 I’ve seen it all now. Black folks talking about the state of the Black nation in the Corporate media. If I hear “personal responsibility” one more time I’m liable to go postal on that ass. So when predatory lenders go after Black first time homeowners trying to grab their little piece of the American pie, who will call out mortgage bankers on their personal responsibility, i.e. stop being so damn greedy. Every facet of American life is still stained with racism, from inconsistent health care, disproportionate incarceration rates, failing public schools, etc. Oh but “Black folks, look within and stop whining and walk in the light of the American Dream,” is all we seem to be hearing these days. I’m all for self reflection, but CNN is not forum for that. If CNN can call us out on our lack of personal responsibility, then they should equally call white folks out on their white priviledge and ingrained racism. Couple of ideas for CNN’s next forum:
 1. Hold a forum for the financial community and ask them how they, in their professional opinions, contributed to the economy to going down the drain because of subprime loans that unfairly targeted Black home buyers and home owners.
2. Hold a forum for healthcare professionals to explain the article that came out recently that reveals the disparity in deaths from cancer between Black and whites in the same urban centers.
3. Hold a forum for the education and law enforcement communities discussing an end to the Cradle to Prision pipeline. How about that?
But that would be too much like right. Didn’t Dr. King say racism is a disease that afflicts us all? Black folks for a false sense of inferiority and white folks for a false sense of superiority. There always comes a time when white folks in the media think they know us and racism seems like a distant memory (usually after a creative breakthrough on our part, like jazz, Motown or this time, hip hop). They think they get us now and it’s all good. The last time I remember it was just before the Rodney King verdict and the Rebellion that followed. Didn’t hear a peep about racism in the media until Chuck D and KRS and NWA strong armed the mic. (Note to self: Re-read James Baldwin “The Fire Next Time”) And I just love the promos, “after watching this America will know what it’s like to be Black in America.” We will explain 400 years of Black suffering and struggling and overcoming in two hours.
And what happened to Umoja? Essence, if you are going to bring advertising dollars to a network so that white America can try and fill in the blanks that hip-hop left, at least do it on BET. Essence and the Black thinkers that contributed their time to the program, I ain’t mad at you. You tried to bring light to our issues, and add a nice little entry to your personal bios and resumes, and clock dollars at the same time. But we are in a precarious time right now y’all. We’re being told that racism is all in the past and if we talk about it we’re living in the past. Eight years of Bush did shift the boogyman focus from us to the “terrorists.” But all that shit can shift right back on a dime.
Trust.