Foolish Negro Millennial part 1

OK, CNN. You got me. I must admit that I have been bamboozled. You're a sly fox, you news network. You are clever, and you have proven an old myth to carry some weight: Put something bright and shiny in front of the Black person, and they'll follow it. CNN, you're genius in an idiot box.

Here I was thinking that "Black in America" was going to shed some light on parts of the African American experience that are often omitted from the news, special reports, Hollywood, etc. Like the Negro Millennial fool I am with an abundance of youthful optimism fighting to still keep hope alive, I thought you might do right by me, Black people and America, but you fell short CNN. And in my moment of vulnerability, I was positioned to be wiser, and now I know that I didn't need to watch the first night of that special, and I definitely will not be watching the second. No one did, and nobody should. It's just going to get worse.

CNN's Black in America was a "NO" all around.

No mention at all of Black Muslims or Negroes of a faith outside Christianity or perhaps without a practicing faith at all.

No commentary on the experience of many immigrants to this country who are third, fourth and fifth generation and very much a part of Black America (although I expected as much).

No serious look at the lives and legacy of Black middle-class people.

No good news.

No hope.

No chance.

No pride.

Perhaps I have not completely slept off my disappointment. Maybe because I had such great expectations that my frustration is inflated. This could be true... However, the feelings are real, and I am shocked that when I tuned into the Steve Harvey show on the radio this morning that people were calling in applauding CNN for its "awesome" "wonderful" "marvelous" presentation. Was I watching a different show?

Did no one else see the grim facts about Black health followed by McDonald's commercials? And while the quality of life, like many Black people, remains poor, let us not forget the Geico sponsorship and advertisements for life insurance where rates are higher for Black people. (My favorite commercial was the one for legalzoom.com. Negro, if you want to get a will, you'd better call a lawyer!)

Along with watching the advertisements, I have been looking forward to seeing who would emerge from this as the star. I knew it wouldn't be Black people. I presumed CNN would be the star, but I was not expecting Roland Fryer to be the golden child.

Roland Fryer is a story of success. Overcoming adversity and rising from unfortunate situations to a place of power and privilege as a professor of economics at Harvard, Roland's early life could be summed up with a rhetorical Old Testament question: "Can these dry bones live?" And yes... they can. They do. And from the ashes we rise, and Roland rose. Roland Fryer is a successful.... economist. (Not an educator or physical scientist. Economy is a social science.)

Negroes and non-Negroes alike, do not be confused. I think the controversial theories Roland is testing out with low-income and Black people make for interesting conversation and important discussion. I don't particularly agree with his treatment of students as his personal social science petrie dish, nor do I think students should be paid for good grades, but hey... He had an idea; he got some resources; he's trying to solve a problem. I cannot knock him. I just don't agree with him. The excuse that "these kids don't know what success looks like" is weak for this reason alone: While economic empowerment is critical to the continued success of people in America, success is not synonymous with acquisition of wealth, and if I have to pay you to be a successful person, then we have already failed and continue to operate - dangerously - in a flawed system with rose-colored glasses over self-righteous eyes. And no one thinks he is more right about this, then Roland. Furthermore, if a theme throughout the show was that Black people do not have money nor immediate access to money, then relying on it is not going to help our plight, now is it? WE are our greatest resource, but rather than learn how to trust one another and make individual sacrifices to create a collective community of support, Roland is focused on how to pay students for good grades. He's not alone. And his ideas come out of his experience - his abnormal, dysfunctional, unfortunate experience.

Now why CNN chose to omit Jabali Sawicki from the "Black in America" special after bringing him on for "Reclaiming the Dream" is beyond me. Those two should be brought to the forefront of national attention together on this education reform issue, and I think the work being done at the Excellence Charter School in Brooklyn is so much more interesting and positioned for greater long-term success than Roland's school of soft rocks.

And because I've already posted about Black women and dating outside Black communities, I will not repeat; however, does anyone else feel as if CNN basically instructed the phenomenal resource that Black educated, successful, hard working women are to make every effort to partner outside the race? I mean, the show basically followed this logic:

If you are a Black woman who has somehow miraculously transcended the almost inevitable hot mess of a life most Black people are destined to endure, you had better do us all a favor and mate with someone outside your race to end the vicious cycle. To assist you in your decision to take our advice, allow us to point out how few choices you have within your own community for a suitable mate. Speaking of mate, have you considered the penitentary penpal program? We'll tell you more about that tomorrow when CNN tells you all about Black men. Oh, but let us not forget that if you'd prefer to have a Black man, they are available for the position of "baby daddy."

And there it is. Who was the overwhelming audience for this program? Educated, single, concerned Black women.

CNN, you just lost one.

However, I cannot leave on a sour note. It is clearer now than ever before that we have to be the agents of our own storytelling. We can't leave this important task to CNN, mainstream media, textbooks, white people the government. It won't get done, and if it is done, it won't be done well.

New Millennium Negroes it is on us! We can make this happen because of all the resources we have. The revolution may not be televised, but it can be uploaded. Post your story on YouTube. Post your story to a blog.

And perhaps it's my characteristic millennial optimism that has me feeling so foolish because I really believed and I still believe that we can fix this. Even though I know the statistics and see the disparities, I just feel it in my heart that we are broken, but not unfixable...

If the reality was what was presented last night, then we'd be dead. There has to be something keeping us alive, and I just don't think we've tapped into that thing... that very Blackness in America... in a way that is constructive and restorative.

Will I grow out of this feeling?