Black in America: It's not just about the color of your skin
Editor's Note: In today’s United States, is being black determined by the color of your skin, by your family, by what society says or something else? Soledad O’Brien reports “Who Is Black in America?” on CNN at 8 p.m. ET/PT Sunday, December 15.
By Moni Basu, CNN
(CNN) - What is black? Race. Culture. Consciousness. History. Heritage.
A shade darker than brown? The opposite of white?
Who is black? In America, being black has meant having African ancestry.
But not everyone fits neatly into a prototypical model of "blackness."
Scholar Yaba Blay explores the nuances of racial identity and the influences of skin color in a project called (1)ne Drop, named after a rule in the United States that once mandated that any person with "one drop of Negro blood" was black. Based on assumptions of white purity, it reflects a history of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.
In its colloquial definition, the rule meant that a person with a black relative from five generations ago was also considered black.
One drop was codified in the 1920 Census and became pervasive as courts ruled on it as a principle of law. It was not deemed unconstitutional until 1967.
Blay, a dark-skinned daughter of Ghanian immigrants, had always been able to clearly communicate her racial identity. But she was intrigued by those whose identity was not always apparent. Her project focuses on a diverse group of people - many of whom are mixed race - who claim blackness as their identity.
That identity is expanding in America every day. Blay's intent was to spark dialogue and see the idea of being black through a whole new lens.
Soledad O'Brien: Who is black in America? I am
"What's interesting is that for so long, the need to define blackness has originated from people who were not themselves black, and their need to define it stemmed from their need to control it," says Blay.
Blackness, she says, isn't so easily defined by words. What is blackness for one person may not necessarily be that for another.
"And that's fine," Blay says. "Personally, my blackness is reflective of my ancestry, my culture and my inheritance."
"Black," in reference to people and identity, she says, is worthy of capitalization. Otherwise, black is just another color in the box of crayons. (CNN, like other news organizations, does not capitalize black or white.)
For young Americans, what's black is gray
CNN interviewed some of the people who participated in Blay's project to find out how they view themselves. What follows are their insights into race and identity.
Kathleen Cross: Black as a descriptor of color makes her identity hard to accept.
Black and white
California author Kathleen Cross, 50, remembers taking a public bus ride with her father when she was 8. Her father was noticeably uncomfortable that black kids in the back were acting rowdy. He muttered under his breath: "Making us look bad."
She understood her father was ashamed of those black kids, that he fancied himself not one of them.
"My father was escaping blackness," she says. "He didn’t like for me to have dark-skinned friends. He never said it. But I know."
She asked him once if she had ancestors from Africa. He got quiet. Then, he said: "Maybe, Northern Africa."
"He wasn't proud of being black," she says.
Cross' black father and her white mother never married. Fair-skinned, blue-eyed Cross was raised in a diverse community.
Later, she found herself in situations where she felt shunned by black people. Even light-skinned black people thought she was white.
"Those who relate to the term 'black' as a descriptor of color are unlikely to accept me as black," she says. "If they relate to the term 'black' as a descriptor of culture, history and ancestry, they have no difficulty seeing me as black."
At one time in her life, she wished she were darker - she might have even swallowed a pill to give her instant pigment if there were such a thing. She even wrote about being "trapped in the body of a white woman." She didn't want to "represent the oppressor."
She no longer thinks that way.
She doesn't like to check the multiracial box. "It erases everything," she says.
She doesn't like biracial, either. Or mixed. It's not her identity.
"There's only one race," she says, "and that's the human race."
"I am a descendant of a stolen African and Irish and English immigrants. That makes me black - and white - in America.
Biany Perez: Too Latina to be black, too black to be Latina?
Blackness and culture?
Biany Perez, 31, loves Michael Jackson but she doesn't know the Jackson Five. She didn't know that "Good Times" was a television show about a black family struggling to survive in south Chicago. Nor was she able to pick up certain colloquialisms in the English spoken by the black kids in the Bronx, where she grew up the daughter of Dominican parents.
Some people questioned Perez's blackness because she didn't fit into their definition of black.
She spoke only Spanish at home. She watched Telemundo and listened to Puerto Rican boy band Menudo.
She wasn't black enough because she was Latina and not Latina enough because she was black.
"The way I look shakes the image of Latina," says Perez, a program manager at a nonprofit in Philadelphia. "As I started getting older, I felt more comfortable in my skin."
Now, she calls herself Afro-Domincan.
"I think black is a broader definition I also embrace," she says. "Black is more than just saying that I am an African in America. It's political.
"It's about me connecting myself to my ancestors."
For Perez, black is about empowerment.
Kristina Robinson calls herself black over Creole.
Colorism
Creole identity is a complicated thing in Louisiana, says Kristina Robinson, 29, of New Orleans.
It's an ethnicity, a cultural designation for people descended from colonial settlers in Louisiana, mainly of French and Latin lineage.
The term Creole was claimed by the French and Spanish settlers in colonial times but it also referred to Africans and people who were a mixture of races. Those mixed-race descendants became a unique racial group and sometimes even included Native American heritage.
But in popular representation, Robinson says Creole has come to be defined as skin color.
She doesn't want to deny the rich Creole history but she doesn't identify as such if it means moving away from her blackness.
Black people think that her embrace of Creole means a rejection of being black.
"I never wanted to distance myself from my black ancestors," says the creative writing graduate student at Dillard University.
"They are the ones who claim me."
In her light skin, Robinson understands the insidious ways of colorism, a system in which light skin is valued more than dark skin.
"Colorism is a major problem within the Creole community and the black community," she says. "It's underdiscussed. It's perplexing and vexing how to work out this idea. I can see how the one drop rule is why we have so much colorism in our society.
"One drop is a lie," she says. "Black plus white doesn't equal black or it doesn't equal white. It equals black plus white."
She calls herself black. But other people think she is from India or the Middle East, especially in her academic work environment, where she does not have black colleagues.
"The assumption is I am not black," she says.
Ultimately, she believes environment plays a big role in identity.
Few people, she says, think that of her sister. One reason may be that her sister has more of a button nose. But another reason is that she works in a field with more black people, whereas Robinson finds herself in academic settings where she is the sole black woman.
Robinson acknowledges her lighter skin gives her privilege in a color-conscious society.
"But in those situations where you have to identify yourself and you choose to identify yourself as white - there's a big denial going on there.
"I do think it's troublesome when someone who is of mixed race chooses to deny that part of them that was oppressed," she says.
James Bartlett: White privilege means the freedom not to have to address race.
Race equals identity, or not?
Race is a social construct; identity is personal.
That's how James Bartlett, 31, views it.
"I'm black, I'm biracial," he says of his black father and Irish mother, who met and married in Louisville, Kentucky, just a few years after a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional.
He was raised in an all-black neighborhood; his mother was the only white person on the block.
"I interchanged between saying I am biracial and I am black," he says. "The culture I live in is black. I felt black because black people considered me black. That was because of the one drop rule."
But later, when he went to Ghana, the locals thought he was from Lebanon. Kids called him "Oburoni," the word for a white man.
Bartlett felt as though he were being told he was not who he really was even before he could interact with them, as though they were taking away his black identity.
"It put me on the complete opposite side of the coin," Bartlett says. "The first reaction was to put me in a box."
In America, people thought of him as a lot of things but not usually straight-up white.
"It's difficult for me to separate race and identity," says Bartlett, the newly named executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Diasporan African Arts in Brooklyn.
He is black, he says, because he didn't grow up with white privilege. What is that? The freedom, he replies, to not have to address race.
"I definitely didn't grow up with that," he says.
Being white in America is also knowing that people who look like you are always representing your interests in institutions of power.
"That is the essence of white privilege," he says. "Regardless of changing (demographic) percentages and numbers, racial representation is going to remain out of balance for quite some time."
In some ways, Bartlett says, he has been more attuned to race as a light-skinned black man than he would have been had he been darker.
Bartlett feels white people in America are threatened by the tide of color across the nation and that it will give rise to an us against them" mentality.
"I think blackness will change, too," he says. "The biggest change in the near future will be the end of blackness as a diametric opposite to whiteness."
Charles Cloud: He could have passed for a lot of things. He chose black.
Here and abroad
Charles Benjamin Cloud, 63, remembers a time when he was angry at all white people. That was in the time of the white water fountain and the black water fountain.
"They had their side of town; we had ours," he says of his childhood in New Bern, North Carolina.
As the son of a Cherokee man and a part-Cherokee, part-black woman, Cloud could have passed for something other than black.
"If I had decided to tell everyone I was Puerto Rican or Mexican, people probably wouldn't have known a difference," he says.
But he didn't.
"I never wanted to identify as white," he says.
"Blackness is a state of mind more so than a physical experience. But back then, physical appearance was much more of a black identity than it is now."
Cloud joined the Air Force and traveled the world. His light, ruddy complexion threw people off. The Turks thought he was Turkish; the Iranians thought he was from Iran. He even passed for Greek.
But back home, he chose not just to be American. He was black.
Sembene McFarland gets strange questions because of her skin condition.
Losing color
What happens when you lose your color as is Sembene McFarland, a 35-year-old emergency room nurse in Newark, New Jersey?
She has a condition known as vitiligo and is losing the pigmentation of her skin. The disorder affects people of all races but is most prominent in those with darker complexions.
McFarland describes herself as "garden-variety black" but once her vitiligo became noticeable, she found herself the target of outlandish comments.
When McFarland was working at a cash register job at a Barnes and Noble, a customer told her, "If you got rid of the rest of the color, you would be a really pretty Asian girl."
"Thank you very much," McFarland told the woman. "Have a nice day."
Now, she can't relay the story without laughing out loud.
Others have wondered: Were you white first or black first?
"That blew my mind," she says.
Her skin condition shows how people think of being black so literally, she says.
"When I think black, I don't think a particular shade," she says.
McFarland was 16 when she first learned she had vitiligo. It was tough. At that young age, no one wants to stand out.
Later she laughed. In high school in Mississippi, her classmates always joked she wanted to be white. She spoke like a white person. Some people said she sat like a white person - all proper.
Now here she was, turning white.
In the end, McFarland says, it's not about black or white. It's all the shades of gray that make people uncomfortable.
Brandon Stanford: My complexion is not black but I am black.
Unique but certain
Brandon Stanford's parents met in school in New Jersey. His mom's Irish family rejected her for dating a black man.
They've been married 37 years.
In that time, a lot has changed about being a child of an interracial marriage. For one, the man who occupies the White House is the son of a Kenyan man and a white American woman. Many Americans think being mixed is "cool."
Stanford, 29, has his own take.
"I wouldn't say that being mixed race is either cool or not cool," he says.
"I'd say it's a reality that one can choose to embrace by seeing the beauty of a world where the possibilities of transcending the limitations of race and racism exists if one is able to recognize the oneness of humanity. Is this not what our democracy is supposed to represent?"
Stanford, a graduate student in African-American studies at Philadelphia's Temple University, has had his identity questioned by both whites and blacks. That makes being mixed race difficult for some.
Some times white people speak about black people in front of Stanford, assuming he is white. He lets them go on for a while and then says: "By the way, I am one of them."
"I have a unique position in the world based upon what my complexion is," Stanford says. "I always have an opportunity to unsettle people's minds."
But Stanford has never wavered on his identity.
"My complexion is not black, yet I am black," he says.
Stanford doesn't deny his Irish ancestry. The Irish, he points out, were thought of as inferior by the English. They, too, faced discrimination in the United States. Black people were often called the "dark Irish," he says.
But the Irish in America distanced themselves from the anti-slavery movement in the interest of joining the white mainstream, Stanford says. That's where his connection to the Irish stops.
"I identify myself as African-American because of the history of the culture," he says.
Kaneesha Parsard: Blackness stems from a moment in history.
The past in the present
Black unequivocally.
That's how Kaneesha Parsard, 23, grew up. She was the daughter of parents who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in the 1980s.
She didn't understand what her father's ancestry - her grandfather was Indian - had to do with her.
"I took the one drop rule pretty seriously," says Parsard, a graduate student in African-American studies at Yale University.
Parsard's father was born in British-ruled Jamaica. He was raised with Indian people but identified as black because, she says, of how exclusionary Indian communities can be in Jamaica.
She began to think about her own identity when roti and chicken curry appeared at the Thanksgiving table.
"What I have come to realize is that ... people's history is intertwined, that being mixed race is not at odds with being black," she says.
"When we think about blackness, it's usually along a black-white context," she says. "But there are many histories, interesting histories of resistance."
For Parsard, blackness stems from a moment in time in 1492, with the discovery of a new land and a history of brutality that followed.
Appearance is a primary factor for many Americans in determining race and identity. For Parsard and others in Yaba Blay's project, it's not.
About In America
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
Black in America
iReport
Black People need to understand one thing...the last thing anybody thinks about on a battlefield is a persons skin color!! Take away racism and what do black people hold onto then? Love is a strong drug! Try that instead of weed!
Really? Stop watching so much TV.
How about equal time for white Americans. Let's see if CNN is willing to do a story about this most ridiculed group.
It's because big fish, whites, have been eating us small fish. Whites are still the most racist grouip by far. I've had to sue them to get my rights (I'm brown after 9/11)
Maybe when white bus drivers will begin to open the door when I'm at the bus stop instead of leaving me out in the cold, CNN should also do a story on being white. Now I have to play a trick and actually hide my face behind a tree or pole so they would stop to pick up what they see – a man in a jacket with a bag, and see my face when it's too late for them and the door is open near me. This is beyond what the did to Rosa Parks – at least they let her sit in the back of the bus.
If whites are the biggest racists, how come we don't have white channel, white entertainment awards, white pageant, white history month. Blacks are racists and they love that whole race thing, they exploit it, just like Jews exploit Holocaust.
HOW are blacks treated in Africa? They still have racest among their selfs.Same thing here in America.There are Black Societs were they meeet formallly ad have a good timme..During the years. You notice3 that insiide of african black skin is needed for the Sun..Going further north. The scandinavians are of a different color and blue eys..
i am so tired of the whole black, white, yellow, red, purple, or whatever superficial color we keep identifying ourselves or others into. people are people and the more we talk about race, color, and what not, the more we fuel it. the concept of different races is an @$$ backwards concept from a longggg time ago. hopefully it will be a thing in the past like the world being flat or the sun revolving around the earth, but first stop fueling this bull crap. there is only one race, the human race... oh yeah and there is also the human and a non-identified primate hybrids that are supposably the bigfoot. I swear i read this info on cnn at one point recently... so the real question is what does it means to be a bigfoot in america? they are the different race.. possibly.
Love this comment =)
You know where this article would be great? Black History Month. I think that's enough
When white bread and black bread can break bread the fever will be broke.
What does it mean to be an Indian, they have been the most oppressed people?
Wrong! Jewish people, the original slaves, have been oppressed longer than any other people. They just had enough sense to come together.
blacks still QQ'ing, nothing to see here, 0/10
Cnn Ȋ̝̊̅ڪ filled with racists!
Yeah, the author of the article.
Jesus is/was a jew
Now here she was, turning white.
Turning white means sitting down and behaving.
Acting like a rude, self obessed animal is black.
Thanks for clearing that up cnn.
I agree with you Blade, for some reason we let media and stereotypes dictate what it is to be black. If you pronounce words correctly, you are trying to be white? I think not. There is no such thing as acting a color. Let's stop thinking that someone is trying to act a color. I dislike hearing that someone is acting black because they are being ghetto and rude and loud or if someone is trying to better themselves and family they are trying to be white. Wake up people!
So when can we start writing articles like "Whites in America" and get our own "White Channel," and "White College" and "White History Month?"
I am so sick of this whole Black, Latino, etc. thing. Either we are not separated, or we do it all the way, not just for Blacks and Latinos.
Me' thinks white started the whole segregation thing!
In the montage of images in the article, all of the people appear to be light skin, with a few being medium skin. There is no actual dark skinned people shown at all. I do find it a rather glaring omission.
me being black means I can expect something for nothing
no, that's just you being you and pretending to be what you think being black is, which is all a figment of your ignorant imagination
Black is the new black
I don't understand why anyone would respond to this article negatively as if the issue of race is no longer an issue. Yes, Jay Z is worth a lot of money, yes the President is black. But to say that inequality between the races doesn't exist anymore is shameful. Just because white people want to forget about the struggles of the black community, it isn't going to make it so. It might be easy for them but not for us. That is why we celebrate the successes in our community no matter how big or small. To respond with any negativity to this article probably means that you don't know what it is to Black in America; and I'm Canadian. It might not matter to you (why read the article?), but it sure does matter to us.
It's NOT an issue unless you decide to make it an issue. We will never get past racism until we stop being obsessed with our racial makeup. I don't see myself as white, I see myself as some dude. I don't see my fried as black, he is just Kevin. I could go on and on but you see my point I hope. Who the heck cares? Nobody else cares that you are black ( or whatever) get over yourself.
I'm glad you see your friend Kevin as Kevin. That is how we should see everyone, as an individual, I agree. But there is an issue and it goes further than the black community. Just because you choose to ignore it doesn't make it go away. Only by discussing these issues with rational thought and an open mind do we further the cause of 'one world, one race'.
Stop it already boyfriend. Watch Gangs of New York when the irish arrived to ellis island. Think about it...if u continue to bring race card up it becomes an excuse for not evolving. We are all to be treated with decency and respect wherever our achievements take us. There are great human beings in each race. Always have been. There are lazy dirtbags in each race. why don't we drop the racial revolt and target dirtbags of any color.
First of all, nobody should be watching a movie to get there history straight. Thats like getting your politics from a Michael Moore film. These films are made for entertainment. And judging by the amount of responses to this article, which is essentially a piece on the diversity within the black community itself and not about race relations in America as a whole, there seems to be a lot of resentment from white people over this. I thought it was an interesting article and I don't see the need for all the negativity.
God is rad
Some day, everyone will be the same shade of brown.
Actually, Chinese predominate. So, brown is unlikely
Dis rtacal ant rite.
One must remember whites have been saying the same thing for the last 400 years. When they were murdering enslaved Americans they said blacks were complaining too much.
When they were lynching blacks their newspapers claimed that they had "good relations with 'their' blacks". Blacks were complaining too much about lynching also. Blacks complained about Emmet Till. Amadou Diallo, and Abner Louima.
When 70% of all drug dealers and users are white but make up only 10 percent of the prison population it's not racism at all.
When the majority of crime is INTRA-racial they point to black and brown bodies as the problem.
Whites have killed children wanting to go to white schools and yet still claim that blacks do not value education.
Whites have killed blacks wanting equal access to jobs, yet claim blacks do not want to work hard to get ahead.
Whites have made numerous laws to restrict black and brown movement and access yet claim they are the superior race.
Seems to me that they fear is that they are not as smart as they like to think and a lot nastier and more vicious than they would care to admit.
The problem is that there have never been any blacks in the police departments, or serving in the miltary, or the justice departments, or governement in general. If only blacks could do something other than talk about blackness, then things might change. But it never will... oh well.
This post is a masterpiece!!!!
Thank you for pointing out the facts. Im black, educated, well spoken and well behaved but I can tell you know matter how "white" i have been told i sound i still have had race related problems happen to me including problems with police, judges, employers and even other black people. The truth is, any race that is not "black " in America will never understand what its like to be "black " in America..PERIOD. And for those that have negative things to say, you are exactly why the article was written and the show was aired. Alot of us have come along way but there is still that small percent that wants to push us back. I think we should all just be friends
you're not wrong
Yaba Blay is the new Tuskegee Nurse-spreading the disease of white supremacy. We KNOW that white looking Black people exist. WHY is this so important to a dark skinned Black academic? Not many people know that one of the nurses who served the white doctors in the vile Tuskegee experiment was actually a Black woman and like that nurse Yaba Blay is a DISEASED academic spewing this tired bile. It would also be more than fair to call Dr. Yaba Blay a Black Eugenicist. Her 1nedrop or whatever she calls it seems to be one of the biggest steps back I've seen in race academia in quite some time and all this race card BS is frankly gross to witness. Yaba and Soledad appear to hold the white supremacist belief that "black blood" makes people too inferior for any other identification. Few "white" liberals dare to question anything a "black" says about "race" as long as they don't feel personally threatened by it and what Soledad is doing is making sure that One drop obsessed white and Black liberals get to continue the one drop sickness of white supremacy. Many whites with black ancestry and many mixed race people do not want to be Black and are not Black culturally. Soledad is where she is today because she looks more white than Black yet she has no problem profiting from this same sick caste system while yelling about "how Black" she is. What I found most telling though is that on Yaba's atrociously amateur one drop glorifying website she has a mixed race Latino, Native American and Ethiopian who are being allowed to claim dualities within her 'scholarly' construct of race but the women mixed with European ancestry HATE their white ancestry or can't deal with it. This creep is very clear that she used to racially vet and melanin police as a pass time and nothing has changed for this sad and ugly woman. Now she's been able to get a PHD for it and infect young minds. So yes, she is upholding white supremacy. Why is Yaba Blay any different than David Duke?
Is it that slow of a news day?? Who cares, except Blacks?? Where's the article about being White? Oh, I forgot – that would be racist...
Sorry Hemet, but whites win the Nobel Prize for racism. I'm brown and experience racism at the hands of whites more than anyone else, so being white isn't, and has't been a problem.
Yet.
I'm white. I have olive skin and curly hair and the most racist in your face people ALIVE are Blacks in my experience. Blacks attack ANYONE with even a scrap of what they think is Black ancestry. many are so rude it is unbearable. That's what this whole **** pile of a CNN special above is about. Black self ahtred.
p.s. I should add that I didn't take it sitting. I sued some of the times, and made the racists pay dollars every time. No one deserves to be treated with disrespect.
One score that remains unsettled is against white bus drivers for often leaving me shivering in severe cold (after 9/11). They laugh and take off wthout opening the door. Now my trick is to hide behind a tree or pole, so they can only see my bag and jacket and see my face after it's too late, with the bus door wide open near me. This is beyond what they did to Rosa Parks – in her case, at least they let her sit in the back of the bus. Me? No!
I'm American, descended from the western-European white race and and found this fascinating personally and enlightening to the culture we live in. I'm sorry you couldn't think about it similarly.
You're right Jeff. It is tough watching the self-destruction of our nation over the past several decades.
white people don't need a news article on "what it means to be white in america," a month dedicated to our achievements, etc–because WHITE people in america have not experienced centuries of oppression, or a total lack of opportunities and limited freedoms at the hands of our countrymen and government. we were not given substandard education in the last century, denied the right to own property, denied jobs, etc. nobody burned a cross on our lawn. we don't need a "white history month" celebrating our achievements because our achievements are celebrated every day in america by the simple fact that we have white privilege–our ancestors were not subject to centuries of racism and brutality in this country, and we are not denied opportunities because of the color of our skin. do you understand, now?
there are lots of articles about being white. you just choose not to acknowledge their existence.
CNN turned into BET!!!! When can I get a channel called WET? White Entertainment Television!!!! Would that be considered racist towards black people? As a white man, it saddens me when equal doesn't ring into the ears of black people. We are human beings. Color is of no importance really. We're equal that's about it. MLK is rolling in his grave if he saw this article and what black people are complaining about in today's age!!
Everything in America has been WET for hundreds of years. Just recently have any other people had such a platform to tell their story. So, you don't like it? Get over it!
White Entertainment Television = 99% of the shows on cable and regular TV.
That's such a silly thing thing to say, have you ever watched television? A lot of the great shows on American television have been "black shows".
Richard, your question about WET is answered easily. White television is most of what we see on TV, even though recently they've made an effort to include black actors for a lot of roles, but the culture of the TV shows is pretty lacking in portraying any Black American culture. BET therefore serves a purpose for black people to see stuff that expresses some of their own cultural taste in music, comedy, etc. Believe it or not, there is in fact a legitimate Black culture that is part of the greater American culture.
WET....that is hilarious. Almost every other channel could be called WET. Geeze
you do get "WET".
it's just called NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox.
No, CNN has become over the years JET – Jew Entertainment Television, better know as Talmud Vision.
Maybe you should start watching FOXNEWS
Why is CNN so obsessed with race?
They care about race because people like you and I click on it. The advertisements that lurk at the sidelines equal currency. Hello. It's called capitalism. Why did you click on it?
*** WOW *** way to many of my fellow white americans live on DE'nile and tha'ts not a river in Egypt. If you can
see BLOND hair and BLUE eyes, you can see the color of my skin which is some shade of BROWN. Unfortunately
what is so pathically SILLY and hypocritical is pretending that you don't. Life is two steps forward and one step back
PLEASE, please try and take at least one step forward, you will feel better about yourself and others. The 1850's and
the 1960's are gone, come on catch up. To talk about race TODAY doesn't mean, sitting at a Woolworth's counter and
being spat upon or kicked, or having a fire hose and dogs set upon you. Come on catch up, it means CONVERSATION..!!
I live in Canada, and thank god, cause I have no tolerance for intolerance of race.
Did a black man invent tv nope
Name anything they have invented
This quote "In the end, McFarland says, it's not about black or white. It's all the shades of gray that make people uncomfortable." hit me hard. THIS is the TRUTH.
If you truly can't differentiate in an obvious, meaningful, it loses it's power in the sense that it has been used historically (race). What makes us uncomfortable is where the potential for growth lies.
Good article. I wonder how my daughters will be viewed. They are half white, a quarter black, and a quarter Asian. Will they face discrimination when they reach dating age because their mother is brown or their father is pink? I guess we'll see in about 10 years! Or will people truly not care about race at that point? We can always hope.
You should bring your family and come have Thanksgiving or Christmas (or whatever) dinner at my house.
One of my grandson's had a Nigerian mother, God rest her precious soul. We lost her February 1, 2010.
He is kind, handsome, considerate, hardworking and brilliant. One of my son-in-laws is half Vietnamese.
No, his mother was not a warbride. She taught English at Texas Tech University. His father is half-Italian.
My grandchildren are beautiful. You'd be amazed how many people think they're Hispanic. My children
always had friends of different nationalities. One Christmas we counted seven different countries
represented around our table. Two were Lebanese. Three were Thai-Lao. The other four countries
were represented by one guest per natioin. They had all spent Christmas Eve with us and attended
midnight services at an Episcopal church. I'm seven five years old and this is one of those million
dollar memories that make up the tapestry of my life.
Wow....ur family sounds incredible!!!
I always find it so surprising how people are so ill-informed about Affirmative Action programs. White-woman are the largest beneficiaries of it. Additionally, no one wants to talk about issues like race because they are so uncomfortable with it. The issues must be addressed fully and accurately before people can move on.
In the end, we're all dust in the wind, according to kansas
I'm going t0 share some truth with you however most people fear truth. The truth is that Black people are the children of God. I'm talking about the positive god. The one of made everything that we see. Mankind have made thing also however they used what we gave them. The Black man as we no of to day is mentally dead however that was by plan. The plan is for him to wake up doing the time that we live in today. I no most do not believe me however its not about belief. We have to no the truth for our-self. Youhave to do the math for yourself. Can you handle the truth? I would share more however this is just a post. Also its not about feelings. The truth is the truth even if you dislike like it.
get a frickin life....god made people....people, get it? He made every person on this planet....no one is better then the other, period.
I do not have the time to share with you everything its up to you to learn and seek the truth. Everything that you think you know right now is wrong. This is by plan by those who is against the God of righteousness and whose who which to stay in power. However the truth will be known to everyone. Everyone can be saved even the wicked if they change there ways. Its up to them. Keep breathing you will see even if have you do not which to. The black man is the righteous by nature however he is to wake up and be that once again. Only God can do that. The Black man you may see today is a made man. Made to be who you see now. This is to keep him from being his try self however everything is a plan and everyone works for The righteous God even the wicked. Do the math for yourself. The dye is set there is no turning back. Everyone should be happy however if you are about doing things that you know is not right you may have a problem however the problem is all yours. I could share however thats up to you too do. Its not about anyones feelings. The truth has nothing to do with feelings
no race represents "true" children of God. God isn't biased
Prophet Muhammad of Islam gave a good message in his last sermon delivered at Mt. Arafat during his last Hajj on the 9th of Dhul-Hijjah, 0010 A.H (632 AD)
"I know not whether after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again ... All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action..." That was his last pilgrimage. The entire sermon is worth reading. RIP, Muhammad!
Someone forgot to tell this to Arab and black Muslims who went around North, East and West Africa enslaving millions of black Africans. To the very day Muslims in Sudan and elsewhere refer to blacks as "abed" wich means slave or the equivalent of the "N" word. So much for the religion of peace and love.
+100
Despite Yaba Blay's pathological obsession with the white supremacist one drop, not every person with Black ancestry is Black. The USa, largely because of poorly educated jokes like these to woman, is the only country where a "Black person" with all or nearly all European DNA must claim Black. You'll note that Latinos, Native Americans and even Middle Eastern people who look Black and who have Black ancestry can culturally claim both or even "non Black" in the eyes of many Blacks but due to, in this era, Black self hatred and an unwillingness to let go of white supremacy, European people with Black ancestry are denied their right to whiteness. Appalling and wrong and these sick woman are upholding it. And no, I do not feel sorry for Black people who uphold the sickness of the one drop and blame it on whites.
I am 49 years old. If I have learned anything in life, is the fact that people need to love thy neighbor. There are so many important things happening in the world, climate change being one of them, yet people are still stuck on that age old color of your skin thing. Shame on ya all. There are more important matters to set your minds to. Grow up and get along for gods sake.
God bless you! You said it far better than I could have.
So true
How about Crime an Color in America
they would blame the "white" man on that one. Possible excuses..."I don't know how to cook!". Or "I needed the money because I'm gangster!". I could go on and on about black people excuses on why they refuse to contribute to society and their continued excuse to blame the MAN!!!
What does it mean to be black in America? Well... it means 95% of you will somehow ridiculously vote for the black candidate no matter what kinda poor job he did the first four years... mainly because of his color (which is racist). THEN you'll point the finger at people like me saying we're the racists for pointing it out.
What do I win???
50% off the next cleaning of your robe! I am a middle aged white man who voted for Obama because he was far and away the better man. If you are a millionaire, I understand you and anyone like you voting for Romney. Otherwise, huh?
Apparently you have no Idea of what the nature of RACISM is. Were the Jews Racist against the Nazis because they felt some type of way about being killed by the millions? Are Native Americans who still some type of way about having had the equivalent of someone moving into your house and making you live in the closet racist? I think Louis Fahrakhan is Crazy as hell but he said something so on point one day" Black(,or any other non- European race)people Prejudice? The definition of Prejudice is to have a PRECONCEIVED idea or notion about a person . After all the atrocities the European has committed over the last 4 to 5 hundred years to blacks , hell we are not Prejudice, we are CONVINCED!"
The last four to five hundred years, eh? In America? Got a history book? Read it.
You do realize that Africans enslaved other Africans and sold them to white slave traders, right? Nobody talks about that. Slavery is still practiced in Muslim countries and by Muslims who come to the West.
The first slave in the US was white.
The moon is choke full of cheese people.
Hatred begets Hatred ...no matter what race, creed, color, gender, etc .... just live and stop whining.
why always media is so symphathetic to african americans, they should realize they need to compete with human resources from across the world, they are in the economy which is determined by global trade rules, just depending government won't help, they need to start working for low wages and make a carrer plan without addicting to drugs and alcohol, liberal policies won't help in the long run, it will give a temporary relief.
Since when is it wrong to be sympathetic to people? Or are you trying to say that the media are more sympathetic to black people than white people? If so, show me an example of that from this article.
It will always be something, even if we were physically identical I bet we would have problems between the people that like chocolate and the ones that like vanilla, or coke or Pepsi.
Sickening
black people discussing their widely varying experiences of what it means to them to be "black" is disgusting? i don't recall anyone in this article saying they thought they were superior to another race, do you? so what's disgusting?
Rise up and reverse the destruction of the race. Contraiwise against the foundations of America and even in the face of fiscal collape globally. Rebellion in that right is wrong is now us vs. them, a game, as to who wins. Which is hatred and racism. Rise up and make education, character and family forefront instead of rebellion, hip hop and drugs. False anger for Travon when hundreds of your sons are murdered by their own race. Rise up in the greatest land in the world. It is never too late.
"The only thing we know how to talk about is blackness, nothing else matters, that's all we have to offer"
Replace blackness with "nail polish color" and you'll see how ridiculous this is.
How come there's no Hispanic, Asian or Middle eastern in America?? we have a black president, it can't be that hard to be "black in America". How about CNN does some good and report on the black on black massacres going on in detroit and Chicago?
Have you been to America?
Yes, I live in Texas.. Why do you ask?
That is what is confusing. We really don't have a black president, we have a multi-racial president. His race really shouldn't matter, yet it does. Obama would not have been elected were he white. Hillary Clinton would have been the nominee. President Obama was elected primarily due to his race. Anyone who denies that has myopic vision. Am I a racisit? Nope. I am simply stating the obvious. I think it sad that a candidate would be elected or not elected due to race, but that is reality.
That's your opInion but There have been black presidential candidates since 1972.I'm not an Obama fan but the guy spent a whole lot of money, a whole lot more then his opposition. Obama created a movement in 2008, he really got people to the voting booths like never before. Yes you could say race was a factor with some people but just being black is no guarantee at winning.... Look at Herman Cain
if i recall, they've had those articles too. don't assume that they didn't. check it out first before assuming.
CNN does have "Latino in America", but you buffons are too blind to even check.
Shahs of sunset has set the Indian culture back a thousand camel humps
Pick your color, pink, beige or brown..........they are all cool
Racism continues in its strongest form by those who continue to remind us of the races, namely those that write articles such as this. We get it, you are a different color and live a different lifestyle. However, you also have equal (if not more due to quotas, affirmative action, and targeted special interest groups) opportunity than the white race now. Any failings in blacks born in the last 20 yrs can be attributed to family life, home life, and surrounding culture, NOT racism. Please note, there are plenty of whites who have failings due to those exact same problems. That isnt a race issue though, its a culture issue. Can we skip the RACISM that is articles like this and all continue on with life yet? For gods sake, we have a 2nd term black man in the white house and the only remotely significant group of people that truely care about his race are old white men near the end of their life anyway.
Thank you thank you!!! I am sooooo sick and tired of waa waa waa black baloney. What I care about is what is like to be so-called WHITE in America and over 40, actually over 50, or maybe I mean just turned 21 and cannot find a job. GET IN LINE, there are a million far more important concerns than racism, and anyway it is the BLACK people who display the most / worst racism today. Just watch any black 'comedien'. Guess what black people. It was other black people, and arabs, who captured your ancestors and sold them into slavery. There NEVER should have been an 'affirmative action' plan, for people of color. There SHOULD be a PAY A WOMAN THE SAME AS A MAN plan, where's THAT plan??
Keep goeing hoora
Im sorry to say this but whoever agrees with this article that some injustices are given to black people on a everyday basis can kiss my brown butt. Highlighting black people and what they experience on a daily level is very racist to me. What the hell is Soledad Obrien smOking?? This is suppose to CNN not some dirt news channel.
To the many of you who have a problem with Black America....Leave! Our history, our lives, most things about "us" have been ignored and dismissed for so long, we are celebrating, discussing, reconciling ourselves. Thank you Soledad for this. Keep it up.
I have read blogs asking, "What about MY Whiteness..." To that I say...What about it? I have heard all about YOUR life, YOUR, culture, YOUR inheritance, all my life. I am glad to finally be able to celebrate ours.
So you're not American? Do you want to create your own country, or do you want to be a part of this one?
Your culture(American) IS my culture. Stop your hate and divisiveness. I didn't oppress anyone. Most white people were born after 1970. That means most didn't hit their 20's(far from the age of having significant power) until the 90's. You want to celebrate your culture? You are a part of a black and white culture. A white person being attacked means that YOUR TRIBE is being attacked. Black history is American history.
Perfectly stated! Why the division amongst the races or within a race?
She's BOTH. She's American and she's Black. She has both cultures. Can you comprehend that?
Sorry but America has more than one "culture".
Why don't you go back to Africa?? And try and fix " your" country!!! Not being racist here just noting if your so proud to be black they could use your help on combatting AIDS and the genocides being committed in Africa.
who are you talking to Richard?
Not to be racist, my butt! This topic is something that clearly still affects blacks in America it's a great topic for us to discuss
If you have an issue why even comment on something that you know nothing about you can't tell blacks in this country to go back to Africa when they have absolutely no connection with Africa just like you don't with Europe.
You are an American because you've probably been here your whole life just like black Americans
Since Europe is in shambles economically, one could also tell you to go back there and fix those problems. Double standards?
To celebrate yours you need to go to that wonderfull aides infested country Africa an take a good look around
Not South Africa thats Brit
Your home land an take a good look at how advanced they are but i sure you will blame the white man for that
Yes when ever you feel srewed in life blame the white race an all the contrubutions that we have given man
Name a black contribution
Uh FYI south Africa has the highest rate of aids in the world so please do some research before you start typing your stupidity
Every city every year has all these culture celebration
Why dont they have white weekend woope
Why because its racist but every color under the sun can get a city sponsored festival
My father was very prejudiced against people from India and Asia until he had to rely on a care giver from the Philippines.
My philosophy about life is simple:
I do not care whether you are black or white or some shade in between, a jerk is still a jerk.
Oh yeah? So is that why someone who doesn't even know me just said that, becsuse I'm black, hard work or perseverance isn't a part of my language or vocabulary?
Cool.
It's not because of CNN, It's because of human nature.
This is why miscegenation is a bad thing, it causes confusion for those who are a generation or two away from the offending party.
A generation or two? Really do you know how many generations ago that black people were treated less than human? If you can answer this questions and still have the same response.... then America you have a llllllllloooooooooonggggg way to go with racial justice and understanding. Once we can love each other and not walk in a room and congregate with those who look like us and be ready to challenge ignorance among us then we will always have this topics. Where there is smoke there is fire. Peace
Dear White people who say that Black people are making a big deal out of race,
We (Black People) would not still be healing if it were not for your ancestors. You can not sweep Dirty Laundry under the rug.
So you carry the pain inflicted on your ancestors? Why carry that? Put it down, it's not yours.
Stop exploiting the sorrow of people who are now dead.
Hey, i come from the Huguenots who fled Europe to avoid religious persecution in the 1600's. I'm still scared. Stupid Catholics. Get over yourself. And while you make lovely generalizations (stereotypes) about my ancestors, i should probably point out that my ancestors didn't have slaves. They were however, scalped by native Americans, but hey we did take their land.
if your grandfather robbed a bank or murdered a person, would you like to go to prison for it? No?
Yes, white people did terrible things then, but ALL of those people are DEAD. A white person today did not do the things that the white people pre-1865 did, so stop living in the past.
Dear black guy,
Africans enslaved the Jews before Europeans enslaved Africans. You owe the Jews an apology. (Do you see how ridiculous you sound?)
Thanks.
Maybe you are a female. If you are then sorry for being a man as well. I know we didn't let Women vote or own land there for a while either. My white man guilt is REALLY starting to flare up.
Wow, what a crazy thing to say... Pick up a history book, everyone's ancestors everywhere have had something terrible done to them. There are cultures, countries and civilizations that don't exist anymore because it's people were enslave or killed...Sure racism is bad but please don't act like white people have done the worst things to blacks.... After all black tribal leaders would sell their own to the whites who went to Africa... And not to mention the countless civil wars in Africa and the black on black violence here in America
It's interesting to see that people immediately jumped to slavery and not Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party era or the psychological affects of the Crack era of the late 1980s and early 1990s. I get what you are saying and there is some truth in it...but some people will never realize that. For many of these White people who's ancestors didn't own slaves, their ancestors could have been slave drivers, handler's or captains on the slave ships. For those that never had ancestors involved in slavery...kudos to you, but there are still issues of equality. I know that Africans sold other Africans (after the kidnapping of Africans as slaves) and that Black people owned slaves (many buying their family members and giving them freedom papers). It's crazy when people throw that like many of us didn't know that. Hello, just because it wasn't in a textbook doesn't mean we didn't know it. This topic is coming from a painful point in our past that needs to be healed in order for us to unite. It's a shame that people just can't figure that out and realize that it's truly not about them.
I don't see black or white, only shades of grey.
I don't see black or white, either. I see only people. 🙂
awwww.
I think this article is completely a waste of energy. I think Soledad is biast because she is black. I also think that black people tend to focus more on the past and blame others on their problems then focus on the present and do things to better themselves.
Sp. "biased" not "biast" and "than" not "then". Thanks.
LOL
Yep. Racism is dead and gone guys.
Dear black folks,
We don't care what color you are.
Sincerely,
The Rest of The World
when 911 happened was so proud. Color did not matter. You came together as a nation. Was so nice to see. A Canadian observer.
Maybe you don't, but a lot of people do. And also, it's not as much about color as about culture.
Perfect answer!
It is so annoying when those that are not black try to tell black ppl to get over the past, they they don't see color. You can feel this way bc u r apart of the majority race. Until u r in my skin then u wouldn't understand and it shows ur ignorance and insensitivity when u say these things. The media continues to define what is beautiful and what is ugly and what they deem beautiful is still set by European (White) standards. When I hear my black and biracial students tell me that they don't want to be defined as black or African American bc they think that African is ugly then there is still a problem and how dare a white person tell me to get over it! This infuriates me! You are only proving other black ppl point. You have the luxury of white privileged so this topic is something that u don't understand. So ur ignorant comments are not needed!
I think the premise of the article is racist. To care about race is to be racist. To think about race, is to be racist. So please stop writing these type of articles.
How about what is it like to be WHITE in America. When are we going to get that story?????????
There IS only one TRUE race, the human race. However, all races are there, but are not the epitome of humanity.
The melting pot needs some green olives...
and vodka, bruise the ice. 🙂 Can't we all just agree on a martini?
There are far, far too many people who don't understand that. Making your culture one of downward mobility isn't anything to be proud of, and yet too many have made that so.
At least we know the difference between there and their.
It means you always have the racism excuse when you fail, and that you can get jobs you don't deserve.
All these people with as little as one drop of blackness in them become beneficiaries of the Affirmative Action program...and that's where the real discrimination against whites starts.
Good for you!!
I think CNN is upset that racism is starting to become a thing of the past. So they post Articles like this to remind us that we're all different. CNN, If you want to talk about race, how about rename this article. "What it means to be part of the Human race".
Your retort is almost comical. CNN shoves race issues down our throats harder than Apple products.
Bill–I agree with you. Why is this issue always one sided? Its only an issue because people still make it an issue. No one is denying the past. But I mean this could be said about any group. I have Jewish ancestry. My grandpa was almost killed several times for it. But it doesnt help for me to make it an issue for myself. It happened. It was tragic. Not denying it. Not saying it wasn't a problem. Not saying my family shouldn't be angry about it. But, its not helping move anything forward. I also agree with Teriander. Human race. These articles just keeping making distinctions between people aka continuing to make it a problem. What is it like to have big ears in America? What is it like to have green eyes in America? What is it like to freckles in America?
EnoughAlready: "The liberal obsession with race continues."
Your denial that there is racism is offensive and insulting to me and my 52 million amigos.
Can you an your 52 millon amigo friends stop tresspassing in the U.S.A
Aren't you and your "amigos" white too? Hispanic is an ethnicity, like Anglo-Saxon or Celt.
It seems most commenting here don't know nor care what it means to be black in this country, which is ok. How dare tell someone such as myself to just get over it. I was born in Mississippi, picked cotton in the fields, and suffered unthinkable abuse, so you people who just blow this off as a non issue can just go straight to hell. I am not looking for any special treatment or considerations, but to not understand the affect racism continue to have on this country boggles the mind. Why do you think nothing can get done in Congress? I will tell you it is because a Black Man (Pres Obama) is leading the parade, and those old white men, (some in his own party) just can't accept the idea that he is calling the shots. They would rather destroy the country, than accept this fact.
Because you experienced racism it doesn't follow that Congress is enacting a racist agenda.
Go to your room sonny, you have no clue, and completely out of touch with reality..
Just because he experienced racism doesn't mean congress isn't enacting a racist agenda.
Your blind if you can't see that race does play a part in no one being able to agree on anything in congress...there are still old school thinkers who think one race is superior
Perhaps they don't like his marxist agenda.
So white privilege is not having to identify your race? This article is a joke. The "oppression" in America has since been erased. When a rapper is worth $500,000,000, the re-elected president is black and the most ignored group in this country are white families whose actual poverty numbers are higher than any other race.
Yes, but good luck telling anyone that. That's not what's being splashed across TVs, so no one even considers it. White people are ignored, abused and discriminated against and no one seems to call it racism. I find it highly offensive when people use the phrase "people of color," as if white people have no color. It's disgusting.
Hasn't been erased don't kid yourself.
What's the end game? If you have to convince yourself and those around you that you are black,what are you trying to accomplish? PLEASE RESPOND
if you are black good, if you are white good, if you're trying to hide it, hide it.
Just shut up about it !!!!!
Oh yeah? So is that why someone who doesn't even know me just said that, because I'm black, hard work or perseverance isn't a part of my language or vocabulary?
Cool.
It's not because of CNN, It's because of human nature.
In the same respect that "non-whites" believe that whites are born into this world with everything handed to them.
That's not what anyone believes. But yes there is an advantage to being white in America. For starters your ancestors weren't denied rights LEGALLY up until 50 years ago.
certain section of African american if they gets starts working instead of claiming food stamp for alcohol, drugs and follow the marriage principle instead of liberal principles of lgbt, if they start working hard it will automatically reduces job for illegal immigrants and they should be ashamed of themselves without working creating opportunities for illegal immigrants.
show it to your border security patrol atleast they can deport them or your president can give them permanent residency since they are staying from there childhood.
It does not matter. What you accomplish today will be tainted by the deeds of the past. That's the real problem here. Using deeds of the past in today's context creates a never-ending stream of ways to paint ALL white people as evil. This has been going on for decades now. ANY pride white people show in their race or the accomplishments of their race (such as being the only race to abolish slavery) are shouted down as evil because the people responsible are white. And all white is evil. THAT is what racism is all about; demonizing people on the basis of thin facts.
Grobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
So true
But no one told you to stay once you where given freedom
*were. Come on now.
The liberal obsession with race continues. I won't hold my breath until they post an article about people who proud of their white heritage though.
" I won't hold my breath until they post an article about people who proud of their white heritage though."
Feel free to write it, nobody is stopping you.
I'm African-American and I don't feel that it is responsible of any race, culture, or creed of people to be PROUD of their race. Black people included. Racial pride leads to negative issues between all races of people. We all come from the same place and no human is better than another. You watched the show, so I see that you found it interesting enough to continue looking and making comments.
Unless he works for CNN chances are they won't publish the piece.
I am a liberal and I do not just consider myself as white. I am a human being and treat others that way until they prove to me that they are not a part of society by wanting to lie, cheat or steal. So before you classify people based on a type of belief get your facts right. "Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are an idiot than to open your mouth and prove them right.".
I'm going to share some truth with you however most people fear truth. The truth is that Black people are the children of God. I'm talking about the positive god. The one of made everything that we see. Mankind have made thing also however they used what we gave them. The Black man as we no of to day is mentally dead however that was by plan. The plan is for him to wake up doing the time that we live in today. I no most do not believe me however its not about belief. We have to no the truth for our-self. You have to do the math for yourself. Can you handle the truth? I would share more however this is just a post. Also its not about feelings. The truth is the truth even if you dislike like it.
God had a brothet dont forget
I hope you're better at math than you are at English.
This is what is great about our Country, we are all of different race, color and greed, and at the end of the day we are all just human beings, everyday, all day!
Don't these people have a better things to write about? This Soledad is wasting young black peoples time.
Sure abdula
Get out of my country your a free loader
I don't live in your country. I live in my country.
Why doesn't CNN just start a "Black in America" network? It seems every other week is another variation of "Black in America". We just don't care anymore. You keep recycling the same stuff over and over.
Better get used to it! This issue will be with us as Blacks and Latinos get their share of political and economic power.
I'm black, and I agree! Plus – CNN got "Jennifer Lopez" to be the representative of black! Plueeeeeze!! Solidad is about as black as the Kardashian sisters. Ridiculous! If "Mr. T" were still alive, I say he should head the series of what it is like to be White in America.
And in your attempt to discredit Ms O'Brien basically gave the best illustration of why this article was written.
Thanks a lot
"Mr. T" is actually still among us.
WHO CARES...
The existence of the GOP hangs in the balance. So you BETTER care.
Evidently YOU do because you took the time to write a comment.
Really? This is still a series? Apparently this is an important topic — or so CNN would have us believe. More important, perhaps, than the cultural struggles of every race in this country? This is just gross and race-centered — racist, if you like. Bears not a lot of relation to anything deeply important at the moment; in fact, rather divisive. But keep lapping it up, drones.
Morgan Freeman: “How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it!”
Thank you. I liked his comments as well. "How black are you?" usually means two things in this day and age: are you dumbed down and thugged out enough, and do you hate white people?
Nothing about your aforementioned comment has anything to do with being Black. Wow.
"Someone doubted one poster was black because he said he hated how black Americans act."
That would be Yours Truly. I have lots of experience with posters pretending to be Latino, etc.
Ramon doesn't have a clue. Probably not Hispanic. Just posting to read his own posts...
Soledad is the most boring journalist on the planet.
And, the most biased.
Let me see if I got this right. Some of you were so offended about the topic that you set there for the whole hour and watched it. CNN must of done a great marketing job to get you to watch it. And then you want to complain. My suggestion to you in the future is to CHANGE the channel.
Most of those complaining didn't watch it, that's the problem.
Seriously, nobody cares who is black. Nobody judges anyone on the color of their skin, it is the way the person presents themselves. I am so sick of seeing this black martyrdom crap on CNN. 98% of the black people reading this crap you call journalism, has never faced any sort of torment strictly because they were black. It was due to either their demeanor, actions, or lack or moral character...Which is how every other ethnicity is judged. Maybe if black people would stop acting like victims and living a pity party that only their grandparents have room to be at, they could be a happier race of people and we could all get on with our lives. Seriously, every kind of race or culture has been persecuted at some point. Get over it. It is the past.
It isn't in the past, it's very real. Did you watch the show? It was about colorism for the most part, which is mainly a black on black issue so I'm not sure why so many white people on here are so upset. Serioiusly, watch the show and then make a comment. Oh, and trust me when I tell you I was judged SOLELY on the color of my skin when I was a teenager. "Light, bright and damed near white" was not shouted at me because of my "demeanor, actions, or lack or moral character". You have no idea what you're talking about.
You would be surprised. I am white and live in a predominantly black community. I walk for exercise with a married black neighbor. The gossip that proceeds from this is astonishing, and we and his wife get a big kick out of it. As well, there is much conversation about people's children, who is lighter or darker, and much examination of photos to prove it. It's quite fascinating to me. Lighter-skinned members of the community are more favored, and darker-skinned people are more likely to be considered criminal or less desirable. It's weird to me, in this day and age, that such distinctions are made even among African-Americans. I obviously have much to learn.
What a stupid topic to promote racism
Only a racist or a stoopid would say that...
I though it promoted understanding.
"and we all make fun of each other and there's not a racist bone in our collective bodies."
Thank CNN and Hollywood for that...
Another USA media article dividing our country for profit. Look the other way!
This country is becoming less white. With the numbers of asians, indians, and hispanics growing and growing there will be less "white guilt' to play on as an excuse for generations of failure. In another decade or so, more and more generations of non-white, mostly poor immigrants will have come here, assimilated and will have achieved the american dream through hard work and persistence. Not sure what the race card will be worth to blacks then or if anyone will still care about what happened almost 200 years ago between whites and blacks.
Hard work and perseverance most always works. Unfortunately, neither of these words is part of the black community language or culture...
"neither of these words is part of the black community language or culture..."
and you celebrate it, and hope it will never change. It is called self-fulfilling prediction.
200 years or more ago is not the issue. It is the life people live today. Let's keep in mind that Many many people still living today are guilty not of racism 200 years ago, but within my Mother and Father's life time. They grew up in a Jim Crow South. Just because laws change, it does not mean that people's hearts change.
There is no such thing as Black Blood. The four Blood Group Types are A, B, AB, and O; along with their RH factor. Anything else is ludicrous. This is year 2012 C.E..
Why is Soledad so obsessed with black people? Every special she does on this Black this, Black that,
The real questions are: Why do you take the time to watch and reply? If you do REALLY watch, why don't you take the time to research and comment meaningfully on the issues she is raising?
I agree – it's like she's obsessed with this topic and no one else really cares. What's her deal?
She is the best qualified. CNN wants to bring light on different aspects of being black in this country.
This article is garbage.. Who does stupid articles like this.. like what does mean to be white... Still is for people not proud of who they are regardless of the complextion.. Go ask a dark skinned Spainaird.. there are so proud of there whiteness... Soleda O'brien. this is really stupid.. and igniting hatred amost are people.. highlight the young black men dying in chicago or do something good.. again stupid
You just offended millions of Blacks, 52 million Hispanics and then you wonder why your party is on its way to extinction...
Ramon,
You assume he is from a particular party because of his statements? Who is the bigot now? Wow...
and just how did he do that?
Can I be black?
We first need to see you dancing, and wearing shades like Will Smith in "Men in Black".
All stories like this do is stir the hate kettle, and CNN knows this.
It's not ok to be white anymore. We are supposed to be ashamed, have "white guilt," etc. If anything good happens for us, it's not because we earned it, it's "white privilege." When we try to just view people as people and ignore their race, we "don't get it." We can't open our mouths anymore without offending someone, and being labelled racist. The sins of others of our race transfer to us and it's our fault that they are oppressed. It's never going to end, no matter how hard we try to just co-exist as people. The chip on the shoulder is just to big. Many won't be satisfied until whites are treated as second-class citizens and forced into slavery, or financial reparations are made in which every white person in the country is stripped of all their assets and those assets are given to a black family. I know most black people don't feel like this, but enough do that racism will never truly be over.
Powerful show. I'm glad we are talking about it. Thank you Soledad, and CNN for airing it.
As long as we don't have 18 Hispanic senators (and similar number of Black Senators), this issue will not go away.
Same for all other elected positions: Representatives, Governors, etc.
Maybe the question is being asked about being black in america because of (a) change in immigration or (b) change in physiology of the population. More mixed race looking people not only in america, but globally. Possibly be an interesting topic for those who study etymology?????