CNN's Black In America

I'm glad I was able to find the full video @ World Star HipHop (major props for that). So I'm uppin' it here in case you missed it.
On Wednesday and Thursday, CNN aired a special documentary titled "Black In America". The 4 hour documentary examines the lives of African American's and shows the struggles we experience with family, the school system, getting good jobs, and our portrayal in the media. I recommend that all my people check it out and read my thoughts at the bottom.

Day 1: The Black Woman & Family pt. 1

pt. 2


Day 2: The Black Man


My interpretation: I feel the documentary covered various issues that many of us are aware of, and it also spread awareness to those who are uninformed about some of the struggles we face. Black In America started in the perfect order by covering the black family and woman. Hence the family is your foundation to many things in life, that's where issues are created. For example, growing up without a Father may lead to problems when developing a boy to a man and a girl to a woman. For young boys, we need a Father to introduce us to how to provide for your family, treat a woman, and possess strength and masculinity. Without a Father, it may result for young men to seek acceptance from older male family members and friends, develop certain thoughts and ideas about women, lack guidance, and become easily influenced by other guys.
For women, growing up without a father, it may result to them falling for older guys with bad intent, developing a negative view on males, and failure to understand men in general. As much as boys and girls need a father in their life, we need a Mother to ensure parental equilibrium. The moral of this story is to mold a child to an adult successfully, it starts from the home and family.
The second part of BiA covers what black males evolve into which is a black man. As we go through life, we face problems obtaining a good education which leads to the challenge of getting a decent job. In poverty stricken communities, many students are not focused on education because they develop an impatience and are eager to escape their harsh life of low income. Some teachers figure since the students have a careless attitude, why should they care? Black in America also mentioned the high dropout rate amongst African Americans, but it's up to us to stick it through and complete our curriculum to prepare us for the future and grant us with education. Though they may provide us with outdated books and insufficient information, we have resources such as the internet and libraries to help educate ourselves.
Black in America also touched on how successful black Americans are criticized by their peers and are labeled a sellout if they work in corporate America. It's blasphemous for blacks to receive any type of criticism due to their success. Labeling someone a sell-out/Uncle Tom because of success is not only a slap in the face for the person being insulted but to the black race in general. Corporate success is an honor and it provides hope to our peers. Take it from somebody who works in it now.
In conclusion, Black in America provided statistics about dropout rates, employment, and many other negative stats. It's up to use to stay on the positive side of the those statistics. There's hope out there for all minorities but it won't come easy. Hard work and patience is the key to success and I feel no one is born to fail. While we are in the middle of making progress we have to tune out the materialism and ignore our image in the media. Instead of being brainwashed into thinking you need chains, rims, and cars for acceptance; just view that as your goal for things you will accomplish once you're established. It may be hard being black in America, but that doesn't mean living a successful life is impossible.