After much hype and marketing, CNN’s Black in America two-part “documentary” finally aired this past Wednesday and Thursday.  First of all, this was not a documentary.  It was an expose.  An airing of the dirty laundry among Black Americans.  Showing example after example of statistics.  The topics were broad with no centered focus.  Furthermore, much of the information presented were things already known to me.  I found the second episode to be better than the first, but not by leaps and bounds.

The first episode touted itself as an investigation into the lives of Black Women.  It clearly was not.  So many topics were crammed into this episode that resulted in a muddles, disjointed mess.  I believe they spent about 45 minutes, out of 2 hours, discussing Black women.  One of their segments discussed the disproportionate rate of unmarried Black women in relation to their White counterparts.   They interviewed Dr. Julianne Malveaux who gave 3 reasons as to why this occurring (much seemed from conjecture), which were: college, income, and INCARCERATION.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Prison is NOT what is preventing unions between black men and women.  Even more interesting, the women Soledad spoke to and were speaking about are the type of women who would not entertain the idea of dating a man who is at risk for being in the prison system.  So to purport prison as a valid cause is utterly ridiculous and completely deduces the problem to a numbers game.  As though, “LADIES, YOU BETTER GRAB WHAT YOU CAN GET BEFORE HE GET LOCKED UP CAUSE THERE’S ONLY A FEW LEFT!”.  What troubled me even more was the introduction of white men.  Let me be explicitly clear, I HAVE ZERO PROBLEMS WITH INTERRACIAL DATING.  What I do have a problem with is the advertisement of white men being an upgrade from Black men.  This notion can easily lead women to flocking towards White men as an option, not because they are interested in getting to know a person.  They will go down a checklist making sure he is good on paper without considering his personality.  “Falls in my specified age range? CHECK. No Kids? CHECK.  Post-bacelor’s Degree? CHECK.”  Meaning there’ll be another “documentary” in 10 years asking why marriages between Black women married and White men are failing at higher rates than Black men married to White women or some other “frightening” scenario. Plus, there is a hidden subtext to it all that says “Black Men ain’t shit and won’t be shit.  So go get that white boy, girl”.  I have no problem with women wanting their prospective husband to be well-educated, in good credit standing, dresses well, etc., however don’t overlook his quaility as a human being.

I found the education piece equally troubling.   Paying children to do well in school is not an appropriate incentive.  It decreases the value in learning.  It eliminates one’s yearning to learn.  It is important to be educated because you need knowledge to maneuver in the world and also one should just be plain ol’ curious about the world around them.  Children are supposed to earn good marks in school.  It is an expectation every adult should have for children, whether it is your child, your’neighbor’s, or the one you saw on the metro.  Being rewarded for something you are SUPPOSED to do does not teach initiative, integrity, or self-efficacy.

There were more things that irked me about part 1 but I do not have the time nor energy to delve into them all.

Concerning part 2, Soledad actually stayed on the presumed topic.  Black men did comprise the 2 hour episode.  I found that they dug deeper into why gaps exist among Blackand White Americans.  However, i do not believe it went far enough.  It was nice to see to the juxtaposition of the classes among black men.  The problem that emerges though is the “bootstraps” mentality.  Either inadvertently or purposefully, these stories make society (a.k.a white people) say “Well This Black Man/Woman can make it, then so can you!”.  It leaves out that most Black people make it IN SPITE of racism, both systematic and daily.

They also brought up the acting white phenomenon.  One rattled off the statistic that Blackchildren who earn better grades than peers are ostracisized more so than white children who make good grades.  I must be honest, much of academic years were spent at predominately white schools, so I am completely sure that I am unqualified to pontificate heavily on the topic.  However,  I recall many White kids who were in the high echelons of academics being bullied, teased, and ridiculed.  I also remember many who were on lower on the totem pole receiving similar treatment.  The same occurred for Black students.  I don’t recall many of the high achieving Black students being called “White”.  When I was in high school, I was referred to as “acting white”, yet I was clearly an average student back then.  I graduated with a 2.9.  I was clearly not at the top, yet I was occasionally seen, called (to my face), and behind my back as “oh she think she White”.  I think grades are one small variable as to why certain Black and Non-White children are labeled as such.  Other variables seemed to be overlooked.

Out of everything that was reported and everyone who was interviewed, the absence of a historical context baffled me the most.  The story of the Black experience in America can not be made lucid without discussing the cyclical and generational effects of slavery, Jim Crow, and White priviledge.  The loss of culture, loss of language, inability to claim your name much less your own land, forced sunderances of families, being prohibited to marry, rape, the emasculation of Black men, and the multitude of atrocities that could comprise a set of encyclopedias bring reason and links to the present day.  White priviledge cannot be denied its culpability.  I understand the trepidation White people have in speaking on this topic.  It implies one’s success was not soley due hard work and tenacity.  That something as simple as lack of melanin helped in one’s accrestion of achievements can damge the ego, but it is a truth that must be spoken.  The problems of today are not manufacutred by rap music, biological iniquities, questionable cultural rectitude, nor did they arise out of a vaccum.  What I want to see desperately is a true documentary that yokes all the bonds. And one that fully explores White priviledge and it’s reverberating effects on society from the inception of this country to the present millenium.

p.s. Being “Black in America” does not only include Black Americans who have been here for generations.  African and Carribean immigrants and their children need to have their story told too.  Their experience in the US is similar, albeit different from “plain ol’” Black Americans.