CNN's Black in America 2: TV that makes us smarter
Documentaries are not supposed to be able to attract huge, mainstream audiences. Just ask all the TV networks that don't make them any more, claiming attention spans are too short for such long-form programming.
But CNN turned that notion on its head a year ago with Black in America, a documentary reported by Soledad O'Brien that was seen by 16 million people in the middle of the summer and helped ignite one of the most intense and widespread discussions of any TV production of the year. And most of the talk it generated was about race, a subject that TV had a long history of mostly trying to avoid until last year and the arrival of the nation's first black presidential candidate of a major party.
CNN returns to the topic this week for four hours across tonight and Thursday with Black in America 2, a sequel with every bit as much power and passion as the original. In fact, Black in America 2 might prove to be an even more moving TV experience for some viewers.
Whereas last year's model focused on the experiences of black women and families one night and black men the next, this year's follow-up focuses on what the executive producer describes as "today's pioneers" and "tomorrow's leaders" - African-American men and women who are making some remarkable efforts to provide solutions to the problems of American life. There is an inherent lift in that kind of narrative - and while you might not be inspired, you can't help but be impressed by some of the people you meet in this film.
"Black in America last year generated a viral conversation online. It generated a conversation on talk radio. It generated a conversation in magazines, in churches, in homes," executive producer Mark Nelson said in a telephone interview last week. "What we wanted to do was listen to that conversation. And one of the things we heard is that there are a ton of solutions that are taking place out there. We found people who are creating those solutions and have had incredible success. And that's what we wanted to cast a spotlight on in Black in America 2."
While the documentary is steeped in an informed and nuanced sense of race and sociology, it is never pedantic. That's because the storytelling is about people. O'Brien and a team that includes some of the best producers working in television make us care about the people at the heart of each story, and the rest flows organically from that.
Among the pioneers highlighted Wednesday night is University of Michigan surgeon Dr. Lisa Newman, who is studying the role African ancestry might play in a certain kind of highly aggressive breast cancer. CNN's producers not only follow her back to Ghana and around the U.S. on her research projects, they also sensitively track one of her patients who is battling the disease.
And just in case that isn't enough movement and drama for some viewers, the producers reveal early in the report that Newman has just discovered a lump in her own breast and is going in for a biopsy. As the story of her research unfolds, viewers await news on Newman's fate.
Actor, writer and filmmaker Tyler Perry is also profiled as a pioneer, and he certainly deserves it. But neither O'Brien nor the producers treat him with kid gloves in deference to his millions of devoted fans.
They engagingly chronicle his incredible career and accomplishments, even as they deftly use his story to show the disconnect between the white Hollywood power structure and black audiences. But they also bring in a black cultural analyst who offers a harsh critique of the images in some of Perry's work. As good as the landmark CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes is, it rarely balances portraits of major cultural figures with any tough criticism of their work. Good for CNN in trying to offer a multidimensional look at the man and his work - though it will probably catch some heat for it.
Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions, says such heat is part of the price you pay for trying to bring light to complicated and sometimes controversial topics.
"Look, a lot of people loved what they saw last year, but a lot of people thought that they would have liked to see other stuff - and that's fine," Nelson says, referring to complaints from some black critics that the original Black in America wasn't uniformly positive enough for their tastes. "But it looked at people and issues, and it looked at them fairly and objectively. One thing has to be made very clear: This is not programming for black Americans, this is programming for all Americans."
The stories told in Thursday's two-hour segment focus on young leaders and the kind of students who look to provide the next generation of leadership. And while all of them are black, the narratives of promise, risk, sacrifice, achievement and progress are universal.
The profiles of two young leaders and some of the students they inspire are not to be missed. One features Steve Perry, an educator who founded a magnet school in Hartford, Conn., that sends 100 percent of its graduates to college. One of those graduates, a shy teen who has a history of being abused by her alcoholic father, will make you hold your breath in hope as she tries to navigate an all-important college admissions interview.
The other story, which is just as powerful, involves Malaak Compton-Rock and the program she founded in Brooklyn, N.Y., to take economically disadvantaged teens on cultural exchange programs to places ranging from South Africa to Howard University. She's the wife of comedian and actor Chris Rock, but you quickly forget that claim to fame as the filmmakers instantly engage you in her vision and work.
Timing played a large role last summer in the media buzz and deeper cultural conversation that Black in America helped generate. It aired just as voters started to seriously focus on the implications of Barack Obama's candidacy.
Today, those us who listened to that dialogue are smarter about ourselves and the nation. Even though it is an expensive and time-intensive effort that goes against the cost-cutting grain of so much media these days, here's hoping CNN makes Black in America an annual summertime event. We need this kind of enlightened, public affairs TV programming more than ever.
Black in America 2 airs at 9 p.m., following a presidential press conference at 8. A "countdown" show to Black in America airs from 7 to 8 p.m. on CNN.
Comments
I'll definitely have to record this one in my box. I saw a little clip of it the other day on CNN and it looks really good. Thanks for letting us know about it especially the programming change.
Posted by: Sherry T. | July 22, 2009 7:06 AM
I love the "Black in America" series and highly recommend that CNN produce similar series on the other ethic groups as well. As an African American female professional with Caribbean roots I would be highly interested in knowing what it is truly like to be "Asian in America," "Latino in America," "European in America," "Muslim in America," "Jewish in America," and MOST importantly "WHITE in America."
As an African American female with Caribbean roots I already know what it is like to be "Black in America;" however, I would like to know the experiences, opportunities, successes, challenges, and failures of the other groups as well.
There is so little that the various groups presently know of each other than the stereotypical images (usually negative) that is portrayed in the media, Hollywood, and television. Accordingly, I believe it is only fitting that CNN evens the playing field by doing a series on ALL groups.
After the success of the Black in America Series I am sure ALL of America would tune in to view a series on the other groups as well.
Hi Janet, Thanks so much. Your suggestion is a great one. And I think CNN is already at work on just such a series, Latino in America. Thanks. Z
Posted by: Janet Smith | July 22, 2009 10:06 AM
I love Janet's idea and I think she is definitely right, about stereotypes etc. All Italians are not in the Mafia for example. I know it would be something I would love to watch. Z, maybe you can give CNN a suggestion.
Posted by: Sherry T. | July 22, 2009 11:30 AM
Unfortunately, I find that much of this "color" in America keeps racial discrimination alive. If you saw me, you would classify me as 'white'. If I have to fill out my race on an application, I am Caucasian. I was not allowed to go to my high school prom because my boyfriend was "black". With all of the racial problems in the 1970's, our relationship did not survive. But, our love did. When he died five years ago, his ashes were given to me. I have his urn on the fireplace in my bedroom. It is not exactly what I had longed for.
Just because we were "black" and "white"?
Well, good people, my boyfriend's grandmother was a Native American Indian. If I had to chose who had first rights in this country, they would be my first choice.
My grandmother was Czechoslovakian and my grandfather was Greek. My "white" mother was the first born American on her side. My grandfather was beaten repeatedly by the Klu Klux Klan. It seems he and my grandmother were not considered white. He had a little restaurant in a small town in Kentucky and was eventually run out by the Klan.
Good news is appreciated. However when it comes to race, we need to stop segregation. Every time a color or race is called out, someone gets hurt.
I have been hated by blacks for being white. I have been hated by whites for loving a black man. Our lives were lived apart because of racists, and we were neither black or white.
Why must we continue to choose? Can't we all just be American?
Posted by: Susan Cutler | July 22, 2009 5:31 PM
How weirdly ironic that less than one week ago we learned of the ugly brouhaha arising from a major gaffe by the Cambridge , Mass. Police Dept., first arresting and subsequently incarcerating the eminent African-American Harvard University-based scholar, and noted PBS filmmaker, Prof. Henry Lewis "Skip" Gates Jr., and on the heels of this blatant instance of law-enforcement racial profiling America will be viewing CNN's second installment of "Black In America", tonight and Thursday evening.
Many Americans naively thought Barrack Obama, a biracial, yet identifiably Black man, by assuming the highest governmental office in the land, The Presidency, would magically transform the race- relations dynamic of the entire nation going forward, and all Black men and Women in America would finally have a taste of that "Promised Land" of which the great Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently spoke.
Sadly, if an African-American individual of the academic stature and renown of a Dr. Gates can willy-nilly be arrested and jailed for merely trying to enter his own home whose front door lock was inexplicably jammed, then I humbly submit that even w/ the most enlightened, thoughtful, intelligent and caring Black man as our President, the racial divide will only grow wider, and not even a third installment of "Black In America" will alter the status quo.
I was really moved by the earlier comments of Susan (Cutler) re/ the seemingly never-ending issue of race in our American society, and how in her case, as a teenager-in-love, her prejudiced peers couldn't look beyond the color of her and her boyfriends skin.
Just picturing Susan's former high-school sweethearts ashes now resting in that urn on her bedroom fireplace mantle is such a powerful and poignant image, and a true testament, Susan, to how much this fine man, who just happened to be Black, meant to you.
Your touching story rekindled old memories of my first major public-school crush, when I was totally smitten, as only a 12-year old Canadian prepubescent boy can be smitten, by this oh-so- adorable and fun gal named Mimsy.... who just happened to be Jewish...... and me NOT. (Lapsed Presbyterian)
I so wanted us to be real boyfriend and girl-friend, and we were for a few months in a kind of innocent, non-sexual kind of way.
But like you Susan, although you were a mature teen when you experienced your racial peer pressure, I recall how I was eventually 'advised' by both my Christian and Jewish friends that Mimsy and I could never be an 'item' because of our divergent religious backgrounds.
Pure silliness, but I caved under the pressure of intolerance and sadly lost sweet Mimsy in the deal.
Peer pressure, and religious prejudice had won the day!
I often think about how Mimsy is doing these days, in her early sixties, likely w/ a couple of grandkids, still strong in her faith.... or maybe not.
I know religion and race are usually separate areas for discussion, yet they can both be hot-button issues these days, and both have a huge potential for intolerance and prejudice.
A color-blind world would be the ideal, but that sound a lot like a utopian pipe-dream.
David Z., on the grounds of your glowing recommendation on this forum, I will definitely catch both segments of "Black In America/ 2", and will undoubtedly be heartened, and inspired by the stories of many of the featured young Black movers-and-shakers, who have chosen to pour their hearts and souls, the entire fiber of their being, into uplifting and validating their challenged communities and the folks who struggle, day in and day out, to just make a difference.
It's truly an uphill fight, but CNN is definitely "Do(in') The Right thing", and should be applauded for their efforts. (Apologies to Director Spike Lee, i.e., the "Do(in') The Right thing" bit)
ALEX
Posted by: ALEX MCCRAE | July 22, 2009 9:02 PM
all you have to do is look at television programs to realize what black in america means!Even the commericals show white is fine ...black is well . less of a seller...I often think the American Political system ( being old white conservative)is a Major part of the problem.Also the idea of a melting pot rather than a moasic..Where celebration of difference is important...
Posted by: joe pierzchalski | July 22, 2009 10:49 PM
We live in a world today that only the strong and willful survive. When dreams play tricks on the imagination to what could've happened in life. Black in America we see the beauty in eyes of the hopeful that try so hard to keep those dreams alive. Although faced with adversity and shunned to the world we will triumph. we will suceed. we will hold true for a better tomorrow.
How do do this? Black is beautiful I hear too often that because I am black, I must submit to a life style that someone else is more than eager to give me. I turn the other cheek having a goal set in place knowing my potential.
In Job settings I hear of what someone may refer to as " black on black crime", where african americans don't stand with one another. Instead looking out for our own necks promoting ourselves leaving others behind. To become what hope instills ,we must come together and help one another. Becoming selfless and encouraging others to achieve what you have and more. As soon as we support one another and look to one another we can solve so many of the problems today that face " Black America".
Posted by: Chelsea | July 23, 2009 2:06 AM
Alex made some great points. It is too bad that we often let others influence us and stand in the way of following our hearts. I felt really sad Alex that you never pursued the relationship with the girl of your dreams because of religious differences. This is why these shows are so important for us, it truly does make us all smarter.
Posted by: Sherry T. | July 23, 2009 12:12 PM
I finally got to watch this program last night, recorded. At least half of it, I am watching the rest later. Glorius was an inspiration to me. She openly expressed herself in her interviews for college and honestly showed us what we all go through in these situations, whether job interviews, college acceptance interviews etc. It was inpsiring. It was nice to see a principal so devoted to his students too. He was willing to get up every morning and make sure students got to school. Every school white or black needs principals that are that devoted to the success of their students. This show was excellent. It gave me courage too! My cousin's daughter Britany has been such a wonderful addtion to our family since the age of three, now a lovely teenager, and an African-American young lady She fits right into the picture with my girls and all of her cousins ages from 17 to the youngest 13 (Britany is 14). This show made me realize for the first time what does she really think? Does she wonder what it would have been like to have been raised black in America by black parent's? To us her loving family color has never mattered and maybe it does not matter to her, but now I will have the courage to ask her. Somehow I don't think color will ever be an issue. We love Brittany for the wonderful young lady she has become.
Posted by: Sherry T. | July 26, 2009 1:14 PM