A Rock is Missing Two Johns

For the past two nights, I have watched the Black in America Series on CNN. I was not surprised by the content. But I was significantly disappointed by the way it was presented and what it reported.

I could go into the whole thing about how I think black women got played. The overarching theme about black women ither promiscuous baby making machines or hard- driving-ball-busting career women. Nothing about income disparity in earnings between black women in the workplace and male counterparts either white or black and how that disparity effect largely female head-of-household families. And what about the great gloss-over of the effects of misogynistic images of black women and how that effects our relationships with men and our view of ourselves (which has a lot to do with why so many young black women choose to have children--often without a pot to piss in)? And don't tell me that 8 seconds last night counts as any sorts of coverage.

And most importantly nothing about what the lack of a father in a woman's life does to her. As usual, the lack of a father is most prevalently identified with black manhood.

But like I said. I'm not going there.

My biggest issue is with that Cosby Show has-been dude John Phillips. WTF?? His simplistic, pedestrian analysis that "they shouldn't sell crack", "they should go to school because that is how you achieve.", and lastly his attempt to lambaste Spike Lee regarding Lee's statements about Hollywood studio level racism when it comes to funding black films(even though the fact that the studios set a benchmark of $100mm and he blew it out the water more than once--he's still got his hat in has hand for most projects) just reiterated the dumb simplistic shit people say about the pervasive nature of poverty and discrimination.

It's easy to say all that shit if you have role models who "show you" the value of an education at work or who demonstrate to you that dreaming and achieving is possible. "Keep Hope Alive" slogans are not enough. If you were raised in a family or a neighborhood where education is not valued, and most folks are standing on the corner and succeed at not following in those footsteps--you are an exception not the rule.

And then their is this man--with his black people have no work ethic and aren't smart enough to learn. Guess that whole white kids and black kids are educationally on par till 4th grade missed him.