Those of you that just could not resist watching the third and final installment of the Black In America series, The Black Man, please feel free to share your observations, feelings, and opinions here. Professor Tracey went out for dinner and a movie, letting my DVD-R do the hard work. Please do not hold your breath waiting for me to watch and review. I have had my fill of CNN and Ms. Soledad O'Brien. CNN is officially on my do not watch list for a long while.

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Fuck CNN's Soledad O'Brien!

CNN reporter Soledad O'Brien should have her sisterhood card revoked immediately and never returned! She has damaged, betrayed, and disrespected the entire black female community with her negative, short-sighted, half-assed, stereotypical, and repetitive "investigative reporting" on black women in America.

Her program Black In America: The Black Woman And The Family was a complete and total fraud! This program did not address the lives and experiences of black women in America at all! It was two hours of of the same negative racist and sexist stereotypes that the majority of white America believes about black people, particularly black women.

Ms. O'Brien's documentary stripped black women in America down to nothing but unwed, single mothers with multiple children, they can not properly raise or control to lonely, but educated black women that can't find a man to broken down old black women that can't take care of themselves. I was never so distressed or disgusted watching an investigative news report on African American women.

Ms. O'Brien's program was so awful that it made MSNBC's past program, African-American Women: Where They Stand series look like ground-breaking and interesting television. And black women universally hated that complete series. I cannot believe that Soledad O'Brien spent 18 months investigating black women in America, only to come up with the same old tired crap that has already been covered BADLY by someone else.

Where was the expression of pride of being a a black woman in America in the 21st century? Where were the positive stories? Where were the stories that expressed the uniqueness of black womanhood? Our humor? Our passion? Our beliefs? Our dreams? Where were the black mother/daughter relationships? Where were the successful programs that changed the lives of black women for the better? Where was the celebration of black women? Where were the voices of black women period?

Please my sistas, this travesty of journalism cannot be allowed to stand. E-mail Ms. Soledad O'Brien and tell her what you think. Here is the link. If I had the choice of black women in America being completely ignored by mainstream news and "investigative" reports like CNN and MSNBC has produced, I would much rather have black women in America completely ignored!

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Final Programming Alert - Soledad O'Brien's Special On Black Women And The Family In America Airs Tonight On CNN At 9PM

Please remember to watch CNN's special program, Black in America: The Black Woman & Family that is airing for the first time tonight.

I will be watching live at 9pm eastern standard time, so if you want to chat, cry, holla, or kick in your television, you can hit me up on my blog - check my "Chat With Prof. T" widget to Meebo me. It's located on the right side of my blog.

I don't have high expectations for the show, but I will reserve judgment until after the show airs. Please expect me to have a complete breakdown if the phrases "down low brother" or "angry black woman" are uttered!

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Professor Tracey's Review Of CNN's Black In America: Reclaiming The Dream

I just finished watching Soledad O'Brien's CNN special and I must say I was mightily disappointed. The show should have been renamed "reclaiming black men" instead of "reclaiming the dream." The entire special reminded me of the black church, a bunch of women in the audience being lectured to by a group of black men.

The black male panelists were diverse and came from multiple walks of life. I was really impressed with Hill Harper and Dr. Roland Fryer. I was bored with T.D. Jakes, who was preaching a bunch of baloney considering his track record on HIV/Aids and black women, Juanita Bynum's beat down, and his pandering to the GOP. I am tired of seeing Cornell West, who does too much fancy talking and offers absolutely no solutions. Tom Joyner looked and sounded confused. More time should have been dedicated to the new black male voices instead of the also-rans like West and Jakes, who have already had more than their fair share of screen time in the past.

This "special" completely misrepresented and disrespected black women in America. To say black women were given scant attention during this special is being kind. There was only three black female panelists in 90 minutes, with more than half the show featuring black men as the primary panelists and the lone woman, Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux barely getting a word in. Black women were not presented a social group, but a problem and issue to be resolved.

If you were watching this program and knew nothing at all about black women, the only thing you would have learned for sure about black women was that black women are extremely sexually active, popping out baby after baby with no husband, and catching HIV/Aids at an alarming rate. Thanks for that, Soldedad. I was completely horrified by the end of the show.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux was absolutely terrible, coming off as old school and out of touch. Sheryl Lee Ralph was effective, but her outreach is clearly limited. Chicago Urban League President and CEO Cheryle Jackson got a grand total of about 45 seconds of screen time, so I have no idea why she was even on. What burned me the most was the fact that while the male panelists were a diverse group, the black women panelists all represented the same age group, over 50 and did not represent anyone with a current presence or powerful influence with black women in large numbers.

After watching tonight's show, I cannot say that I am excited about O'Brien's upcoming focus on black women. She clearly is not going to cover new ground and clearly has no clue who is currently making an impact in the community of African American women. Considering that this program was partnered with Essence magazine, tell me that the editors of Essence are completely out of touch as well. They continue to promote and connect with folks they already know instead of broadening their base.

And on a final note, what in the hell was D.L. Hughley doing on the show? Clearly Soledad O'Brien didn't do her homework here. I wanted to vomit watching that jerk talking about "broken black men" after he agreed with Don Imus and further trashed the players from Rutgers.

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Must See TV - "Black In America: Reclaiming The Dream" On CNN

Watch this special program in preparation for the continuing Black In America series that will air next week. Let me know what you think. I am cautiously pessimistic. The previews seem so been there, done that to me.

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CNN Special Focus - "Black In America" Series

Check out the first in a three part series by CNN on being Black In America. Reporter Soledad O'Brien will be the lead reporter for this series. The first part is tonight at 9pm est and will focus on reviewing the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The second and third parts will air on june 18th and 19th, these shows will focus on black men first and then black women on the last night. Let's see if CNN does any better than MSNBC did focusing on black women in America.

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