The Symptoms or the Disease

By Vernon C. Mitchell, Jr.

It's easy to blame the messenger. When it came to CNN's Black In America this was no exception. Correspondent Soledad O'Brien received her fair share of shame and blame for how the documentary turned out. She was the most visible symbol, the most accessible face and the easiest target. But did she deserve it?

I was recently asked if Soledad O’Brien wasn’t the host of the documentary would I still be upset about the airing of the show? My answer to that is an emphatic “YES”!!! O’Brien is but a pawn in a larger game by the so called “left-leaning” media corps that will defend this documentary. They will claim that Black in America 2 and its previous installment show the diversity of this nation, while I see it as an attempt at getting ratings at the expense of the African Americans.

The issues brought up in the first series start off from a good place -- the legacy of slavery, where and how families benefited directly or indirectly. But veers off track when it suddenly goes into a myriad of biographical vignettes that do more to create a “black problem” instead of an American problem.

The documentary is akin to BET's infamous “Hip-Hop vs. America” round table discussion last year where the notion was tossed around that my generation’s music, hip hop, was denigrating our culture and values. Nevermind that the alleged culture and values of the nation have already been denigrated and the music is simply a reflection, if not highlighting, larger societal woes.

Both documentaries took the simple, lazy, and narrow view of a greater and much more complex issue. By focusing on the symptoms (raunchy lyrics, misogyny, or out-of-wedlock pregnancies) rather than the disease (lack of jobs and education opportunities for African Americans), you end up with stew of amalgamated sophisms about something much deeper.

If CNN wanted to exercise parity in its examination of the black experience it should air another series called “White in America” and have it hosted by Tim Wise. It should demonstrate and explain the legacy of white privilege in this nation that so many black, white, or otherwise want to forget exists. It is part of the American story that would help to facilitate real political discourse and not create this notion of African American victimhood or social pathology. The reality is that African Americans, like any other facet of the American republic is anything but a monolith. We all think and act differently but we share a common thread of oppression, rooted in the historical construction of race, no matter how much money you may have. The media would have you to think otherwise.

So I suggest that CNN, MSNBC, or CBS…hell, any of the so called “liberal” media get Mike Wallace along with Lester Holt to host a series named after the Gunnar Mydral study, “American Dilemma”. Only this time do not just focus on the “Negro Question” but look at how race has functioned to not only retard the development of the nation, but actively been used to hinder the republic’s progress.

I have no issue with media asking hard-hitting questions or trying to seek ‘truth,’ that is what they should do. However to what end are they asking the questions? Will CNN or the Keith Obermanns of the world begin to inquire about how public policy effects certain areas adversely and not others? Will we get even our beloved Roland Martin or the ever-critical (and problematic) Tavis Smiley to set up forums to seek solutions to our systemic problems or just point to the social ills with no solutions?

The real question is how will each of us use this program to be not merely reactive but proactive and not succumb to the whimsical social labels created by media programs that only focus on the so called “Negro Problem?”

I think the true patriot Frederick Douglass answered this question best. “There is no negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have loyalty enough, honor enough, and patriotism enough to live up to their own constitution.”