Education on Staten Island - Not much has changed...
12 years ago
Monday, July 21, 2008
CNN set to teach the world what it is like to be Black in America?
CNN, is set to present a two-night event that has been touted to end by revealing what it is like to be black in America. While I applaud the effort, I find it close to impossible to provide an accurate representation of the intricacies of the Black experience over a few hours. I;m certain Ms. O'Brien intends to touch as many subjects and issues as possible in the time allotted. Its just that so much of what we experience is so varied and colored by the lens of our own views and outlooks. What some see as oppression, others see as the necessary swift kick, what some see as a hand up, some see as a hand out. Our experiences are as varied as the shades of our skins. Still the conversation begins with education. It is my hope that everyone, whether they are interested in change or not, take the time to watch what promises to be an enlightening few hours. We all benefit when the level of understanding of our differences is raised. For more information on the upcoming show and to read some relevant stories associated with the show see - http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/
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I too applaud the efforts of Ms. O’Brien to bring attention to the plight of being “Black in America.” But once again, I’m afraid her valiant effort might have landed on deaf ears and blind eyes. Those that don’t want to hear it and those that refuse to see it.
I’m still not sure who the target audience was intended to be, but If Ms. O’Brien was trying to educate white Americans about the struggles of being black in this country, I have to say that white Americans already know. You can’t teach a people about a system that is inherently theirs by design. White Americans already know about racism and inequality and that they still exist today. They already know about the disparity of available public school education in the white suburbs and the minority urban centers of the same city where both blacks and whites are paying taxes. They know about the perpetuation of negative stereotypes and the media perception of who and what a black man is. They know about it and this is fine…as long as they don’t have to continuously hear about it.
Whenever I brought up the series to any of my white associates or friends I would get the same reaction. They became extremely uncomfortable when I asked them to watch a documentary about issues that “were not theirs,” (or so they thought). Surprisingly enough some said they would watch it. Little did I know, I was being handled. From what I can gather in general conversation, I do not know what kind of ratings CNN might have drawn for the series but after watching it, I again tried to dialogue with these same people about any possible revelations they might have gotten. Unfortunately, it was I who received the grand revelation that day. Not one, and I mean not one of my white friends watched the series. Now, I don’t believe that white Americans as a whole are racist, but I do believe that many of my white friends are in denial about the part they might have played or continue to play in institutionalized racism. I am even referring to white friends I know who have dated and a few who have married black Americans. People only seem to want to champion a cause if it does not affect their gains (as ill gotten as they might be). Someone tried to tell me that white people are naïve about what’s going on in black America. I beg to differ. Yes there is a line between naivety and denial but that line is far from being fine.
Now on the other hand, just about every one of my black friends watched the series, and yes we did dialogue about it, which brought forth another revelation....we as black Americans learned nothing new. Every circumstance presented in the documentary is not news to us. We could write the book. We know these people, we have experienced the same things…we are these people. For, black Americans, this documentary is just a reaffirmation of what we already knew. For white Americans, I suspect it was probably just another attempt to bring into the spotlight one of the most shameful offenses attributed to white America. From my observations, they really don’t know or are seriously in denial about where to begin to address this in their everyday lives. White people have asked me if they should apologize for slavery of all things. I rejected this notion because in my opinion any words that come forth from the mouth will never resonate with me as loud the actions that can be taken (by both blacks and whites) right here and right now to make the word “racism” a footnote to something that once existed in our past. People should wake up to the fact that this world is changing and in the centuries to come the racial lines will be so blurred, we will all look biologically related. Black and white Americans need to start preparing the future generations for this change because we all know that change is inevitable. The question is…..will it happen with you or without you.
T. Marable
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