Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
CNN Sums Up The Black Experience
Posted by Bossip Staff
CNN will be airing the first of its’ 2-part ground breaking documentary “Black in America” tonight. It would seem as though they think a topic this complex can be addressed in just two episodes. This could be rather interesting, but we can’t help but to wonder who exactly their real target audience is.
Click HERE for a glimpse of the two part series.
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FIRST
First…. they’ve ben talking about this on the radio
LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS. WANT TO SEE WHAT THEY BRING TO LIGHT AND COMPARE IT TO HOW I FEEL
^^^been^^^ Damn you I’m just me… I though I had it!
Sorry She Is So Fine
First Runner Up Maybe
I’m looking forward to this
I respect Soledad O’Brien as a journalist
I agree…I hope this is good.
@Aunt Viv
“I respect Soledad O’Brien as a journalist”
Not to mention she fine as hell.
We comment all day about stupid shit and now we finally have something for our people noboy running to be “1st” Shame on us. But I am interested in watching this tonight CNN seems to be negro friendly at times so should be good.
Im glad someone is finally acknowledging that being Black or even being a minority in America is really a dichotomy about it. Like you really have to be bi-polar in order for you to be successful AND be able to go back to the people you grew up with. You can be from Baldwin Hills and your parents can teach you to maybe “fit in” and be as close to white as possible but you will never be looked at that way to the white people. So then if you’re completely hood, and one sided with the blackness you will never be successful. All the true successful Blacks who are in touch with the “Blackness” know that they are going to have to act one way in the streets and another at the office. You cant go back to where yo momma stay and talk corporate talk to the people on the streets because you goin get got. You still are being yourself, Im not saying you have to talk like Bryant Gumble but just knowing the proper language to use. I love the fact that I have to be muiti-dimensional because I feel like I can go ANYWHERE in America. The average white kid isnt taught anything other than his culture because that all he/she needs but as Black people we need to know how to play both sides if we are going to be truly successful AND still not forget where you come from.
Here We Go Again!
I watched part of this already I was hoping it was more in a documentary approach not a panel of dicussions. I want to see the research backed with facts. I attend the State of the Black Union and it reminds me of that.
I just expected a bit more. It was cool though.
Treating black people like tourist attraction! But hopefully it has a good outlook to it! I am going to watch!
LOL@Link9,
Glad she will enhance your viewing experience lol
After watch that clip it looks good. It looks like they are going to talk about all categories of blacks in it: the black woman married to a white man, the upstanding father, the low down man, the strugging woman, etc. I’m going to watch. It’s a damn shame that this is not an every day show. SMH.
well, at least it’s not the Faux network doing it, or BET (which would use comedians as the “commentators”, and turn the whole series into a big joke). CNN is pretty unbiased (for the most part) when they report the news. should be interesting.
@Jack Tripper
“I watched part of this already I was hoping it was more in a documentary approach not a panel of dicussions. I want to see the research backed with facts. I attend the State of the Black Union and it reminds me of that.
I just expected a bit more. It was cool though.”
I think it is going to be in a documentary and in a panel too.
I am looking forward to this just to see what they came up with to make this. I think it will be very interesting on how they will perceive us on T.V and I hope they get the real people out there that goes through and still come out better then most that already have.
just cause the Black experience is dynamic don’t mean the problems are that hard to explain. good a show without 5 segments of arguing who’s not keeping it real (*hip hop vs america*)
LOL@ hustleman
“Negro friendly”
They do a pretty good job considering… They are real careful to innovative without being extremely sensational. When the Iraq war started the had there cameras in battle on the front line….I was offended so I called up there (Im sure others did to)…. do you know they pulled the coverage off the air…Kudos to them. I simply explained that some people dont hear from there loved ones or can…so imagine if you were see ur loved one in battle on air or hurt. They try to be responsible to there viewers.
THANKS BOSSIP. I POSTED THE LINK TO THIS A FEW DAYS AGO IN A MESSAGE I TYPED, WHILE YOU GUYS HAD MY COMMENT “AWAITING MODERATION” FOR LIKE 3 OR MORE HOURS. HMMMM
” some poeple dont hear from there loved ones or CAN’T”
This Black in America series has actually been running over a period of the past few months with other topics (most recently this past Sunday night). It just seems that these really big and popular topics will be aired over the next to days.
Shame on you bossip (”It would seem as though they think a topic this complex can be addressed in just two episodes”) for not knowing that and commenting.
Why do we have to wait on CNN to tell us what we already know about ourselvs? Black people are alway waiting for something or someone to help them. They cant show us what’s going on with our own community in TWO episodes. It would take at least a month to talk about how slavery is the reason for the mindstate n@*gas is in today. (I’m saying we should make this an excuse, but it needs to be mentioned.
CNN is only doing this to help white folks who are undecided about how to vote, vote. This will help them understand a portion of why we are they way we are. The only problem is, white folks are still not going to accept responsibility for their part.
The cycle will never end.
This is a year long series. Its good CNN is reporting on different topics. We (as in Americans)spend tons of money and energy on foreign issues while we ignore the problems that need attention here.
LOOKING VERY FORWARD TO WATCHING CNN TONIGHT,
ALSO ANOTHER PART IS GOING TO BE ON TOO
ON THE 24,JULY IF I’M CORRECTED..
NOTICE THERES NOT MANY REPLYS ON THIS TOPIC
THAT;S REAL TALK, MAYBE AFTER THEY SEE IT
THEY WILL REPLY,,,,
I mos def will be watching. It’s about time Bossip.
hmmm????? With all due respect to the late great Martin Luther King Doc. I hope this is not another Martin doc. I love him but our history started before the civil rights movement. And our future is not based soley off of what happened in that time.
@Shavon Denise– agree
@ southern bella- everything you say is about the ’slave’ mentality, when really freedom period is a state of mind..free from stress, free from working a job you hate, freedom to be what / who you want, maybe you’re the one that’s caught up on slavery times, although I think that the CNN special is both good and bad, they have a tendency to show, more negative than positive, but nevertheless, a glimpse of who we are, and even then, it’s not the full range of us. We are not monolithic, as some suggest. We have morals, standards and ideals, as well. Sometimes, with the way things are, we give ourselves excuses not to succeed, but overall, I think it’s a good thing. You have to recognize the issues before they can be fixed. Bill Cosby has been talking about this same stuff for years..I agree with some of the stuff, he says and I disagree with some of the stuff he says, but the bottomline, is we all need to learn acceptance and tolerance of people, that may not always look like us. The stereotypes need to stop….
We do not need CNN to validate what we already know. I am not going to watch it.
I am watching it right now, but honestly i thought it would more fitting if a BLACK person speak for the BLACK people rather than Soledad friggin O Brian
I am watching it right now, but honestly i thought it would more fitting if a BLACK person speak for the BLACK people rather than Soledad friggin O Brian
Um…Ms. O’Brian happens to be part Black (as well as Hispanic and Irish). She is a stand-up journalist and probably told CNN it was her or no-one. She belongs to the National Assoc of Black Journalists as well as the National Asso.c of Hispanic Journalists.
Yes, we should not have to rely on CNN to tel us what se SHOULD know…but how many of us know that we are seeing right now?
I think it is vey refreshing to see us portrayed for such a long period of time on national television.
Althouh I do wish they would fous more on purely positive stories – but hey – positive rarely sells in the media – no matter what race you are.
Fo those of you who said you would not watch – you need to determine WHY..what are you ashamed of? Why would not NOT watch?
It’s about Black peoplr and our plight, DAMN Bossip, why don’t you encourage people to watch or is it that it’s not filled with wanna be celbrity bullshit so it gets no props from you?
Very disappointing show. Could not relate at all,but thanks CNN for trying.
De….I could not agree with you more! If it weren’t for 1 or 2 segments, it’s was nothing more than what we see every damn night on the evening news. The way it started off with that big family reunion, I was thinking that they were going to focus more on the break down of the black family. It was basically clips baby mamas. The one who could not give a reason for having 4 babies out of wedlock. The single mother of 5 who was in the hospital with her son who had just got shot. The mother who claimed her son had made a couple of bad mistakes but a good boy, who was now dead from violence.
Cnn did a cover story earlier today that I thought was going to be apart of tonight’s story. It was the story of 3 coworkers who normally go the the gym during lunch but decided to take a break & do some shopping. All 3 ended up detained by police & suspected of shoplifting. All 3 were educated & dressed very professional. Nothing was found on them. I thought America was going to get a glimpse of every day life living with black skin. Yet we were fed the same bullshit that white America is comfortable with…..SELF INFLICTED PROBLEMS.
After all of the hype surrounding this series, I have to say it did not meet my expectations. Granted, it was a documentary, but they barely scratched the surface on each issue they covered and did not present anything that I didn’t already know or experience. There is great potential for CNN to grow this into discussion about possible solutions (which is what we REALLY need)and they may have already done that..I don’t know so I will stay tuned. Otherwise, I will have to agree with MR.BOSSMAN and Somer – - it was nothing more than a tourist attraction of black folks problems (with LOTS of sad statistics and real-life examples).
Oh well, guess it’s a start.
This shit was boring. It was like a 2 hour drawn out version of Good Times without the humor.
It was 2 hours of woe is me; I can’t pay my rent; I ain’t got enuff money to feed my bastard children; I’m college educated, sucessful and can’t find no man who fits my unattainable expectations; – It was an excruciating exercise in GHETTO LAMENT!
It took CNN 2yrs to make that bullshit. It took them 2yrs to find the following….
the high school dropout
an obese woman complaing bout no fresh veggies in her neighborhood.
a single mom of 4 who was complaining about raising kids alone.
a single mom of 5 boys (one who was laid up shot in the ER)
a mom who refused to believe her son was bad although he made bad choices and was now dead
an inner city school with horrible test scores
educated women who can’t find a good black man.
…………..Now CNN is right in ATL. They could have gone over to Grady Hospital ER to find the first 5 stories. For the next story go 10mins south to Clayton county where the school district is on the news nightly due to corruption. Then they could have drove 15 mins north over to Spelman to find the last story and saved 1yr, 11 months, and 3 weeks. I could have filmed that bullshit in 1 week.
I just feel a little strange that someone is keeping saying some celebrities and rich men joined the famous affairs site W e a l t h y L o v e s c om.. Did you notice that?
atleast cnn tried, more than I can say about the other white stations.
I have to admit I thought it was lame. It was just too slow moving for me. I just expected a more vivid presentation. Hated the way they began the program. What the hell did one family having a “white side” have to do with being “Black in America”?? Were they trying to draw the white audience in or validate it with them or something?
I was asleep after the first hour…ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I think some of you may have had some unrealistic expectations of a 2 hour documentary. Being black in America is very, very, very complex and there’s no way they could have covered everything that maybe you wanted to see. I think they did a good job of scratching the surface and at least a dialogue will be started as a result. Of course as an educated, black female, I know that my age group is dying of AIDS, but not everyone knows that. You would be surprised of how many young women I talk to who don’t know this. I know that we want to think that this whole program was aimed at black people only, but that’s just not the case. This show was for everyone to see and learn from. Now it’s just a matter of seeing where it goes from here….
The program was kinda disappointing. I watched the program on Sunday w/ the discussion panel. And a lot of the clips that had been shown Sun were on last nights show, they just copy & pasted to the new show and added a little more. Its like they touched on subjects, gave examples w/o any real depth to it.
There was no real cause & effect just a bunch of examples. I would have preferred to see how the slavery, discrimination (still prevalent), prejudice (still prevalent), the all white dynasty etc still affects black people.
Something was missing.
Just like Bossip said ‘their real target’ audience.
Exactly @Just Me & Capital Peach.
Last night’s show was just a repetition of Sunday’s show…many clips from Sunday. They said yesterday’s show was about Black in America: The Black Woman…but damn…that section was on at the end of the show and only about 5 minutes worth. I could have went to bed early on that one…
I WASNT IMRESSED BUT IT WAS WORTH WATCHING
@Refreshing
I have to agree, I thought they would address something real but they just rehashed common knowledge. I thought they would have discussed the classicism, sexism, politics etc. among Black Americans but they didn’t.
Obviously, this program was directed at people other than African Americans but I could have thought of other topics to share with them because besides the stereotypical bull.
P.S. what was with that fake ass spoken word shit before every segment???
@ ray
“at least cnn tried, more than I can say about the other white stations.”
_____________________________________________________
Fuck CNN! Yeah they may have tried, but the portrayal really says to me that the black media presence is pitiful. We have a few so called black media outlets which offer nothing more than buffoonery and after the fact reporting and journalism. Michael Baisden, Steve Harvey and the likes of them. I mean the shows are popular but very shallow. Then we got BET which is an absolute joke! So I decided not to watch because it was going to be the same ol’ shyt! Nigga can’t pay his bills. Niggas in jail. That is what happens when we allow someone other than us to portray us. I am highly critical of this becasue they went for the obvious.
It all goes back to my main beef of our struggle being validated by white folks. We have enough smart, educated, wealthy blacks to pull this off. To give you another example of my frustration with the “mainstream” media is that we as blacks expect more out of them than we do ourselves! That is probably the crux of the matter. We knew from the jump that the show was going to be garbage. So we need a change in the mind of the consumers of black media. We are not all ghetto, and not all educated black women are struggling to find a man.
I do have hope though that we will begin to see and portray ourselves as we truly are. Survivors, overcomers and truly prosperous. The current portayal is one that is less than our ideal self. So if anyone wants to comment on that I believe that we can get somewhere. So the question is as a whole what is the ideal portrayal of black people?
Peace
@Capital Peach-
I agree with you. I thought they’d at least tell the story differently, doing something more meaty. Who knows, maybe some other network or media person will see that and do something better.
I can’t wait to see this. We struggle, we fight against racist people, we have alot of police brutality, where is the realistic parts in this. Like MLK said we should not be judge by the color of our skin, but the content of our charater, that what it is.
A bunch of crap. Period
I agree 100% with Shavon Denise.
Soooooo…….I watched most of pt 1 and 90% of pt 2. and I can describe this piece in one word, DISAPPOINTING! I was bored primarily b/c absolutely nothing NEW was addressed or brought 2 the forefront. It was almost as if 2 loosely reason or justify why Black America is in the state that it’s in rather than present an expose’. I generally appreciate Soledad as a journalist however, she dropped the ball on this one. Soledad had a unique opportunity 2 expose white america 2 the little known and positive truths w/in our communities. I expected her 2 show balance, 2 dig below the superficial, already iterated in main stream media b/s and uplift the power and perception of our culture. Is it 2 much 2 ask 4 CNN 2 show america the struggle of the duality of Blacks in this country as a blessing and a curse w/o playing n2 the already established misconceptions?
I don’t know….
btw CNN is planning 2 re-air this on Saturday, I suggest we demand they NOT!!! call write and email asap
Thanks CNN for nothing …. You guys could have found another way to get minorities around the TV to slip in Obama information. Reopening wounds is not the way to do it. It would have been great to walk away from that TV saying wow I learned something new. Instead I found myself saying, “Is that a new pic of Martin Luther King on the ground shot.” Light Vs Black issues through the whole show. …We are much more complex than these surface issues. It would have been nice to get some information about my cuban, haitian, brazilian, mexican black brother and sisters who were dropped off in these small pockets. Why do I feel like I dont know if the show was a empathy card to the rest of the world to vote BLACK (Obama) or a dont you dare put a NI$$A in the office because …LOOK!
I liked bumping into your story
Dont matter if its a whole year or a half hour. one of the most respected chanell is taking note. I couldnt be prouder. Now a days Black month comes and go and I dont feel or see anything to remind me to take note. Black history shouldnt be on one month only its everyday.
by the way I never saw the airing im a watch out for it on saturday. I hope I didnt offend anyone.
by the way I never saw the airing im a watch out for it on saturday. I hope I didnt offend anyone.
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