Black Sells... Reactions to CNN Presents: Black in America

::Applauds Spike Lee::

In one of my earlier post entitled, "Us Against Us," I criticized Vogue Magazine for it's tasteless depiction of basketball player LaBron James as a brutish ape figure. It doesn't take much imagination to visualize the imagery and see King Kong. While I was, and am still upset with this creative decision on the part of Condé Nast Publications, publishers of Vogue, James is not exonerated. The reality is that didn't. LaBron James--idol to little Black boys the world over--has decided that this imagery is acceptable.. or at least for the right price. This is a very consistent trend in media. The unfortunate truth is that dramatizations of the plight of Black America sells. It's entertaining, engaging and serves to maintain, at least the image, that Blacks —all Blacks —behave this way. So many would love to believe that Mo'Nique (in her role as Jamiqua in the 2004 Movie, Soul Plane) as an apt representation of Black women or common story line of incarcerated absentee fathers. I feel it necessary to disclose that I feel Soul Plane was perhaps the worst movie ever made and should have been a wake up cal for a lot of people. The reality is that Blacks are just as responsible for the images we allow our faces, and voice to create through television, music, and cinema and the mostly White "gatekeepers" that green light these projects and provide much of the creative directors.

It is so much harder to be a Black entertainer than any other race. We're not privileged to carry on like Lindsay Lohan or Brittany Spears because there's this implied responsibility. We expect our stars to represent us. Seriously. Most Black teens have no idea who their local municipal officials are, and could care less what their opinions are, but they look to Oprah, and the likes and Michael Vick for direction and an example. There is this expectation that their work should uplift the race..

I had the opportunity to hear Sheldon "Spike" Lee speak, in Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel, on the campus of Morehouse College in 2003 about the challenges of being a film maker in a White dominated industry. He opened my eyes. This was my first time hearing the term “gatekeepers." We see so much color in popular culture, be it music, film, vernacular, etc., but few realize that these people are not as powerful as we think. Albeit, many of them are rich... for a season, but persons of color are grossly underrepresented in positions of true authority. Positions with the ability to set trends define and determine relevance, to allocate financing, and to give the final “yah or née” on projects.

I was a late bloomer when it comes to Mr. Lee's projects. I read sociological studies on his movies long before I ever saw any of them. I thought of Spike as a powerhouse, a multimillions... a gatekeeper. I had no idea the amount of leg work he had to do to get financing for his projects. He makes films "people don't want to see." We don't want to see socially aware Blacks on the big screen. We, as in Black people, don't want to see these images.

I remember growing up watching The Cosby Show and A Different World and hearing the undercurrent from Blacks about how unrealistic these shows were. Imagine that.. the idea of a Black doctor marrying a Black attorney. What were they thinking? …The idea of a Black couple having five children and not being on welfare and living in poverty? …Images of multiple generations of married couples? …Never having an episode of picking a child up from the police station or an eviction scare. Unrealistic, huh? Sounds a lot like my family. We have taken ownership of the wrong struggle. Rather than educating ourselves and fighting institutionalized racism, we are trying to hold onto welfare and food stamps as though these institutions are inherently ours.

I appreciate how vocal Lee has been in bringing to light the disproportion of Blacks in true positions of influence. In a culture where YouTube.com and American Idol has made every teenager believe that fame is 13 weeks and a season finale away, we need to aspire to be directors, attorneys, executive producers, etc. and not just pretty faces waiting on directions.

We need to take back our faces, and our voices, and our music, and our bodies and start to produce and support work that positively and equitably depicts people of color. It's so hard wanting more for people than they want for themselves.

..::Reading - Uplift The Race, The Construction Of School Daze by: SPIKE LEE with LISA JONES::..

Reactions to: CNN Presents Black in America

Prior to tonight's airing of this documentary, every educated black person I know text messaged, called and emailed to make sure that I was aware of the showing, and that I watch and told everyone I knew to watch as well. So, I passed the word along. I was chatting with a buddy on messenger and asked, "are you watching black in America." He said, huh? What's that? So I explained and his response to me was, "well I am watching Tyler Perry's House of Payne so technically, yes I am watching black in America, lol." I did not laugh. I explained the importance of watching and he asked me what channel it was on. I said, CNN and he told me he had no idea if he even received CNN through is cable provider, DISH NETWORK. Really? Really? He changed the channel, and five minutes later, he changed back to House of Payne and told me the documentary, was "boring and depressing." We're our own worst enemies.

I just finished watching CNN Presents Black in America and am overall pretty pleased with the balance reporting by CNN and Soledad O'Brien, respectively. It's rare that I see a news piece or documentary that shows both sides of the storey and multiple facets of being black in America. We saw the dedicated single father who just couldn't make ends meat, the absentee father, promiscuity, devotion, success, violence, etc. all in the same documentary.

I feel [and I'm not sure whether or not this was the intention] the team that produced this showed a really good balance between involuntary situations and personal choices that people make which become the sum of who we are and the lives we live. For so long black people have been able to say... I'm black, slavery happened, so my life is going to be shit without regard to an individuals choices. A really, really, really good example was the woman who had 5 children by the same man. They never married and now she supports her family alone working as a massage therapist and realtor. Really? Five kids later you realised he was no good? She broke because she loved the ding ding. Not because of the man, society, etc.

I was so excited to see something on a major network in a prime time slot that didn't center around Barack Obama or feature Cornel West, Oprah, Jesse Jackson, or any other well known voices that have arguably lost their relevance... in my limited opinion. While I appreciate the aforementioned for their respective contributions, we are not holding our leadership accountable fort he misguided misinformation they've poisoned our communities with. If this was corporate America, they would have been long replaced by more socially aware figures. I liken then to a bad TV show.. we didn't cancel them early on enough so now the general public is stuck with them for a full seven years to appease their few fans . The exec's simply move them to UPN or TNT and hope everyone's happy.

More too come on all this...

Make Sure you Check out Day 2: Premieres on CNN Thursday, July 24, 9 p.m. ET

You Can also purchase, yes purchase, the series on Itunes.

Acting Black: Vol. 1

I saw the Color Purple fort he first time as a freshman at Morehouse College. I was the only one in the room that knew I was a virgin of sorts. I sat in a buddies room in DuBois Hall and to my surprise, they all knew every piece of dialogue, every song, every dance, and could anticipate every transition. A couple of times the gleeful gaze on my face almost gave me away. This world was all so new to me.

I finally told them the following week that this was my first viewing of the movie and everyone was literally horrified. Horrified. They asked what type of family I grew up in and if I was "really black." Funny how support of a movie, to some, translates to so much more on this quest for authentic blackness. Good thing for me that I had seen The Wiz, they'd likely have asked me to leave the institution otherwise.



...I was perhaps more perplexed that I was the only one in the room registered to vote. I've since read the original novel by Alice Walker and seen the play presented by Oprah Winfry and liked them a whole lot more.

Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple

CNN Presents: Black In America

I just watch a really great series on CNN entitled Black In America host by Soledad O'Brien. Great stuff! If you missed it, check out the CNN's website and check listings for re-airs.

Black In America

About the show:

CNN Presents: Black in America continues with "The Black Woman & Family." Soledad O'Brien explores the varied experiences of black women and families and investigates the disturbing statistics of single parenthood, racial disparities between students and the devastating toll of HIV/AIDS. O'Brien reports on the progress of black women in the workplace and the status of the black middle class. Premieres in HDTV on Wednesday, July 23, 9 p.m. ET (from their website)

I was glad to have a bit of substance on TV for once. A brief break from reality television. More to come on my disdain with so called Reality TV.