As I waited for the beginning of the first installment of CNN's Black In America series, hosted by Soledad O'Brien, I expected the worst, but hoped for the best depiction of Black America: the good, the bad and the ugly.
The documentary began with a focus on the Rand family traveling to their family reunion in Atlanta, GA. Their families roots originated from a married slave owner who had a black mistress, which is very typical of our origin in this country.
The show then moved to the topic of education. The statistics continue to be startling, beginning with the fact that only 50% of black students graduate in 4 years. Again the program shifted to the Smith family, who are part of the Rand family tree. The Smith's are business owners who enrolled their children in Magnet Schools and have found success with their children attending institutions of higher learning as diverse as Julliard. This segment also profiled Harvard Professor Roland Fryers' "pay to learn experiment" which has 5000 students participating in the program with similar programs initiated in the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, and Dallas. Fryers spoke from experience about the intoxicating lure of the streets. This segment closed with the startling statistic that 33% of black kids live in poverty. Nothing about this segment was new, but there's an obvious correlation between being economically advantaged and having success in education.
The disparity in health care was then profiled, and focused on the stress of poverty, and the fact that black people are more likely to die from cancer, stroke, asthma and heart disease. The void of healthy food choices in the inner city was also discussed.
The Black Church was profiled next. Again, nothing earth shattering, but the honest depiction clearly showed the major void in the black community. The church that was profiled consisted mainly of single black mothers, and the fact that the church has saved many lives through it's spiritual support. A single mother from the church working 2 jobs, and trying to raise 5 children was also profiled. Showing the mother juggling bills and deciding which bill to pay in what is a monthly occurrence. Again the statistics in this segment, 70% of all black children are born to single mothers compared to 25% in the 1960s. Whoopi Goldberg briefly relived her days living on welfare as Karen Johnson, and credited the the welfare system with giving her a chance at survival.
The plight of the successful, educated black woman was then profiled. Again, the statistics, 45% of black women have never been married, and black male partners simply not being viable options because of economics, education, and incarceration. The fact that there are 1 million more black women working than black men. Many black women making the decision to date outside of their race because of the lack of options. This is a real development for young black women, and one that doesn't appear to changing anytime soon.
HIV and AIDS within the black community was then profiled. Again, "crazy" statistics, 80% of new cases in Washington, DC are black, 9 times the national average. 1 in 26 people in the city are infected with HIV or AIDS. This segment also profiled the church's lack of involvement in this issue, with Bishop T.D. Jakes admitting that the church has not done a good job in this area. He discussed the church preaching ideas and only talking about the reality in terms of abstinence vs. being sexually active, and falling short of the idea. Bottom line, AIDS is the number one killer for black woman 25 to 34.
The last segment focused on violence within our community, and on the city of Baltimore, where 93% of homicide victims are black. The segment also profiled Dr. Carnell Cooper, who started VIP (Violence Intervention Project) to help victims of violence assimilate back into mainstream society by teaching basic life skills. The results of the the program so far are that participants are more likely to be employed than heading back to their reality of violence.
I know this has been long winded, but watching show made me at times wince in disgust and smile with elation at the diverse paths that black people have to travel. Although the struggles are different, whether affluent or disadvantaged the show displayed the fact that black woman continue to hold everything together on her broad shoulders.
Tonight's show focuses on the black male and in it's preview, which was riveting, contrasting Michael Eric Dyson and his brother who appeared to be incarcerated.
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