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
Most of you have no clue what you're talking about. I woke up this am and decided I wanted to be a doctor. I prayed yo my white God and he granted it. I fell asleep with a old rusted car, the white club traded it out for a Porsche. Can you imagine not having all of this? Other white people will tell you the same, it's awesome to be white. Hey black people, would you like to learn about white history? We white people love your never ending story, I'm sure you'd be equally receptive to ours.
Anyhow, I want to thank all of the white people for making life perfect as a white guy. Sure, everything is my fault but I'm ok with that. It's not that you didn't study hard in school, it's that I held you back. It's not that you didn't have good work ethic, it's that I'm out to get you. I'd also like to thank my employer for handing me a job I'm not qualified for with a degree I didn't earn.
Lastly, I hope my white God will help me to remember that we're all equal... until it comes to employment and education, then I'm white and I get everything handed to me. Please help me to remember to be ever watchful of the black guy I'm suppose to be holding down. If he gets ahead, oh help us all. Please help me to understand we're all the same, until the black man needs something. If he doesn't get it remind me it's my fault.
Here's is what it means to be black in America – whatever shade. When I was in law school, our civil procedure professor offered extra after school tutorials. When I asked about these tutorials, he said... Oh nooooooooo these aren't for you. I honestly didn't get what he meant. Then it became apparent. These were BLACK ONLY tutorials to fill in the gaps for all of the black students who were not qualified for admission.. to help them get through. So, forgive me if when I see black a attorney I wonder if they were qualified to attend law school.
Helen.
I bet any black attorney could beat you in court.
And I bet you don't wonder that about Johnny Cochran.
The fact that you wanted to go to the tutorials just simply meant that you, like black people, need assistance-not because of your race but because of you need for a deeper understanding.
this is 100% true
umm helen true. joe not at all
Hey joe, why could any black person beat her in court? Seems a bit racist if you ask me.
I hope you feel the same way about manay white professionals who got their degrees because mom and dad were benefactors to the school but their kid was average. Of the white employee who got the job over others because his dad and one of the Execs dad played golf together. Not like the guy/gal was really qualified.
Don't want no black doctors either...they may have just been affirmatively acted through medical school.
When is CNN going to stop fanning the flames of racism?
It would be nice to stop seeing so many black on TV and in commercials, when the Hispanic population is larger than the black population and also there are Asians in this country too.
Thats impossible Brenda. According to TV Hispanics only exist on George Lopez. It's 45% black, 5% Hispanic and 50% white. Whats this "Asian" you speak of?
There are too many blacks on Tv and commercials. Commericials do not have Hispanic, Asians, who are Chinese or East Indians.
I'm guessing CNN will be doing a 'What does it Mean to be White' next? It's only fair.
It's racist to expect black people to take an interest in your history. It's racist to not take an interest in theirs. It's racist for me to even be typing this. Notice it's white letters on black keys? AH HA, even my key board is racist.
But when you post those white letters come through BLACK ON WHITE. UGH there I go being racist again.
nope. CNN only does things that are racially charged.
Are you white or black? I'm trying to figure out if you're the oppressor or the oppressed. Please don't be "mixed" whatever that is.
Whoa, it sure is different being black. After reading this, I have new profound insight into the lives of black people. I never knew. I'm white, and when I go to car dealerships they just toss me the keys and instruct me to never make a payment, all because I'm white. When I go to restaurants the entire staff feeds me grapes and plays the harp all because I'm white. I've never even made a mortgage payment. I mail it in but it returns to sender with a note saying ' you're white, no payment required.' I really never knew how tough it is to be black. Thank God for this story. A real eye opener.
i knew there would be loads of ignorant comments on this post ...LOL!!! Never surprises me...
Iknewit obviously isn't white. We get everything handed to us. It's the black mans problem to work, not the white mans problem.
Don't tell anyone but my great great great grandpa is black, and I'm super proud of it. I'm white by the way, just pointing out my pride in my great great great great grandpa is black. Not so much my white pride. That'd be racist!
Don't forget how we never get speeding tickets! Black people thing being white gets you out of them; that's a flat out joke.
Finally-A White person who gets it!
Who cares?
Stop being racist.
Everybody, stop all racism. That includes professional racists: leaders of the National Alliance, black preachers who can't stop preaching that slavery in America is sinful, Tea Party candidates who want to take America back, journalists who prosper by reporting their feelings about being black, Chinese convenience-store owners who greet me when I enter to shop alone but scowl when I walk in accompanied by a black person, and graduates of universities that were afraid not to give them a doctorate although they really failed their oral examinations.
Seriously, this article is racist and I'm tired of so called journalism such as this. Im tired of everything being called racism. If we are to be a color blind society then asking people what its like to be black is in itself demeaning racist. If I were black I would be offended at this. There is portion of the country that wants to keep fanning the flames of racism. That is how they keep their power and their holier than thou beliefs. To the people that thought that this article was a good idea, i say to you you have regressed and you should be ashamed.
Anyone with any black in them is black.
YES! my great great great great great great great grandpa knew a black guy, I'm black now too! YES. On one hand I now qualify for speeding tickets. On the other hand I can get into any college and get it paid for. YES!
Non whites imagine that blacks have all these perks in life like free college, easy enrollment standards, gauranteed job positions with water downed qualifications. Where does this alternate universe exist? I have been trying to find it all my life. Afirmative action is rife with loop holes so big you drive a bus through them. Most minority set asides go the white man thru his minority white wife. As a black man I have experienced last hired and first fired. I have seen whites with no college degrees go up the corporate ladder and supervise blacks with way more education, experience and better ideas. I have witnessed whites with poor credit get a better mortgage rates than blacks with a better credit score and savings. I have witnessed white priviledge first hand, but have yet to experience the perks that come with being black. I guess this world were blacks have advantages only exist in the delusional minds of Klansmen and conservatives.
Articles like these are used to gage public opinion on different subjects. When you respond with indifference or anger, you are just helping CNN do that. Nothing more, nothing less....please continue.
This is stupid!!! What the hell? I don't understand CNN sometimes, what....?????
Naota....who do you want to apologize? Those that committed the atrocities are dead. The special report is dealing with current situations in black america, not the past. There were atrociites commited by whites and those of indian descent as well.....
I'm Irish and a redhead, lets talk history and discrimination and shall we not forget stereotypes
What does that mean "acting white"? If that means acting like a responsible member of society and being kind and respectful towards your fellow human beings, I don't care if you call it "acting purple", just do more of it.....
Right. But its ok to sing songs about beating and abusing women, robbing and beating people to death. "RAP"
NICE CULTURE!
We're all one race. It's called the human race.
America is still the best country to live in. If you don't want to believe me travel around the world and you will see how good all of us have it go over here.
I agree whole heartedly. Forget being black in Americaa...how about being black in India. There is a group of African-Indians living deep in the jungle of India known as Siddis. They are believed to be descendants of slaves from E. Africa brought by the British. They live in abject poverty because of the color of their skin and are ranked as the low of the low in the Hindu caste system. Can someone in CNN highlight their plight?
please crawl back under your rock.....
Why did they interview 8 of the whitest black people I've ever seen?
America is a great country in many ways, but honestly we have problems with racism. Not every country has this problem, and when a group of people can get together, joke and laugh, date, love each other and have children together independent of what color or heritage they carry in their genes it's easier to see that we are all red on the inside. Visit Brazil and you'll see what I mean, there no one cares what color you are, the only things that matters is if you are a good person or not.
2011judgment, you are such a poser. No one believes you think this. Stop stirring up crap
I am only speaking the truth from my many years of observation. Yes, I do believe what I say.
Alot of people commenting here need to open your minds instead of complaining.Try and learn something for once in your life about another culture.
Looking over the comments here helps you get an idea as to where we are in this country when it comes to conversations about race. Those who have lived with less bigotry in their lives, or found their own way to move past it, don't see this as a big deal, which is great. That is the way it should be. Some of them express this by saying we shouldn't even be talking about this, or have to be talking about this, which is true. However, some of the people saying that are saying it because they're still not comfortable having this conversation, which is exactly why we still need to have it.
We all have to recognize and accept that there are still people, a lot of them in some places, fewer in others, who have difficulty reconciling their own thoughts and feelings about certain races or ethnicities. Probably moreso those of us who are older than those who are younger. Regardless, it's important to remember that to deny that the conversation is necessary or to advocate for not even having it is to deny some portions of our society the opportunity to progress with their own reconciliation. So be patient, folks. We are making progress but obviously still have a ways to go. This kind of change does not occur overnight.
Racism ... if you ran a article about Caucasians wear t-shirts that said TEAM WHITE .... there would be national outrage..
Exactly! The only race that is now discriminated against is "WHITE PEOPLE!"
Dont forget Indian people.
Frank, Give me some examples.
Yes, thank you. Believe me when I say I am not a racist. racism, in all its forms is evil. I strive for equality, but equality fir ALL races. That means that black people shouldn't get more than white people to achieve that equality. They should get the same.
I have a station on my television (maybe you have it too) called BET or Black Entertainment Television. Why is that OK but if somebody were to launch a TV station called WET or White Entertainment Television, that would be racist.
They are handing out college scholarships that are designed strictly for black people, somehow, that's OK. But is somebody were to fund a college scholarship hat was just for white people, that would be considered racist.
When a million black men march in Washington, DC, for some reason, that's OK but if a million white men were to march anywhere, that would be considered racist.
Where's the equality?
This preoccupation with race in the media is becoming ridiculous. Americans are Americans, that is the beauty of living in a free society. The sooner we stop being obsessed with how people look and become more concerned with our similarities and common goals the better. By constantly dwelling on "race" issues we are perpetuating the very thing we are trying to stop – racism. Time get off the race bating articles that perpetuate the media and get back to reporting more important things – like the news.
Why is it every year..CNN uses these stories to stir up controversy. They use Soledad Obrien to do these stories to bait people to discuss the story. CNN knows all well that Soledad has no affinity with the black community. Please CNN, quit running these nonsense stories. America has more important issues like poverty and health. This is the reason I quit reading and watching CNN for a long time.
Everyone is black. Who cares? CNN and it's obvious agenda makes me sick.
Fairy tales from you for sure!You must know know history very well.I am Choctow as well.
Soledad needs to get a hobby. This stuff is just getting annoying. How about we stop discriminating based on ANY race so we stop discriminating EVERY race?
Why is this matter so important to Soledad. Is she the one that is appropriate to cover this topic considering her background or is it that she no longer fit in to any new format at CNN. America is sick of these 69ish topic. EDUCATION....POVERTY....DRUGS.....
Sadly, this is Soledad's hobby. These are the ONLY stories she does when she is not cheerleading for Obama. Have you ever seen her absolute disdain for those who would dare to criticize or question Obama?
Naota, thank you for mentioning that. There was a time when the Irish were persecuted, which is why they all migrated north. Blacks were allowed to apply for jobs before the Irish. In Louisiana, the Irish were paid $1 a day to build the canals, because slave owners, who usually treated their slaves okay, didnt want their slaves hurt or killed by the dangerous work. While slavery was abhorable, many were treated well, how can you trust someone with your babies and treat them poorly. Many many were 'willed' land and property by their masters. Now again I dont condone slavery at all, but history is manipulated to make a point. Even well treated slaves ran away because it was about freedom, which every man deserves.
Although a "nicely"written article,it is the same as always.Written about the same people ,by the same people,all with the same story. Also the same in this article is the "chip on the shoulder" that always pops up.There is a very small percentage of blacks here today that are actual descendants of slaves compared to the amount that have emigrated here voluntarily over the centuries but that is a point that seems to always be left out.
Also,it would be very different,and overdue,to run a story on white in America.With all the minorities pushing their views on the white population,it would be a fresh point of view to actually listen to what whites have to say without being interrupted and immediately accused of racism.
it's hard to take such a viewpoint without a grain of sugar. every television channel offers a white viewpoint. every sitcom, every radio show, every movie. without media *specifically* advertising a minority point of view, virtually all media in this country would provide exactly the viewpoint you claim to long for. if you wanted it so badly, you'd easily find it in the largest media outlet in the world. lucky you...
@frustrated-right off the bat you don't like the idea of a white aricle about the same subject . Your clever at changing the subject into something else and claiming racism only allows blacks to express views in articles of this nature,what are you afraid of hearing ? that most whites aren't concerned about blacks ? does this bother you ?
it doesn't bother me. what bothers me is the false premise you built your argument from: that white Americans don't have a voice. white Americans have more than the lion's share of voice in this country. you could be on any number of mainstream websites (including this one, just not this article) reading the viewpoint you continue to claim to wish you could find... yet here you are on this article, angry that another racial group's voice is expressed on this one little sliver of website. my reply to you certainly was not a subject change. i directly addressed you and your content.
@frustrated-you keep making my point,thank you.Your arguement is only people of color should have articles like this,you "think"you know what white folks think without ever listening,such a shame.
I have never seen a website to dedicated to race bating. Get over it!
Race baiting? You sound like a Klassic Klansman. I am surprise and disappointed to see so many hateful statements by white people. The article was written to show a point a view, which you don't care to see. Please show me any law written and approved by our government used to oppress white people. Name me one! Throw your affirmative action defense in the trash because it has been written to give "Qualified" applicants a chance. Before this law it didn't matter how qualified a black person was they were not getting the job or acceptance to a school. I await your reply
For pete's sake MOVE ON!!! So, so tired of hearing about race issues. It's not an issue to anyone by the racists at CNN. We are all of mixed heritage and frankly no one cares. Find something news-worthy to print and stop using race as a way to keep your network afloat. And Soledad??? Accept yourself. Love yourself. Use your talent and skills to make the world a better place.
It's difficult to take sories like this serious. What's the intent ? Is it to inform the American public on exactly what it means to be black ? Are black people really that different ? Do they put their shoes on differently ? Have special powers ? I imagine being black is exactly like being white or asian. I imagine being black requires you to work and pay bills. I bet they use toothpaste to brush their teeth and wear short sleeved shirts in the summer. My point is that this crusade to inform the world about black people 24/7 is absurd. There's so many other races who almost never receive mention. Asian people could be the most underrated group of any. They kick everyone's behind academically, yet receive almost no attention. When's the last time you seen an asian person in a commercial ? Not often is my guess. Black people make up 13.5% of the population, yet somehow account for 45% of people on TV. No more guilt felt from my end. This country is doing back flips to propel black people. Far more than with any other group. Hands down. No group receives this much attention. Nor should they. I hope we can take a break from this all black love affair and acknowledge other races is all I'm saying.
I watch this show, rarely do I see any conservative blacks on here. Why? There are many conservative blacks Soledad, so how about some equal time
I wholeheartedly agree. I think Soledad needs to get a life. This topic is old and the story has been around for too long at CNN.
It's not about what's on the surface that matters, its about what's in our hearts and in our humanism. While I hate to give them this much credit, if the media focused more on the positive things that happen each and every day in our society instead of not allowing old wounds to heal, I think you would see a change for the better in our public psyche.
Who cares...CNN needs more positive news!
Come on CNN. This is the type of article I would have expected to see in the late 1960's. I'm sick of the labels. I think they should be eliminated from everything except medical records. Race doesn't play a factor unless someone brings it up. President Obama is not the first African-American president to me. He is the President of the United States. How can we be expected to raise our children not to see race as a factor when the media keeps bringing it into play? I don't want my son to come home from school and tell me he made a new black friend. I want him to tell me he made a new friend. If you can't come up with legitimate news, a blank space would be better.
Isn't White the same way? or Asian? What's special about Black???????????????????
Whites and Asians aren't pets for liberals.
That's the difference.
Liberals think of blacks and hispanics as pets who need "special help", and a large percentage of blacks and hispanics, apparently, are happy to be pets.
Right on again, Naota. Liberals think minorities are to dumb to take care of themselves, its insulting.
considering what conservatives have done to them for so long, maybe they did need a boost...
Tracy, this is for you. Why dont you do a little research. While the GOP could have a bigger tent and be sincere about it, the conservatives are the ones who fought to abolish slavery and to make sure blacks, not only could vote, but that they were voted for. So do some homework, dont just listen to the Liberal lies
Real dumb statement. You're obviously clueless as I'm liberal and black. You have no freaking clue about what others think.
Notice CNN still has this race baiting story still right on the the front page...as if this was the most important thing in the world
The same could be said for white. We're all considered Caucasian, yet there's all kinds of ethnic variants.
But, frankly, who cares? Since we're white, we're the oppressors and aren't worth considering.
Wow – I wish my grandparents KNEW they were oppressors when they came here from Italy in the early 1900's – instead of being called various vile names and being discriminated against, they could have had it easy.
I was amazed to hear that Italians were lynched in the south, and discriminated against. I had no idea. If we look into history , you will see that all groups of people have suffered some form of discrimination.. short people, gay people, dark people, light people, smart people, rich people, poor people, Native American People, White people,Jewish people, Christian People, Asian People, Women people, etc... Perhaps it is time to end all discrimination.
After actually seeing the show yesterday night.. It was actually very interesting to watch
I am trying to do some research of various race related organizations, and am having a hard time with some items, can someone direct me to where one would find white-only scholarships, white-only beauty contents, white-only youth groups, and white-only awards shows. Please no responses where the recipients happen to be predominantly white, I am looking for genuine white-only type rules.
When one examines how they act in Africa, you will see the exact same characteristics of the majority of Blacks in America. Extreme Wickedness.
Are you serious? Look at the history of our nation. Everything position of importance has been for whites only? Every CEO position, every elected official, every commanding officer in the military. Our own government drafted laws to keep black people from voting, owning property, getting an education. These black focused organizations and groups were created because of the maltreatment of black people in this country. Tell me about all the laws drafted to keep white people down. Sure we have come a long ways over the pasted 50 years(with the help of white and black people) but so much more is still needed.
Dear All, 'You had me laughing my head off! I am from South Africa where Apartheid is still palpable even though Mandela and many people are trying hard, I am black by way! The difficult thing is explaining to my Swiss kids that they are black and of African descend when their father is standing there white and the majority of the people around them are white and keep on asking them where they come from?
Like is funny! guys just relax, be glad you are human, alive, have friends family etc. etc.! life is great and we are lucky for many things today and there are still many people with nothing who are black or white or simply born in war torn place!
Enjoy!
You are either NOT looking hard enough or you aren't looking at all. There are tons of scholarships directed towards whites. Try using better resources.
Racism still exists because of articles like this.
If racism didn't exist, there wouldn't be articles like this.
No, racism still exists and articles like this are necessary dialog
No they aren't....when's the last time you saw something racist go down in public? The news doesn't count. Right...none.
I never bothered about anybody's "race" – welcomed all peoples into my home if their intentions were friendly. Seems that "race" is an issue kept alive by those who will profit from it... financially or emotionally.
It is good to see there are more like minded people. I too never determine friendship thru race. I believe the quote was "the content of a man's character not the color of his skin". The more important point is, that race is a distraction from the real problems we as human beings face today. Yes, the skin may have different hues but, the blood is still red!
God Gawd, enough already.....we don't want the Race Bait.
This article makes me scratch my head. Should there be an article on what it's like to be white in America? How about Hispanic? Asian? etc... How about an article about February being Black history month? So where is Asian history month? As long as people catagorize race there will aways be division similar to affirmative action. There is no need for affirmative action as I know many successful black doctors and lawyers who earned their way into school through hard work and dedication. I wonder what they would say if I asked them what they thought being black in America meant. They would most likely roll their eyes and ask me what being white in American meant. In which, I would roll my eyes.
The Black race is much different than all the other races of the world. They have an extreme wickedness that is in their DNA and is handed down from generation to generation. Though a very small amount of them will be decent human beings, the overwhelmingly majority of them are unfit to be in the same society as Decent People. If America is to turn around it's decline in the world, it should deport all Liberal and Criminal Blacks to Africa. Africa matches their culture perfectly.
Being black in America means when I deliver a pizza to them I don't get a tip. Just saying that is what all of us drivers have noticed.
get a better job. Doesn't sound like your future is too bright by your comment nor your career decision
He was just pointing out a truth about the majority of Blacks, the most predominately wicked race of people upon the earth. Most Blacks act like wild beasts, like they are not human. Many go about like wolves looking for easy prey among the Whites. It is good that more Whites have armed themselves over the past few years preparing for the day when there will be a serious confrontation between Whites and Blacks in America.
You never delivered a pizza to me.
Perhaps you should get a better job, Larry. Then you won't have to worry about that extra 7 bucks a night.
Trust me thats not true! I know many Black Africans and West Indians/Latin Americans that are Black and despises African Americans. At the University level one can see mostly Black Africans especially Ghanians, Nigerians, Ethiopians, Cameroons, and West Indians mostly Jamaicans at top colleges. If you see an "African American" their parents were foreigners, Military members or the Mulatto calling themselves Black(tragic Mulatto). PS- Swag?? Really??!!! Moron!
Why are the "journalists" and management at CNN so racist?
They are so obsessed with the color of people's skin, that it's practically all they talk about.
We are all people. It doesn't matter what color we are. It is a crying shame that media outlets like this one continue to "fan the flames" with articles like this, that work to divide. And everyone that I know is incredibly tired of Soledad O'Brien's one-side, single-focused "reporting." She needs to get a real job where she is compelled to cover real news stories.
Who cares what color you are, I don't. From my observation however, there are some Black's that still blame us for slavery. The thing is, I didn't do that, my grandparents did not do it and my great grandparents did not do it. I have felt racism in the workplace but I would not dare say anything cause I do not have the NAACP on my side. I wish we could all just get along..This article was needless. Let's move on to more serious topics. I don't owe anyone for what happened so many years ago.
I wonder if we will ever see a story on "What does it mean to be a Irish-French-German-Welsh-Native American mix in America?"
CNN is 100 % Liberal and will always play the Blackie Twisted View Of Life.
When Morgan Freeman was asked how to combat racism in America, he answered "stop talking about it. I don't say "here is my black friend. I say here is my friend. I don't say this is my white doctor. This is my doctor." The people who constantly bring up race are the racists. We all have different features, colors and shapes to our bodies that are not the same from person to person, and we can procreate and make viable offspring, so we are obviously the same species, so why do we concentrate on one aspect, skin color, to differentiate ourselves from each other? "Keep Racism Alive" seems to be CNN's new motto.
It's so shocking to see so many people on here say " get over it".
Hypothetically speaking, if someone murdered a family member of yours 20 years ago and they are getting out of jail in 10 years, should you be quick to get over the fact that he's not only getting out in a decade, but he killed a family member of yours? Would you just "get over it"? I don't think so. People need to stop pretending that this is such a curable experience to just "get over".
Yes, get over it. I'm not sure how you can put waiting for someone who murdered a loved one in the same context. I didn't murder anyone of any race, I didn't force anyone of any race to sit at the back of the bus, I didn't own any slaves of any race so yes I say, GET OVER IT.
I see many people with the same belief, if we as a civilization continue to talk about race it will continue to be a problem. Yes it's true there are still idiots that are racist but that is coming from all races unfortunatley not jjust towards being African American, unfortunate but true..
First off, Jim Crow wasn't about slaves. You guys love to use the "we didn't own slaves" argument while running from the Jim Crow era. And many blacks who experienced Jim Crow are alive today, along with the white birthers who oppressed them. So again, the have to "get over it?"
Who cares if u are black or white, only someone`s personality makes the differences.
Keeping the races divided is great for business in America...makes for easier marketing strategies focusing on race is easier than having to focus 250 million individuals. CNN is once again doing their part!
Why is it 'waiting moderation' ?
LOL. Such humorous ignorance!
Who cares? No really!?! Who cares what it means to be black? It seems that 9/10 television commercials feature blacks in key or lead roles, and society knows that approximately 5% of blacks buy brand products! So why feature blacks? Also, If Dr. MLK heard today's rapper lyrics, he would cover his ears and put his head between his knees. The majority of today's blacks are a disgrace to what Dr. King died for, and more problematic than productive. There was a time when black families were unified. But now, they're just divided.
It means a lot. But you have to know yourself and others, and be awake too. To be black means you will never get Justice in America, it means you will be put in jails and prisons for the same crime that a white man will get a warning. To be black means, you won't get the scholarships and stipends to study and you will be left behind, because your parents could not send you to schools with high fee and in susburbs etc., etc. I can keep counting but it will become too long for any reader and comentator!
If MLK is the man that we are led to believe, he would be mortified at what has happened in "black culture" over the past couple decades..... perhaps terrified would be a better word.
We are squinting and tilting our heads as we try to not-notice the openly racist stuff going on (such as this article) and the third world violence within the inner city (99.999% black on black) and the rejection of education and the vulgar abandonment / disrespect of their women and children..... and THEN the gall to focus on racism????
He is probably now thankful that he got out before this embarrassment began.
Mark, I'm crossing my fingers, too!
As someone who lives in a small Mississippi town race is still a dominate factor in any social, political, economic, etc. discussion. It is still the reality that so many people live in whether they want to see it or not. I disagree with Morgan Freeman: the only way to make the race card go away is to acknowledge our own prejudices, known and unknown, figure out why we have them, and then move on. Slavery and segregation were around for hundreds of years. We are only forty years out from desegregation in the South. No one has allowed accurate time to heal. In the South we still experience gross acts of racism on a regular basis, and it will not stop without open honest communication.
First I used to think: Aw forget about race, color, etc. Now, I feel -don't forget about your roots. It's a way to combat
the ignorant. Remember your Italian, Irish, Black, Asian, etc.roots and throw water on the stereotyping of anyone at the same time. But above all, use your detector to establish whether the person is a decent, trustworthy person of
character.
Sorry Mark! I already have enough ho ho hos up on the North Pole......
Again, this one drop rule that's been adopted by black Americans is similar to the rule nazis used to determine who was a Jew and who would be sent to concentration camps. Just stop it...and consider just being the best human being on earth...do no harm...help others...and make something of yourself. The color of one's skin should be inconsequential.
LOL. The ruke you speak of was adopted and enforced by white America.
It was a "white" rule from the Slavery days that was abolished.
It means your melanin level is different from some other humans. Now stop with the self-centered narcissism.
After decades of demanding different terms for your melanin level, there is some crazy person on this thread complaining about being called an African-American and "why you all call me that" when it comes down to the demands of those of the same melanin level demanding it.
I finally figured it out ! CNN isn't obsessed with race topics, it is just the inevitable result of hiring black 'journalists'.
You see the black journalists can write about nothing but race issues, so when they pitch their stories to CNN, CNN's hands are tied. As we all know a black person can never be fired, so CNN must keep them, and run their stories. In fact, they have to run their stories 'front and center' or else they would be accused of burying the stories by the black writers. So all this race crap is the result of making the mistake of hiring black writers, which now can not be undone.
Well, we do know that 70% of their children are born to unwed mohers, that over half of black men will be convited of a violent felony before their 21st birthday and we know that 98% of them blindly voted for Obama during the last election. None of this is a "culture" that I would be proud of.
Then you should thank whatever god you believe in for the fact that your ancestors weren't kidnapped and sold into slavery on another continent.
You realize that Africans sold the slaves to the people who brought them over...
Yes, that did take place. However, there is a part of the story you overlook. Most African slaves were sold into slavery by other Africans. The conditions in the interior meant that whites were limited to a thin coastal strip of West Africa. The slave trade was a horrible event. However, it could never have started without the support of African rulers, willing to sell others into slavery.
You do realize that it was the indigenous African's not Europeans, which initiated the kidnapping and selling of rival tribes into slavery? Europeans arrived on the continent of Africa to find the slave trade alive and kicking, a practice that continues in full swing on the continent of Africa to this day. In addition, the country of Liberia was founded by re-patriated freed African slaves from America, who had establishment their own country on their original contintent.
You're just being mean...I'm a white woman and I know that there's plenty to criticize on both sides of the barrier. It would be better to work at breaking down the barrier and judging people by their character rather than by the color of their skin.
Maybe if they stopped trying to be different from the rest of us and started to embrace being American and American values we would not have these race issues. You keep trying to stand out as different then stop complaining when you are treated different.
To say just forget racism does not make it go away. I served in the military for 26 years and retired and while it boast of equality it too has it challenges. So don't tell me just think of yourself as American and it will go away. Such naiveté is ignorant. This nation habors much hidden problems than many would like to admit.
So don't be so dismissive of how blacks or African Americans have to deal with being identified. The one drop rule was combed up by white colonialist or Anglo Americans to deliniate those who were white and those who were not or could be considered not as such. So know the 'true' history before saying it was a black initiative. It was not.
See, and I find it more important to be recognized as a Good Man, not a Black, White or Pink one.............
The flip side questions for me are: "What does it mean to be White in America when major news organizations are writing stories about what it means to be "non-White" and how do we expect to get past the color of ones skin when that seems to be the easiest, yet least important, question to ask"?
Easy, if you are white you are an raceist by CNN standards and hate brown people
another example of main stream media stirring the racial pot.
Who Really Gives a crap about this.......When its in there favor There White & when its in there favor there Black....
It's amazing how CNN has nothing else to discuss. Wow!
This is only going to matter as long as we keep talking about it. It honestly never occurs to me anymore that blacks are any different than whites (whatever each of those mean), truly aren't we all just humans? I admit growing up in the 60s skin color made things very different indeed. But we should be so past this.
I'm a woman. You are, or identify as, a man or a woman. There. Isn't that easy?
It's kind of hard to get over this when your family members who went through Jim Crow are still alive along with the "white Birthers".
They always talk about RACE because of Soledad O'Brien, she always pushes the card..............
Why not write an article about what it is to be an American in America.
They do that all the time. If you can't handle articles written about people different than you, don't read them.
Your comment might carry more weight if we had also read an article about being Asian in America, or Native in America. CNN has a racial focus on Black and to a lesser degree Hispanic readers. If they truly wanted to investigate race in America, they would cover all.
Why is it still necessary in America to write articles about Black or White? Is the writer going to balance this report with "What it means to be WHITE in America today?" As long as writers and groups keep talking about races by promoting divisiveness and racist leanings, things will never get better. Why couldn't the author write about a cross-section of races in America today and talk about what that means for each of them. Or just simply talk about Americans and stop talking about race. What would have happened if someone wrote an article EXACTLY like this one – EXCEPT about "What is it Like to Be WHITE in America Today?" They would be lambasted and probably have a bounty put on they by
the "New Black Panthers". The only way to put a stop to racism in this country is to STOP focusing on it and START focusing on what it means for ALL of us to be AMERICANS!
BTW, I am White, I am proud of the fact that one of my great-grandfathers was BLACK.
Morgan Freeman, a black man, said the way to end racism, is to stop talking about it.
I completely agree with this comment. Just for response sake I am a 46 year old caucasian male and have friends of different cultures. I am so tired of TV shows and headines of websites regarding certain colors. We are American and until we can identiufy as one we will never be united but separate. Morgan Freenman, I commend you sir for that comment. I look at my culture as an American not Caucasian. As Martin Luther King has stated we need to be a coorless society.
True. So true.
I watched the first 20 min or so of this show last night. I have to say the show is a waste of time. I'm not sure why in this day and age, race is still such an important topic. Everyone on that show is American, for crying out loud. They all contribute to society. All of the women on that show are absolutely beautiful, regardless of the percentage of blackness in their blood. This kind of show examining race would never be aired in Canada or even considered for production. We're also a nation of immigrants but we're not obsessed with race to the same degree as Americans. I recall seeing a similar program on CNN also hosted by Soledad O'Brien not long ago. I'm familiar with the civil rights movement and the Jim Crow era but still we need to move on! CNN has got to move on. Poor Soledad needs new assignments.
You speak of how unnecessary this topic is in todays world. Yet unbeknowst to you or maybe in that you reside in Canada, here in America we still encounter behavior and treatment that divide the races or at least set the tone for such. One point of fact, the present presidential administration, has encoutnered more disrespect that ever before.
Shall we dismiss this behavior to happenstance, not at all. It is a concerted effort by those that habor racial discord to perpetuate this divide. So while you state you see no need for this discussion, the environment clearly demonstrate that racism is alive and well.
HMM. CNN You post a list of negative sterotypical attributes of blacks, but cut a similar list of attributes of whites?
Beautiful! Personally, I know many successful and awesome black people However, we have a ways to go. When one black person commits a crime it affects 1/4 black, 1/2 black and everyone! "God' Bless you 1000 times. I am very sensitive an can feel people when they write.
The biggest unspoken problem for everybody is that whole great big segments of the population CARE about race and whole great big segments of the population DON'T CARE about race!
Baby Boomers care too much about it.
Yes, your Almighty White Highness! Not!!!!!!
Cnn, moving the civil rights movement back 5000 years... You're really going to being the "high yellow" argument back? REALLY?
Why is CNN hung up on this color thing?
for the same reason they are hung up on the gay thing... which i don't know what exactly the reason is... ever notice how seemingly every other day there is a story about gays?
Because when they write about the "color thing", they get a million replies and people reading the story – why do you think they write about anything?
...because people like you are so ignorant about...all while pretending that racism does not exists...when it clearly does...
James Bartlett: White privilege means the freedom not to have to address race"
Tell that to the Serbs and other eastern Europeans who spent 500 years under Turkish occupation and slavery. For those of you who don't know that is longer then the existence of the United States.
I have been studying history with Professor Jeremey Adelman from Princeton University through Coursera. We had a lecture and discussed the history of the Serbians and the Turks. Racism and culturism is brutal worldwide and most often affects the "other" those people of color or culture that is not the dominate culture.
well actually.. the US government defines the skin color....so why not ask white folks how it is to be white in a color blind America... anyone watch this lady in the morning>????
AmeriKKKa will never be color blind...
How about some stories about very short people? "Midgets in America." Get on your knees the next time you are in an elevator. Notice how different it smells? Everywhere I go people tower over me and stare. But will CNN give us a chance to tell our stories? No. It's always about color and never about size.
hey. i refrain from passing gas when in the presence of vertically challenged people.
I agree. The very, very short people have it tough. We never get starring roles, never get the hot girl in the movies, never really get a chance. Once in a while, some singer like Kid Rock will adopt us as a BFF. Why couldn't Dorothy or the Lion or Tin Man be a midget? They had to specially categorize us as "The Lollipop Guild."
obama had the chanch to stop a lot of this by saying he was mixed and let it go at that . he put human race back 20 years by saying he was black . if are leaders are going to continue to keep race a issue then it will never stop the goverment is very happy keeping us humans fighting with ea other.
Sober up before posting next time.
No moron, under the one drop rule, that your ancestors came up with made him black. By the way he said he checked black because that is what he look like and how he is treated!
Who cares who's black in America. It's about as irrelevant as being Jewish in America or White in America or Hispanic in America. Being black is about as special as being White – NOT AT ALL. Why bring up race if nobody seems to care about it anymore?
Clearly it isn't irrelevant, or nobody would be posting comments.
A statement like that can only come from white in america.
Of course it did...couldn't come from any place else...
No one cares about race anymore? Wake up!
Does CNN report news anymore?
What's with CNN..I look at this site rarely, but every time I do..it's always blacks. Give it a break CNN.
I visit this site frequently, and you are wrong.
This country would be a much better place if we all identified ourselves as one thing (rather than by our skin color, religion, heritage, or country of origin), Americans.
We Americans are so fortunate to be as diverse and intelligent and beautiful as we are. To see these new generations of people breaking down the rigid boundaries and pigeonholes; to be free to explore and accept one's own unique appearance and heritage; to celebrate every culture, color, background and nationality that composes oneself - that is a blessing. Our country is more vigorous and stronger and just more fun when everyone accepts who they are. Whatever color or shade we happen to be, that is perfect and just as it should be. I'm 65 and grew up in a white midwestern community where people were judged and limited and misinformed. I'm so glad my family moved to California and my horizons expanded profoundly. Prejudice and bigotry and self-rejection really will become just a bad memory as the years go by.
gross
I am sorry that you feel that way about yorself, Mike.
I don't know why, maybe its because im indian descent myself but I find the last girl of part indian descent to be incredibly attractive..
Why are the "Whites" (75% of Americans) so threatened by the "Blacks (only 12%)?
ALL humans came from Africa, either sooner or later...
Non-Hispanic whites were 63.7% of the population in the 2010 Census. The 72% number includes Hispanics (chiefly Mexicans) who check the white box because of possible European ancestry. The people everyone mainly thinks of as "white" were about 63.7% in 2010.
What opened up my eyes to embrace my 1/4 black side was the Dominican Republic. I have seen videos on youtube where the Dominican people look "black" according to the United States standards. I have seen the self hate of not wanting to claim their black heritage. They had videos making fum of African-Americans. They "fully" embraced their "Spain" heritage, "Their Masters." It looked ridiculous and embarrassing. But I can understand that it is a heritage. But somehow Americans can not understand that. They see color & features. I too have been conditioned that way. It is just life!
Still does not explains why whites are so threatened and concerned about Blacks, who are only 12+% of the population.
CNN runs this report, but look at all the white people at CNN. They need to hire some more people of colour. Im tired of looking at the same white folks pretending to be impartial to all races
Why can't we just understand that people should be hired because they are the best person for the job. To hell with where my ancestors are from.
Because they commit 60% of the crime.
Brownie: The only time I ever felt threatened by Blacks is when I was threatened. Same as I would feel if I were being threatened by anyone. I lived in California and NYC and Never felt threatened. However when I moved to Savannah (a really beautiful place) for a couple of years, there were times I was spit at, and gun shots were whizzing past my house fairly often. People would walk by and say, in less than friendly tones, "White people living in our houses." Those were the only times I felt a little threatened. Most Blacks were warm and friendly, especially after I became known and respected in the community, but, for a White person to move into a predominately Black neighborhood, in the South, it can be a bit challenging at first!
I'm jumping in with the majority responses. I'm sick of CNN's articles about black people. How can we even dream of a color-blind socoety if liberal media like CNN keeps pounding in at our differences? It's because it gives them, CNN, et al, more power to keep us divided to provide opportunities for articles like this, and to feel good patronizing minorities who apparently can't possibly achieve without the likes of CNN supporting them..
Sembene McFarland is beautiful, I hope she knows that.
God does some incredible things!!
This article, and the one I read just like it every three months, makes me want to puke. I am so sick of articles like this that make blacks look like perpetual victims on planet earth and in existence itself! Get over the slavery issue. Blacks aren't the only race to be slaves in history. The crying, the misguided anger, and pulling your hair out over something no one alive today had a flipping thing to do with is stupidty. More of it. If you need a lifecoach or someone to pat you on the back constantly to remind you your color is beautiful, or if you simply want my sympathy for being black go see a psycologist because you won't be getting any of those from me.
You are so STUPID, it is about more than just slavery, how about Jim Crow and modern racial hatred...in the mean time...TRY TELLING JEWS TO GET OVER THE HOLOCAUST!!!!!
ask Rahsaan Roland Kirk what it means...
Didn't Martin Luther King Jr. fight so that we would no longer see each other by color? I'm so tired of people being categorized by race. There is only one race and that is the human race. When do we start judging each other on content of character instead of color of skin? And by the way, I've never seen anyone that is "black" or "white" or "yellow" or "red." We're all just different shades of tan. Every time I fill out forms that ask the race question it makes my blood boil. What they really want to know is, "what color is your skin?" And really, what does it matter? I've started to refuse to answer that insignificant question, even on the census.
unfortunatley this is something that will not change in our lifetime. People are racist. end of story.
My first question is: When are black people ever going to get past their mental enslavement (now over 200 years ago), and the severe prejudice against them now several decades old? When are the black people ever going to stop playing the race card? When are the black people ever going to join the greater society? When are the black people ever going to stop wallowing in self-pity? When are the black people ever going to stop comprising 70 percent or more of the prison population? When are the black people ever going to stop comprising the majority of welfare recipients and food stamp recipients? When are the black people ever going to rise above being the lowest in education test scores? When are the black people ever going rise above having 70 percent or more of their children out of wedlock? Why is it that many poverty-stricken foreigners come to America and succeed in a generation or so, while most black people remain in abject poverty? Other than being criminals, rappers, or athletes, do black people ever think they can become successful in America?
Blacks will stop all of that when the whites stop blaming Blacks, liberals, Jews, The media, The liberal media, The Jew media, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Affirmative Action for all of their problems.
Name*Robert,
Oh shut up.
Speak the truth!!!!!
There are a lot of hateful people in America. I live in a very liberal city and I do not look like a typical black person. I worked for a very successful company and was laid off in 2008. I then immedialtely got a Temp job at a well known Fire Credit Union. There was this Palestian girl who was also a Temp and tried to tell me I was not black when I told her I was 1/4. Long story short I was doing very well with the company. There were no black people in sight except for the customers. This Muslim glirl told the white boss I was Native American in which I am half. When I was passed up for the Job I told her I was black. She look horrified and said she thought I was Native. This was my 2nd real taste of discrimination, She showed me pictures of her black boyfriend of 20 years and told me not to tell anyone. People that say that have a black friend are the most racist. She let me go after a month. I am now happier.
Most people will state you are being a racist (or a "Konservative" (like how they spelled it with a "k" show how ignorant they are) but as long as CNN wants to open this door to 'What is being Black in America', your comments are valid. Statistics don't lie. What's say you Soledad? I think the media likes to prolong this color debate which is all fabricated in my opinion. Frankly, I've live in Europe and done some work in Asia, the US is so much further than anywhere else in the world on equality it's amazing we still discuss it. That's why I think its a sham from the media and those who continue to blame their social inequalities on the "Konservatives", what a croc.
Seriously? Black enslavement was less than 150 years ago not 200 , you seem to give most of your facts as 70% are you making that up? (70% of prison population, 70% of children out of wedlock) You seem like an ignorant mis-informed racist to me. You said, other than criminals, atheletes or rappers do you think black people will ever be succesful in this country? You mean like becoming PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? As a white person, I completely disagree with and condemn your statement sir!
Gotta let everyone know you're white so you can lift that burden off your shoulders.
Maybe you should learn how to count before posting. The Civil War ended in 1865, less than two hundred years ago.
Those poverty-stricken foreigners, as you describe them, weren't ripped from the homes and sold into slavery.
My first reply is...didn't Black people die fighting for this country and the ones who survived came home to racism......Didn't Rosa Parks stay in her seat? Didn't Barack Obama get elected...excuse me re-elected.....didn't Africans perfect land cultivation which is why The Europeans chose African........didn't a black man invent the street light......issn't Egypt in the Bible...shall I go on....I know this wont change your mind or shut u up.....its for others to read...God Bless
Who really cares about race anymore? The media is the no:1 culprit in stirring up racism in this country.
You post here and you ask "Who cares about race?". Have you actually looked at the other posts?