ahead. Where can I find the list of the Negroes who viewed and approved this documentary?


7. Yes there are negative images of black men (and women) that are perpetuated in the media.........did this segment challenge or support these images?


8. Did they really only designate 7 minutes for the damage rap music has done to the black male psyche? REALLY? Only seven?


9. Are there only two types of black people? : (1)Poor black and ignorant & (2) affluent, culturally unaware with no sense of identity?


10. Jack and Jill of America?


11. The Links?


12. The great organizations that comprise the National Panhellenic Council? Including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the first black sorority who just celebrated 100 years of Service to All Mankind?


13. Why is this segment sponsored by McDonalds. Is it because black people love that new Southern Style Chicken Sandwich?


14. Did they only choose to interview a segment of the black population?


15. Why didn't they interview me?


16. I wonder if Soledad knows that black people live in places other than that ONE town she visited....?


17. "I tried to be as black as possible...like get my hair braided........" Are you serious?


18. Why didn't Michael Eric Dyson, in all of his brilliance and intelligence, get more than 1 minute and 30 seconds on the "The Black Man" ???? 18b Why was most of the emphasis on the stark contrast between he and his imprisoned younger brother?


19. Is Dr. Roland Frier the voice of educated black people? Is he the only black Ph.D. they could find to shed light on black people in America?


20. The ONLY affluent black family shown during the segment on "The Black Man" have three sons: Two betrothed to women of the dominant culture...one with a criminal record. IS THAT THE ONLY AFFLUENT BLACK FAMILY THEY COULD FIND????


21. How do you designate 9 minutes to a disease that is plaguing the black community and is the leading cause of death for African American women?


22. Whenever they interviewed someone, they did a detailed snapshot of their background, prior convictions and/or college experience. When they interviewed Spike Lee, in the segment about the black male, why oh why did they fail to mention his alma mater, the ONLY all-black all-male institution in the world?

While these questions capture the essence of the misdirected nonsense that was "Black in America: The Series" , there was one topic that pushed me over the edge:

"Why are so many black women still single?"

While this IS a discussion that is held among black women, and has been featured in Essence, Ebony and other magazines that cater specifically to the black female population, CNN failed (whether accidentally or intentionally) to mention a few pertinent details...

...I logged on to CNN's website looking for news.

• Maybe some information on the Mississippi Oil Spill?


• Europe's anti-terror efforts?


• International news?


• A headline jumped off the page:"Is Marriage Only for White People?"

Quite a sensational title for one of the nation's leading news networks. Instantly, I felt my blood boil as I thought of my parents, who recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, and my grandparents who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August. My first instinct was to scream "NO… what kind of stupid question is that??"But then I remembered that I was sitting in my cubicle, on the fourth floor of the building, where I was interning.So, I clicked on the link expecting to find some new statistics on how black relationships are failing....and black men are incompetent and black women are overly demanding.

I found that once you click on the link, the title has a little more to it. Now it read:"Black and Single: Is Marriage Only for White People"The article paints a vivid picture of a successful black woman who had "Prince Charming" dreams that were crushed when she was hit with the ALLEGED reality: Black women don't get married.According to statistics they, excuse me, WE are about half as likely as white women to marry.There are quite a few things to address here.........

First of all, again...CNN failed to quote the ENTIRE statistic. The statistic should read:"45% of black women between the ages of 18-30 have never been married compared to only 23% of white women.""Between the ages of 18-30"

hmm.........what an important part of the statistic to leave out.When I was 18, I was finishing up my freshman year at the nation's top liberal arts college for African American women, my beloved Spelman.Marriage was far from my mind.

Now, a graduating senior at age 21, my plans include a JD/PhD in Psychology and opening up my own practice, and perhaps a few years of working for the company I interned with during my college days.

Let’s see.......so after a 4 year JD/PhD program + 3-4 years of working at , that puts me at 29 years old.

At 29, according to CNN and Soledad, I will be in danger of becoming a spinster for the rest of my life.

What they failed to mention is that women, not just black women who have been painted by society to be successful, loveless powerhouses, are marrying later. For women, their goals have shifted greatly in the past few decades because of new opportunities, new interests and the changing family dynamic.

Bennett College's President said that there were three main factors that explain why black women are not getting married:

1. Education


2. Economy


3. Incarceration

She said that there is a growing education gap between black women and black men, which places black women as more successful than their male counterparts. This, she says, makes it difficult for them to find a mate they can relate to since education and socio-economic status are linked, she says that educated black women are more affluent than the black men in their dating pool, which renders them economically unequal.

Furthermore, she says that there more black men in jail than are in college thus creating a "shortage", so to speak.

Why is CNN taking the reality of a handful of African American women, including the writer of Something New, the movie that tells the story of a black woman crosses to what some call the "other side" to find love, and calling it an epidemic that is plaguing the black community??

Because of my career aspirations, why have I become a statistic?

Where did they get their data?

Did circus monkeys conduct the research?

Perhaps it is an issue worth mentioning, but to even suggest that marriage is only for white people is crass, tactless and in bad taste. Not to mention it is completely untrue and it perpetuates the myth that black women are lonely, overworked, over achievers who are unlovable and high maintenance.

What about the happily (or unhappily lol) married black couples?

What about those engaged?Or those who are just shacking up? (since the latter has recently become a cultural norm and is considered a form of pseudo-commitment)

While I think its GREAT that CNN is suddenly interested in the black American, from the articles that are in rotation now such as:

• "Being Black can mean being a suspect"


• "Black Women's Hair: Tied up in their Identity"


• "What Black men Think: Stereotypes and Misrepresentations in America"


• "Being Black: Growing up poor and black and the struggle to end segregation"


• "Black women and Interracial Dating"

There are at least 25 of 40 new articles posted that pertain to black people and issues that "relate" to us. Glad our experiences are so popular these days.

The series and the articles share a common theme. They scrape the surface for those issues that we consider common knowledge that have existed in our literature and studies for decades. [Patricia Hill Collins. Ellis Cose. bell hooks. Lawrence Otis Graham. Akiba Solomon. Michael Eric Dyson. Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. William C Rhoden. Jill Nelson.]

Our relationship status', hair texture, racial injustices and D.W.B.(the infamous driving while black)?? These are not the sum total of our existence.

Being black is so much more than absent baby daddies, AIDS, incarceration and broken relationships.

From the "Black in America" series, if I were to watch having no knowledge whatsoever of African Americanism, sadly, that is precisely what I would think...

• That black men have led impoverished lives and all of them have had experience with the prison system.


• That success and education for black women means a love less life.


• That black children don't enjoy learning and the only way they will learn is if they are paid. (see segment 1: "The Black Woman and Family")

This program's aim, which may have been to challenge negative stereotypes about African Americans only, simply highlighted the lives of African Americans who (usually at no fault of their own) embody the stereotype.

So the subtitle of the article on black women and marriage read "Single, Black and Female: Is Marriage a part of their Reality?"My response is a resounding yes.

It is my reality.

It was my mothers reality even though she was born, raised and college educated in Washington, D.C. where in her days statistics that that only 1 in 10 black women will be married before 30 and after 30 they have a better chance of getting hit by a bus.

It was my grandmothers reality even though she was born, raised and college educated in the south in an era when black men were under attack and many were hung from trees before their 25th birthday.

It was my great grandmothers reality, it is the reality of my godmother, many of my aunts, cousins, mentors, friends and while I may not represent the majority, my experience is certainly worth highlighting in a series that claims to talk about blacks in America.

Is my experience not a black experience?

So referring to the title of the series "Black in America: The Black Woman and Family & The Black Male",

I ask…Who's Black America?

Certainly, not mine.

"It's Just Her Opinion, but She 's Not Wrong!"