Hey CNN, Is being black really that bad?

I watched Black America: Reclaiming the Dream on CNN last night. After the show was off I asked my husband, "is being black that bad?"

It was a rhetorical question. As a black woman I know there are inequities in America, but I also know all problems cannot be attributed to one's race. This year Black America is excited about the candidacy of Barack Obama, but according to the show more white people than black people believe America is ready for a black president. What does this say about the black community?

The irony in the show's title is the phrase "reclaiming the dream." Some black people never embraced the dream so how can you reclaim what you never had? Another startling statistic was 7 out of 10 black children are born out of wedlock. This means 7 out of 10 children are being raised by the mother.

The host of the show Soledad O'Brien said she talks to so many black women who said they can do it all, but she went on to say she could do it all but she "does not want to." The sadness in this is the single-parent home has become the new norm.

They also talked about how back in the day the neighborhoods were an extension of family and if one adult saw you acting up they had the authority to correct you, but that sense of community is gone forever.

My heart broke when I heard an educator talking about how he had come up with a plan to encourage black children to get good grades, and that was to pay them. We were taught the long-term value of an education. We saw education as a means to the good life and we got the good grades because we knew a good education was a means to that end. Now we have to bribe our children to get an education. This is so sad.

Forty years ago the Kerner Report talked about how there were two Americas: a black one and a white one. In listening to the show one comes away with the thought that America is even more segmented than that. There are also two Black Americas: a have and a have not. There is a chasm that has developed between those that have made it and those that have not, and the ones that have made it are not looking back.

This last thing discussed was leadership, or the lack of leadership, in the community. This is the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's death. He was that leader but he lead Black America when we were seeking basic human rights. In 2008 we have the right to eat at the lunch counter, drink out of the water fountain and vote. In King's Day the enemy was Jim Crow, but now we need to look in a mirror and see the only person stopping us from reclaiming or claiming the dream is looking back at us.   

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