"Black in America 2" Good Discussion About Race

Race matters, and not just where there is racism. You need no further evidence than the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the controversy surrounding that arrest and the diverging perspectives on it, depending on whether you are white or black.

The Gates incident surfaced just as CNN was continuing its discussion on race with Black in America 2.

I asked the reporter on the series, Soledad O’Brien, to give me her post-airing thoughts via Twitter. Here’s what she said: The “timing of Gates arrest makes me realize examining experience of black Americans is timely and relevant.”

It couldn’t have been more so.

Some black folks were critical of the series, stating that it added nothing to the discourse. I disagree. Many of us have the notion that we know more about “them” than they do about “us.” But it’s not just black and white, and that’s what I enjoyed about the series.

I am black, and I experienced many an “ahah” moment from the profiles presented. I also enjoyed the socio-economic diversity within the series. It didn’t just focus on the downtrodden black person trying to rise up from the so-called ghetto. There were affluent blacks, and not so affluent ones. There were young and old, and the older group is one that many of us are not familiar enough with. One group noticeably missing, however, was the black gay community.
Black in America 2 didn’t try to tell the whole story, and no one can. But it showed some snapshots of the lives of black folks, and these are part of the American family album that all of us should enjoy.

I am looking forward to Black in America 3 from CNN, and Latinos in America in October 2009. There is a rumor that Gay in America is coming in 2010. I hope that’s true, too.

We need to know more about each other in this country. And the more we know, the less likely we are to react to events in ways that correspond only to who we are on the surface.