Rants & Raves on a testy Friday evening
For the record, I think that CNN’s “Black in America” special was abysmal. If you missed it, believe me - you’ve seen it before. If you watched Dateline NBC’s special on Black Women in Nov. ‘07, Tavis Smiley’s State of Black America, Real Talk with Al Sharpton, or Upfront with Jesse Jackson - you’ve seen the CNN Special before. More of the usual suspects (for the most part) sitting around talking about how bad Black folk got it with a sprinkling of how some Black folks pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made something of themselves in spite of their blackness. Not surprisingly, there was no talk of institutional racism and how that plays a part in the current situation. Of course the acrobat of adjectives, the ringmaster of run-on sentences, the prime minister of pronouns himself - Michael Eric Dyson represented us “Black folk” real good to massa ‘nem. And keeping in line with a growing trend in mainstream media’s depiction of Black Women, the CNN special made sure to talk about how more and more Black Women are choosing White Men as mates - in fact, mainstream media is so obsessed with separating Black Women from Black Men that they covered African American Women and Families on one night and covered Black Men alone on another night! (:sigh: I can’t do it again. I already dropped my thunder on this issue when NBC did it.) Sorry, Mr. Media Men - no matter what you do, there are still many Black Women who deeply love and cherish Black Men. Likewise, there are many many many Black Men like myself who not only see royalty in Black Women, but who see love personified in them. A grade for CNN’s WACK attempt at telling OURSTORY? D-
Here is a link to Dr. Maulana Karenga’s commentary on CNN’s docu-drama entitled “Peddling Pathology in the Media: Selling Dream, Drama, and Dread.” Thanks Bro. Jahi!
Now let me find out that the Sultan of Surveillance himself, Martin O’Malley, is outraged by the recent findings released by the ACLU that peace activists in Baltimore were monitored over the course of 14 months and 288 hours for planning lawful, nonviolent, protests against war and the death penalty. Those in Baltimore know that Overseer O’Malley led the way in hanging Blue Light Cameras like Christmas lights all over the city keeping Big Brother’s Eye on Bmore’s Black and poor citizens. Illegal arrests skyrocketed under O’Malley’s iron grip and in the run up to the gubernatorial election he had sections of the city barricaded to restrict movement seemingly to decrease the likelihood of an embarrassing criminal event that his political opponent Robert Ehrlich could take advantage of during the campaign. O’Malley cares about First Amendment rights?! Oh stop it - I CAN’T BREATHE - BWAH HAHAHAHAHA (BTW - if you are a part of an organization that has planned a march, rally, protest in Maryland, the ACLU is offering to help you find out if you were spied on. Click here for more info.)
In other news, Maryland’s Speaker of the House, Mike Busch, is in a bit of a tizzy right now being that his wife was arrested on DUI charges shortly after midnight for driving through two flashing red lights in Annapolis. Busch brushes it aside as a personal family matter. No worries, Busch - mainstream media has your back. Your wife was arrested on Wednesday, but the Baltimore Sun chose not to shine its light on the issue until Friday at 3:32 PM - you know…a time when most folks aren’t even thinking about politics, world affairs, or drunk drivers who happen to be married to the third most politically powerful man in the state!
Closing on a…good note? The House of Representatives passed a resolution (boy, they love those non-binding resolutions don’t they?) Tuesday apologizing for Slavery. Great. Maryland expressed profound regret (along with many other states) and the U.S. House apologizes - fine. Now make the apology mean something. Bring on REPARATIONS! A nationwide, institutional effort to level the playing field between Africans and all other nation groups represented in these so-called United States of America. For more about reparations check out Dr. Ray Winbush’s blog and book.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 am
It was evident that the watered down CNN “special” was made for white people. Call it black-lite. No real issues brought up not unless you considered the piece on the sister who was married to a white man “stressing” about her husband being teased for having a half-black baby as worth watching. Wow. A true revelation. And since this is a rant, black people stop mass emailing and promoting things you have not even seen!!! How many of you received emails promoting this sorry CNN show???
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Jambo (Hello) Faith In Action Family
The CNN program was what we get when we don’t control the media. Please check out http://www.blacktalkradio.ning.com That is a new site that I’m a member of and it is a group of alternative radio host. Brother Brown I would honored if you joined us! Also check out http://www.livinginblack.ning.com another great site that I’m a member of.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
I agree with Common Sense and Sitwah Jahi;
Black in America made good theater, and will win accolades and awards for CNN. The problem among blacks is that we already know about ‘our problems’. Give Soldedad credit for trying and perhaps for getting an education for herself and other blacks of mixed heritage.
I had the pleasure of meeting and complimenting Marianne Malveaux for her historical professionalism and analysis during the Marcus Garvey celbration in DC, several years ago. The Marianne who appeared in this documentary, I did not recognize at all. Who was that masked woman?
If blacks do not become more radicalized, and get off of the American drug fix of (apathy, consumerism,the pursuit of materialism and I want to be a ‘white negro’), the pointed problems and the causation for the failures of our communities to rise, willl persist and these kinds of presentations will persist as well into perpetuity.
The black problem from the African continent to the Americas…, is that we must get up and stop being dependents. And in order to do so, we must take ownership, create our own models, design our own policies, take care of ourselves, cooperate among ourselves and move on.
Our people are dependent on whites, even in America, for employment, housing, food, healthcare…and to solve the problems in our communities. On the mainland Africa it is even worse, blacks are dependent on whites to resolve the problems of hunger, poverty, disease, border disputes, trade…! In Rwanda, consider the Hutu/Tutsi problem or the outbreak of Ebola; Rwandans demanded automony from the colonialist Belgians then had to call the Belgians back, as well as the world community, for help in both instances.
Consider the Aids pandemic or hunger, Africans, many of them are waiting on the Colonialist powers of the west to resolve their problems. Consider the problems in Haiti, an Island that the USA once occupied, yet the Haitians look to the USA to solve their problems.
We are the solution, if there is ever to be a solution and we must liberate ourselves from our dependencies on nations who seek to serve their own itnerests! What is being done to us, is only becuase we invite in and depend upon the purveyors of violence and disharmony in the world to help us, something that we need to rid ourselves of now and in the future!
How many more documentaries, or symposiums, or councils or generations will pass until we do what we know to do!
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Another rant:
Baltimore Sun 8-2-08. In an article about the former music director Timothy Price being sentenced to 7 years in prison for the rape of a 12 year old girl, whose family belonged to Bethel AME(the church of Rev. Frank M Reid), during the victim’s statement the girl’s mother said that they had been shunned by the members at Bethel. Not embraced for the heinious crime commited against a young black princess who trusted church authority, but shunned in their time of horror and need. Not a peep out of the many prominent members of our city who attend that church. Strong, MORAL, black leadership is not present at many of these so-called prominent churches in Baltimore. Modern day Towers Of Babel or worse. To remain silent in the presence of evil is being a co-conspiritor in the crime. May the little girl and her family find solace and peace away from the folks that shunned them in their time of need. They surely are better off away from that den of iniquity.
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
People from the left to the right coast were calling me, telling me that I needed to watch Black in America. Without even having any idea what was going to be covered, I knew immediately that it was going to be watered down and would certainly lack in substance. Well, with reluctance, I watched part of the first night. Before it was over, I got up and said that I would not waste my time watching the following night. It wasn’t because I was mad. It was more because it was a waste of time. Nothing new, nothing inspiring, nothing insightful was being showcased…
I was also annoyed with the “Black women, if you don’t want to be alone, you should consider a white man.” message that they were pushing. First of all, many of the sistas that I know are not against hooking up with white men. The fact is that white men, the college educated ones, don’t want a black woman. Perhaps in the west that practice is common. But down here in the dirty south, where most of us (black folks) live, the only option that black women have is our brothas.
Another fact is that black women are indeed dating black men. They’re just not getting married. How else would you explain the 70% of black babies being born.
What needs to happen is that the black church and other insitutions in our communities need to teach about the benefit and safety of a healthy, loving marriage. All these churches need to stop having women’s coferences, encouraging the women to wait on their husbands; but not taking time to teach the men to see that marriage is a good thing. Instead of Bishop Jakes and some of the others having men’s conferences to talk about power, money, sex, and so on, they should be talking about marrying their women.
My nickel.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
The marriage issue is very important. My wife and I have been together for 23 years now and growing stronger everyday. In our Youth Development Program we do a workshop for our teens called “THERE IS VALUE IN BEING MARRIED”. It starts there, teaching our youth how to be husbands, fathers, wives and mothers. Don’t wait to after they have had a baby to address the issues. If it is taught at a young age then we have a better chance. My grandson who is 7 years old, who I have to help develop is being taught that his relationship with girls is to one day find a wife and have a family. People ask why do we focus on that, we tell people that is how we were raised! If more people would focus on family development instead of sexual development (having sex just to be having sex) we could turn this mess around. True LOVE is so much more enjoyable then lust and one night stands. Peace & Blessings Family
August 7th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Common Sense,
In the Church at Corinth, there was an instance of immorality, as you know already, where one young man had his father’s wife. Paul was furious given the antipathy of the church. Sadly, covering up or ignoring sexual immorality by ministers, had become all too commonplace in both Protestant and Catholic Churches. Eli’s sons were having sex with the females of the early church-prototype!
Oddly enough, our congregations are getting larger, however, so are the problems and what we will tolerate in the church. We are swallowing camels again!