CNNs Black in America w/ Soledad O'brien: July 19-27

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by PerroLoco

Overall, I would rate the show a C-. There was nothing new that any AA did not already know.

Unfortunately, there are some blacks who didn't know that there is a 70% single parenthood (motherhood) rate in the black community and/or they didn't know the implications of that. I don't know how blacks can't know this because beyond reading research on this topic, it is almost common knowledge that when you meet blacks in a certain age range, they are most likely from a single mother household. And these blacks will constantly talk about "my mother..." so you know the father was physically and/or emotionally absent. It hurts many black folks' feelings when you talk about this. However, the fact of the matter is that no matter how great yo mama was, you're still a statistic and whatever successes your family and you have, you are defying the odds.

Originally Posted by PerroLoco

I also resent the "dead beat" dad piece in that the focus was on the men exclusively. Fathers of all races are not doing their jobs just as those Black men were portrayed.

Sure, men are more likely to be absent than mothers (although, I know examples of single parent fathers and deadbeat mothers--very rare) in every racial group because of how we are socialized to believe that men and the family aren't one in the same. But this is specifically significant in the black community because we are hit with these social issues at a disproportionate rate. Small representation in the total U.S. population but overrepresentation in single parenthood, crime, and other social problems.

General observation: This series should have been called "Issues Concerning Blacks in America" or something that would let folks know that they were going to focus more on social pathologies. Certainly no one should believe that being "black in America" is synonymous with poverty, single parenthood, and overall negative life experiences that can be traced back to slavery. To represent the complete black American experience, and not just social issues that we are disproportionately and structurally experiencing, there should have been a better balance of positive experiences across gender and social classes. If that's not what CNN was going for, so be it.