On Monday June 16, about 800 people gathered at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art to get an exclusive sneak peek at CNN’s documentary Black in America. I’m looking forward to seeing the entire program after getting a taste of several segments.
After spending more than a decade of my life in the news business, it’s refreshing to see a mainstream news organization attempt to tell in depth stories about the Black experience.
Personally, I wish that we were at a point when we wouldn’t have to look at things in Black and White, but that is the unavoidable reality, and many more conversations most certainly need to take place to help American heal from its brutal legacy.
The special airs July 23 & 24, and regardless of your background you should check it out.
CNN invited My Urban Report to sit down for a quick Q&A with the program’s host Soledad O’Brien. The interview is coming, but for now check out pics from the preview.
Out of curiosity, are you referring to the part in the video where Soledad said she want's white people to think of her when they think of black people?
If so, I thought that part might ruffle a few feathers of some here. There have been discussions here previously about whether it helps or hurts blacks - who can't be mistaken for anything other than black - to have a clearly biracial/ambiguous/stereotypically latin looking person representing them.
Some could argue I guess, that it actually hurts to have non black looking people (which I guess is based on the observer since two people can look at Soledad for instance and honestly see totally different ethnicities/"races" based on what they've been brought up to believe "black" looks like) representing those who would be considered black across the board. Because it's in essence saying the only kind of "black" that's sociality acceptable is actually mixed with "white". A visually "watered down" black if you will. Which in the end is kinda anti-black when you think about it.
Others, I guess could argue something completely different. And they'd have reasons completely valid to them that back up their opinion.
I think what Soledad meant in that statement was, white people shouldn't have a limited (and automatically negative) view of black people. All black people aren't getting arrested, good at sports, neglect their children, etc...
I believe she just wants whites to view blacks as individuals.
Posted: Thu 03 Jul 2008 14:40 Post subject: O'Brien
zsana wrote:
lsgh2 said...
Quote:
she needs to quit.
Out of curiosity, are you referring to the part in the video where Soledad said she want's white people to think of her when they think of black people?
If so, I thought that part might ruffle a few feathers of some here. There have been discussions here previously about whether it helps or hurts blacks - who can't be mistaken for anything other than black - to have a clearly biracial/ambiguous/stereotypically latin looking person representing them.
Some could argue I guess, that it actually hurts to have non black looking people (which I guess is based on the observer since two people can look at Soledad for instance and honestly see totally different ethnicities/"races" based on what they've been brought up to believe "black" looks like) representing those who would be considered black across the board. Because it's in essence saying the only kind of "black" that's sociality acceptable is actually mixed with "white". A visually "watered down" black if you will. Which in the end is kinda anti-black when you think about it.
Others, I guess could argue something completely different. And they'd have reasons completely valid to them that back up their opinion.
I think what Soledad meant in that statement was, white people shouldn't have a limited (and automatically negative) view of black people. All black people aren't getting arrested, good at sports, neglect their children, etc...
I believe she just wants whites to view blacks as individuals.
Quote:
Out of curiosity, are you referring to the part in the video where Soledad said she want's white people to think of her when they think of black people?
WARNING - Sarcasm ahead:
That's traditional Mulatto Elite thinking. Blacks/Negroes would be ok if they weren't so BLACK. If only whites wouldl think of beautiful Nordic blonds when they think of blacks (like Victoria Rowell's daughter) instead of those ever so unattractive and unimpressive people in the ghettoes, etc.
Hi everyone, need your input here. I have an ongoing discussion with my wife that was recently joined by CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien. Obviously, I am a white man married to a black woman with two small interracial children. We are part of a CNN documentary scheduled to be aired in the spring of ’08 titled Race in America. In the interview conducted by Soledad, the question was asked as to how we would raise our children in relation to racial identity. I responded that I wanted them to see themselves as interracial – that is neither black nor white specifically. As they mature, should they want to identify themselves as either or both, that would be their prerogative. My wife differs in this as she takes the common argument that the world will see them – literally – as black, and consequently we should explain that and tell them they are African-American. Soledad takes that side and shared that her mother, who is black, told her and her siblings the same. She identifies herself as black, defends it adamantly, and raises her interracial children as black. What are your thoughts on this?
Soledad with husband Brad Raymond... (wearing red headband)
Soledad has right to identify as she wants and to raise her children as she wants, but her husband must be cuckolded if he doesn't have any imput on how they identify. And her theory that they will only be seen as Black is utterly ridiculous.
I am the poster child for "multi-culti," for sure. Every group kind of sees in me what resonates with them. I think that people like to define me. I think it makes them more comfortable. I sent my uncle in Australia a tape once of me doing the news, and he's like, "Oh, my gosh, you're so Irish-looking. It just kills me." I'm just this light-skinned, middle class black girl with nappy hair.
Her theory that they will only be seen as Black is utterly ridiculous.
It is indeed. But I am sure that she takes it seriously. Many Americans of part African ancestry sincerely believe that everyone is born into their place in society, and that any thought of social mobility is somehow wicked betrayal.
Eventually, her children will discover that their mother's insistence (that they must self-identify as she orders, because White Americans see such fair-skinned blue-eyed blondes as being utterly Black) is a lie, pure and simple. How they will respond to the discovery that their own mother lied to them when they were growing up (and enforced her lies with punishment, I am sure) will depend on other factors. They may forgive it as well-intentioned.
It is tempting to suspect that she cannot possibly believe such crap, that she dons Black rhetoric only to make a buck, like Bliss Broyard, say. But we cannot know what really goes on inside the woman's head.
She may well be delusional. She may sincerely see herself and her children as being of African appearance. Many Americans who are genetically European but ideologically African suffer from that very delusion. It seems to be a myth (in the the anthropological sense of a counterfactual but mandatory cultural belief) that they absorb in early childhood.
Regarding her husband's input, he undoubtedly realizes that to challenge such a delusion would bring an avalanche of accusations of "racism" or worse down on his head. (See, for example, the Ford article in another thread.) If I were in his shoes I would keep my mouth shut too.
I have watched her with AAs (Spike Lee) before and never once did she refer to AAs in the first person , as in 'I' or 'We', or 'we as a people', etc. Maybe that's just a journalism thing...... But Tim Russert did idenitfy as a Catholic when the Pope died, so
Also, I have read at least one article (I'll try to find it) that says, rather Soledad says, that while her mother raised her/siblings to be just AAs, she sees herself as being bi-racial or mixed race. Now, she could just be saying that because she's doing this show. Maybe on St. Paddy's day, she said she was Irish.
Hi everyone, need your input here. I have an ongoing discussion with my wife that was recently joined by CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien. Obviously, I am a white man married to a black woman with two small interracial children. We are part of a CNN documentary scheduled to be aired in the spring of ’08 titled Race in America. In the interview conducted by Soledad, the question was asked as to how we would raise our children in relation to racial identity. I responded that I wanted them to see themselves as interracial – that is neither black nor white specifically. As they mature, should they want to identify themselves as either or both, that would be their prerogative. My wife differs in this as she takes the common argument that the world will see them – literally – as black, and consequently we should explain that and tell them they are African-American. Soledad takes that side and shared that her mother, who is black, told her and her siblings the same. She identifies herself as black, defends it adamantly, and raises her interracial children as black. What are your thoughts on this?
Soledad with husband Brad Raymond... (wearing red headband)
Raising children, no matter what the issue, has very little easy answer solutions. Biracial and Multiracial children need a chance to define themselves, parents can assist but not dictate, it just back fires if the child rejects it.
Giving a child the chance to experience one half of their family and then the other half, should give a child an idea of where their parents comes from. Since the child is Bi or Multi-Racial allowing them to interact with those in the middle like themselves (older to younger, lighter to darker, cool to geeky) might provide enough additional knowlege to plant a seed that will grow into a sufficient foundation for racial discovery.
Soledad Quote: “I have had people say, like, ‘Oh, so you were a tragic mulatto?’ Well, um, not exactly. I was just a middle-class girl growing up on Long Island.”
Soledad on race:
"This is a curious conversation for me. I’m black and Latino (my mom is Cuban, and now a naturalized citizen) and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. Especially now as the Latino vote is so critical."
Born to immigrant parents – a black Cuban mother and an Irish-Australian father – Soledad O'Brien is a member of both the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. http://www.pinkmagazine.com/newsletters/2007/november_obrien.html
Question: Your full name is Maria de la Soledad O’Brien, which kind of says it all for a diversity conference speaker. How did your parents deal with the issue of race as you were growing up, or did they mention it at all?
Soledad: They did. My mom used to say all the time, “You’re a black girl. You’re a light-skinned black girl with freckles.” They did a good job of saying who I was and what I was. They never tried to spin it or whatever. I’ve spoken to a lot of audiences of biracial people, and I’ve met a lot of young people who were really confused about their identity. I tell them, “You owe it to yourself to figure out who you are and know who you are, but you don’t owe it to anyone else to explain it or defend it.”
How did you feel about having the option of checking more than one racial classification box on the 2000 Census, and which ones did you check?
A: I checked all the ones that applied, and I loved it. I thought I was totally messing up the system. An archaic and bizarre system. If the system doesn’t keep up with who a lot of us are, that’s their problem.
http://www.mixedmediawatch.com/2005/10/24/soledad-obrien-on-being-mixed/
María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien[1] (born September 19, 1966 in St. James, New York) is a television journalist of Irish Australian and Afro-Cuban heritage. She is currently the host of CNN Special Investigations Unit on CNN. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soledad_O'Brien
On an unrelated note, did anyone else immediately realize that both of the photos pictured below were of the same man? At first glance I assumed the pic on the left was of a Creole/Latino/Biracial/light-skinned black self-identified man. In other words I could see that he had some degree of African ancestry. But in the second photo... Well, I was wondering why this white man would have this gentleman who obviously wasn't him featured on his blog.
It's amazing what a tan does. It totally changes ones perception. The picture with the three of them together is taken in the Wintertime and I swear they all look like different variations of white to me in that pic. It certainly doesn't look like Brad is pictured with discriminated against "minorities" in the typical sense.
But that's just what I'm perceiving. Maybe someone else see's something totally different...
Anyway, Lancelot A. Smith is also proudly black identified.
I covet the Black American Marathoning legacy and take an enormous amount of pride in being Black. I don't have art on my walls in my home. About 8 years ago I got an account at Sotheby's Auction House here in NYC and started collecting slave documents, buying the documents that controlled the lives of Black people. The sales receipts, contracts, auctioneers papers, medical check ups required before being sold, the insurance claims when a slave lost an arm or a leg in a farming accident, I have it all. I take a lot of pride in owning the documents that controlled the lives of Black people and place these documents in frames and on my walls. I like to believe the souls of these people live through the documents that controlled them, their whole lives - and it's rewarding these documents are now in Black hands - and souls heralded and admired by me.
Interesting. It seems she flip flops a bit. Maybe she is still ironing out the kinks herself. No pun intended.
I don't know about teh flip flopping part - she seems consistent with me. She says "my mother is a black woman from Cuba. My father is a white Irshman from Australia. I am a light skinned black woman with a mixed background." If anything she glosses over her father's background in favour of her mother's: Black and Latino. But then again she choses to use her Irish middle name as opposed to her first name.
How she is presented is what changes as opposed to how she presents herself. Even in the blog where the reader commented she flip flopped if you look at the original article the writer says
Quote:
O'Brien grew up in the Long Island town of Smithtown. Despite her reluctance to make her upbringing appear anything but happy, she noted that she and her five siblings were physically conspicuous in the overwhelmingly white neighborhood.
Interesting. It seems she flip flops a bit. Maybe she is still ironing out the kinks herself. No pun intended.
I don't know about teh flip flopping part - she seems consistent with me. She says "my mother is a black woman from Cuba. My father is a white Irshman from Australia. I am a light skinned black woman with a mixed background." If anything she glosses over her father's background in favour of her mother's: Black and Latino. But then again she choses to use her Irish middle name as opposed to her first name.
How she is presented is what changes as opposed to how she presents herself. Even in the blog where the reader commented she flip flopped if you look at the original article the writer says
Quote:
O'Brien grew up in the Long Island town of Smithtown. Despite her reluctance to make her upbringing appear anything but happy, she noted that she and her five siblings were physically conspicuous in the overwhelmingly white neighborhood.
I'm talking about the identities fo the children part.
I have watched her with AAs (Spike Lee) before and never once did she refer to AAs in the first person , as in 'I' or 'We', or 'we as a people', etc. Maybe that's just a journalism thing...... But Tim Russert did idenitfy as a Catholic when the Pope died, so
Also, I have read at least one article (I'll try to find it) that says, rather Soledad says, that while her mother raised her/siblings to be just AAs, she sees herself as being bi-racial or mixed race. Now, she could just be saying that because she's doing this show. Maybe on St. Paddy's day, she said she was Irish.
I thought so too Melani, I know she identified as Black for a large period of her life but we have posted interviews of her recently where she talks about moving toward a multiracial identity as well as for her children.
I agree with Frank when he says she'd have to be completely delusional to actually believe her utterly white appearanced children look black when a blind man can see that's a complete and utter lie.
However, maybe she thinks of them as "black" in a PURELY cultural/ethnic sense. Because IMHO "racially" speaking, in this post legally enforced ODR society, those kids would be considered, categorized as - and treated as - white/caucasian by "whites", "blacks" and others any and everywhere on this planet.
Especially her sons and her eldest daughter.
And all four of them possibly have lower levels of detectable African ancestry than many populations already considered white. Heck, it might not show up at all for all I know.
If I'm not mistaken, Frank mentioned in the past how a small percentage of African-American Identified people have apparently NO detectable African-Ancestry what so ever.
I responded that I wanted them to see themselves as interracial – that is neither black nor white specifically. As they mature, should they want to identify themselves as either or both, that would be their prerogative. My wife differs in this as she takes the common argument that the world will see them – literally – as black, and consequently we should explain that and tell them they are African-American. Soledad takes that side and shared that her mother, who is black, told her and her siblings the same. She identifies herself as black, defends it adamantly, and raises her interracial children as black. What are your thoughts on this?
I wish I could find a video clip of her interview with this family. As it stands now I'll have to take this man's word for it.
Not-black-black people clip of the week. From left to right, CNN reporter Soledad O'Brien, actor Wentworth Miller, CNN political reporter Suzanne Malveaux, and major league baseball star Grady Sizemore.
In a post one-drop-rule world, The Secret Council of American Negroes tips their hat to our successful, paler brothers and sisters who are in highly visible positions, behaving well, and not afraid to embrace the black along with the 20 other ethnicities flowing within them. These not-black-black-people are to be admired, unlike Nicole Richie, who is on notice to be voted out of the race. We've already sent her to black rehab a few times. She seems to be doing better with the help and money of her father Lionel Richie.
As for our not-black-black-people honorees:
Soledad O'Brien (who is too talented for CNN. We think CBS should fire Couric and get some Soledad in their lives) is Australian, Irish and Cuban and is a member of both the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association Hispanic Journalists.
Wentworth Miller is a little bit of everything, claiming African-American, English, Italian, German-Jewish and part Cheroke, Russian, French, Dutch and Lebanese as his ancestry (the more the merrier I suppose). While he plays "el hombre blanco" on "Prison Break," he openly claims his half-black heritage and was featured in the film adaptation of "The Human Stain." He was good. The rest of the film, not so good.
Suzanne Malveaux comes from the black elite, a descendant of educated and successful Louisiana coloreds. She is of African, Spanish and French descent. At CNN she's very hard-hitting and smart. She has no tolerance for filler or inane banter.
Grady Sizemore was one of the few baseball players who wore Jackie Robinson's number last year during the celebration of baseball breaking the color barrier. Many people were surprised to learn that Grady's "Jew-fro" was really an "afro." His background is less complex, his mother is white and his father is black.
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But Tim Russert did idenitfy as a Catholic when the Pope died, so 
