Black in America

500 word blogger entry on your general thoughts about the CNN Special "Black in America." What struck you as important, surprising, depressing, hopeful? What did you learn?
The special report, “Black In America”, brought up the obvious points of the difficulties of one of being in one of the major subordinate groups in America, the obvious difficulties, such as being submitted to racism during job interviews, and by the police were discussed. As well as the unseen side of it, that black men were more likely to go to jail, that they were often told “You seem very articulate!”, as Whoopie Goldberg said, “School B¡†©#!!!”. The fact that media has come into play so much, showing rappers that are pimps and ballers, effects how everyone, even blacks, view the black community. If there is an educated black person, he/she is made fun of, called white, and people are surprised when they are articulate and educated. The media however isn’t the only thing playing a part, the black community itself, with an absence of father figures in most homes, and crack/cocaine appearing so early in a child’s life, people in that situation feel as though there is no other way out, they grow up expecting to be a part of that. If they cannot rap and cannot play basketball well enough, to make a life out of it, crime, prison and cosine gets involved in their lives. Many of the “successful” black men interviewed talked about how they were seen as “the black man” at work, the opinion they brought to the table was black, the music, the lifestyle everything. However, they said that with their friends they were “the white man” because they were educated with a “white mans job”. These kind of prejudices are the barriers that still hold back society from getting the jobs and getting out of the place many of them are in. There were staggering numbers of the number of young black men in jail, many of them there on cocaine, laws that were meant to help the black community have done nothing but set them back. Many young black men say the law is unfair to them and is incredibly prejudice, the point is arguable, but the numbers would be an asset in arguing that point. For many it takes a life of crime to realize what they want to, and can do. The preacher in the special had been in prison and now taught young black men that had been in prison as well, helped them find work, as well as being a preacher. The two brothers, raised in the same home, went completely different paths, one not realizing the error of his ways until being imprisoned. The entire CNN special was hard to swallow, and at points hard to believe, but showing America this isn’t going to change, that won’t come for quite some time.