It struck a nerve.
Got under the skin of blacks, whites, and others.
Since Sunday evening, when Soledad O’Brien’s fifth installment of Black in America aired on CNN, many have asked, “Does it matter who is black in America?”
Of course, proponents of the “I’m HUMAN” brand, and the “I don’t see color” camp showed up in full force following the documentary.
Several have insisted that people like Soledad pick at the scab of racism and won’t let us heal. That she and others are responsible for keeping racism and colorism alive because they won’t stop talking about it.
Other complaints included “I’m not represented,” or “This documentary doesn’t run the gamut of all black experiences.”
But I have another way to look at Soledad’s “Black in America” series in general, and more specifically at “Who is Black in America?” because it covers colorism, which has been a large focus of my writing since I began blogging in 2011.
Race may be something we’ve created, but created things are real.
Because they have real consequences.
Socially constructed or not, race was real when used to determine a person’s status as a slave. Socially constructed or not, race was real when used to determine who had the right to legally marry. Socially constructed or not, race was real when used to determine where you could sit, what water fountain you could drink from, and which door you had to enter.
When our social construct of race leads to bullying, physical violence and murder, economic disparities, educational disparities, and psychological pain, it becomes tangible, more than just a myth.
Unfortunately, the institution of racism that’s existed in this land for centuries is still reflected in our lived experiences, whether it’s residual, such as the economic and educational disparities between races, or whether it’s blatant acts of hate, such as bullying or murder.
Race is our Frankenstein. We’ve created it, so now we have to deal with it. I’m glad Soledad has the courage to confront this monster that so many want to run from.
Being “color blind” is not honorable.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with difference. The problem is allowing differences to divide us.
We don’t want homogeneity. We don’t want to be clones of each other, no more than we want flowers to all look the same.
The key is to recognize the beauty in our differences. God created us all unique in some way, not to segregate, but to celebrate. It’s human nature to recognize patterns, similarities, and differences, not just among people, but amid all elements of creation.
Yes, the entire world has a history and way of using differences to establish hierarchies or castes to gain power and privilege, and to oppress others. That’s the evil of the world.
But we don’t have to deny ourselves the blessing of beautiful colors. We need to create societies that accommodate, appreciate, and celebrate differences, not try to neutralize them.
Insisting on “color blindness” actually has an opposite effect. It results in making skin color differences taboo.
If what you really mean is that you don’t show differential treatment based on skin color, then say that. But don’t pretend you can’t see skin color.
Talking about race and colorism is part of the solution, not the problem.
On Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, Michaela Angela Davis said,
Soledad, you’re in the solution.
On the Google+ Hangout with ESSENCE, Perry “Vision” DiVirgilio used an analogy that I like:
If you have an open wound on your arm, and you don’t treat it, it’s not going to go away. It’s going to stay there and fester.
Because I’ve already written about why I kept silent for so long and why I’m not any longer, I won’t go into great detail here.
I will simply ask, when has not talking about a social problem, ever helped people solve it? Would the Holocaust have ended if everyone in the world had just stopped talking about it? Would Apartheid have ended if everyone had just stopped talking about it? Would slavery in American have ended if everyone had merely stopped talking about it? Would women have gotten the right to vote if people stopped talking about it?
No.
Racism and it’s offspring, colorism, will not disappear because people go silent about it. People consistently bring about change in this world by first speaking up, and then taking action.
Consider what happens when you try to put a lid on a boiling pot.
One documentary cannot encompass everything.
It’s not fair to require one blog post, one article, one movie, one documentary, one book, one school, or one person to be the ultimate and final answer to all the world’s problems.
When I began blogging about colorism, I received similar criticism as Soledad did for her documentaries. People wanted to dictate what I should be writing about.
I say, if you don’t see what you want to see, go somewhere else and find it, or create it yourself.
We need all hands on deck. Soledad can’t do it alone. Yaba can’t do it alone. Vision can’t do it alone.
Plus, the documentary is a series. That means what you haven’t seen in the first five episodes, might show up in the sixth, seventh, or eighth. And the documentary is less than an hour long (if you consider commercial time). Let’s be logical about that.
“Who is Black in America?” merely opens the door a little more.
The bottom line is that I’m overjoyed that the issue of colorism has a national stage in mainstream media for the first time ever. In an earlier post on the media, I explained that the media covers weight issues, bullying, violence, interracial discrimination, single mothers, rape, and a host of other painful issues, but has never discussed colorism on such a prominent platform.
It’s been talked about, no doubt, but never in a forum so big as this.
I know the documentary barely scratched the surface of colorism, but it’s fueled the discussion like nothing ever before. Because of that, I applaud this segment of Black in America, and personally view it as success.
Very well written. This covers the range of responses to soledad’s and anybody’s efforts to confront and deal with colorism. Just think years ago people also asked “what’s the big deal about making children work for a living?” your point is well taken, just because we made this an issue doesn’t mean it’s not real!
Very thought provoking !
I agree with what you’ve written.
I think we’re in a really crucial period now. My concern is that there be a larger discussion of race tied to the dialogue about colorism.
I’m afraid that after something like Black in America both black and white audiences come away with the sense that colorism is something that black people are doing to themselves.
While on a practical level it’s useful to think of colorism this way (for example, if seeing the program makes a mother reevaluate the kind of comments she makes to her dark skinned child)but it isn’t the full picture.
The larger view will have to include more in depth talk about how white supremacy, white standards of beauty, etc. frame the colorism story.
As white people were largely absent from the CNN doc, we weren’t able to see, for example how their color hierarchies affect our own.
It’s not just that a white preference for lighter skinned blacks was expressed historically via plantation hierarchies but that it (as several studies have shown)is a phenomenon that continues among whites today.
Given that discrimination based on skin color persists outside of the black community — it is difficult to grapple with it effectively, when we only look at it as something that is our problem.
I don’t think we should get bogged down with debates over identity. I don’t have an issue with someone who others may see as white identifying as black but I would like to see more frank discussion about the real world privileges (in other words outside of our black communities) that come with having an appearance that more closely conforms to what white America is comfortable with.
So, with someone like Soledad, whose politics I don’t question, I would like to see her talk about the career and personal options that were open to her because of the way she looks that would likely not have been to a darker skinned woman.
Soledad has been consistent in her identification, but there are others like the Egyptian American student in the doc for whom whether to identify as black or white on a form is a matter of which will give the greatest advantage – an option not open to those of us with darker skin. That kind of thinking and decision-making needs to be unpacked, as well.
As long as the colorism discussion remains something that is entre nous, we let white people off the hook, by not forcing them to examine where they are complicit in maintaining these frameworks.
AnthroPOPology recently posted..Scandal and Playing the Race Card
I agree that we must have a fuller discussion, but the documentary serves the purpose of sparking interest. I imagine once people are interested and talking about it, they will continue to learn about it’s origins, legacy, and manifestations.
The documentary did actually include a white man, Time Wise, whom I’ve been following since high school. Wise explains in the documentary how colorism was used by whites during slavery to create a divide among blacks.
While I believe we should acknowledge the role of white supremacy, I think blacks are still capable of rejecting racist messaging even if it persists. Maybe not all of us, but plenty of us. We can’t wait for others to treat us right before we treat each other right.
I think you just gave me an idea for another post!
Thanks for your very insightful comments!
Best
Tim Wise is someone whose work I’ve followed and appreciated, as well, so I was happy to see him on the show.
I can’t really argue with your point that the show was what it was – given its short format and perhaps the network on which it appeared.
I simply feel that we need to keep our eye on the fact that colorism isn’t just a black problem.
If the CNN powers-that-be read this blog, I’d love to encourage them to have a similar series aimed at a white audience (as I assume, given its marketing that Black in America was largely aimed at African-Americans).
We in the black communities, should do what we can to confront racism and colorism — there is great empowerment and potential for change in that.
But white people also have to be included in the audience and in the discussion for these kinds of issues, especially since with all of the post-racism rhetoric many of them think these kinds of problems really are no longer if a concern at all, their concern.
Sad to see the blog come to an end. Your posts here have been really insightful and interesting to read.
AnthroPOPology recently posted..Scandal and Playing the Race Card
You must’ve seen my tweet about a guest post I did on another site. Their blog is closing, not mine. (I hope not!) Lol.
You make good points. You might want to check out my earlier posts about including white people in the discussion: http://www.slwrites.com/colorism-whos-affected-whos-responsible/
Let’s def continue to discuss!
Sarah L. Webb recently posted..Stop Hating
Amazing blog! Excellent way to articulate the issue of colorism, especially that ignoring there is a problem will not lead to a solution. We teach our kids in science class that the first step of developing a policy is to identify the problem. Of course it is in reference to conservation of resources, but hey- humans are natural resources. Everyday the issue of race remains the elephant in the room and it is undoubtedly the cause of the destruction of people. To talk about it and come to solution is the only way we are going to rise above it. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we will keep getting the same results. Great work, Cheesecake!
Hey Mona!
Thanks for the intelligent comments. This country is known for trying to sweep things under the rug so they don’t have to face them and deal with them. As you say, in your own eloquently scientific way, the first step is to lift up that rug and acknowledge all the dirt that’s under it.
This is proof that you are a great teacher for our children.
Best
Hello Neighbors, Friends, and Professional Contacts,
I hope that work is going and pray for the continued success. Can anyone actually enable me to meet Mrs. O’Brien? I mainly would like to connect with Soledad, because she really misses the mark on many aspects of adequate reporting of the African-American experience in America. I spoke to others who feel the same and by emphasizing the problems and not addressing systemic root causes is a true injustice to Black folks.
Would “Black” folks at CNN avoid addressing true plights if his or her job was at stake? What are the root causes for judicial injustice and inequality in America? The reports are not balanced. How may I meet with her? They say that we should admonish or scrutinize each other in public or the open like on blogs and what not, but folks like Soledad isolate themselves so far from regular folks like us; we have to conduct a public outcry all over the internet against folks just to reach her or him.
After my most recently unfortunate breakup of my last relationship, I did some refreshing self-reflection. During my studies, not only did I uncover several learning points, but I discovered a lot about relationships in general. Here is a very humorous and facetious novel that I came across. I hope that you share the link with your friends and family. The brothers will simply laugh. Every sister needs to hear this. Every sister should to hear this prior to entering another relationship:
“The End of Men”
Click “Launch Track”
http://www.friendsofeli.com/html/listen.php
or for a faster connection – click
http://www.friendsofeli.com/live/
then click listen
There are very many public policies and laws that have grave impact on the socio-economic wellbeings of the African-American culture by emotional and financially incentivizing behavior that breed lack of empathy, dehumanization, and objectification. If any network is interested, I would like to work with a network to produce a show that would address how lack of empathy, dehumanization, and objectification continues to further destroy America. Due to biasness and negligent portrayal of African-Americans by the media, other cultures have safety-nets.
Lack of Empathy, Dehumanization, & Objectification: How does this forge the African-American Experience?
Please feel free to forward this e-mail as you liberally see fit.
Warm Regards,
Eli
http://www.friendsofeli.com/live/video_popup.php/Relationships.pdf?id=70&download=1&bipass=1&start_dl=1
http://www.friendsofeli.com/html/listen.php
Thanks for the info, Eli. I hope you get the chance to work with one of the many local or national networks out there. (Maybe start a new one?) If I have any leads, I’ll let you know!