[8:00] Welcome back to NewsOne’s liveblog of CNN’s Black in America 2. Turn on CNN now, watch with us, and refresh this page every few minutes for updates. Chime in with your thoughts in the comments!
[8:03] Well here’s something novel (for television) – two involved, dedicated, and seemingly stable Black parents! Haven’t seen much of that since The Cosby Show.
[8:04] Spoke too soon, apparently the marriage is falling apart.
[8:06] … And here we go with the depressing, familiarly scary marriage statistics. It’s nice to see someone taking a solution-based approach though.
[8:07] Taking the journey along with a Black couple trying to save their marriage – this looks intriguing, and is certainly a fresh angle to take on the “Black Marriage Crisis.”
[8:09] The shots of the husband and wife side-by-side, talking to Soledad about their problems, looks like a scene from a Black “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
[8:16] Disagreements over how to raise children are likely a common problem in marriages of people of all races. It’s unfortunate that the issue still seems to be affecting this couple, given that their children are grown.
[8:20] “National Black Marriage Day”? This is the first I’ve heard of such a holiday.
[8:25] Comment received via email: “This is a conflation of the marriage problem in Black America with just regular marital problems.”
[8:28] “Another Black marriage saved,” indeed. But what about all the Black marriages that never happen? It would’ve been interesting to see that addressed in a way more meaningful than just rattling off the usual statistics.
[8:34] Black women are twice as likely to get this super-aggressive form of breast cancer, “triple-negative breast cancer”? We just can’t win, can we?
[8:39] According the the preview of what’s upcoming, there’s a secret cure for breast cancer hidden in Africa somewhere, just waiting to be discovered! Who knew? … Or maybe CNN just really likes having a Back-to-the-Motherland moment at least once per episode.
[8:48] Comment received via email: “I shouldn’t turn on ‘Black in America’ and see another country.”
[8:52] It would’ve been nice to follow up that extremely frightening cancer segment with some information about how Black women can keep an eye on our health. No sense scaring people without any constructive conclusion.
[8:56] I have a sneaking suspicion that this young man’s plans for a better life post-prison are going to be thwarted.
[9:02] From Twitter: “African Americans portrayed in Black in America 2 are either the poorest of the poor or rich kids going to a deb. ball – missing most in between.”
[9:05] So Chris has quit his job “to find another job” … this looks promising.
[9:07] Comment received via email, in response to the news that Chris’s family is living off of Ramen noodles: “… But my dude has a bluetooth in his ear?”
[9:10] It’s unusual to see men in the prison system presented in such a sympathetic light.
[9:16] So that’s it for Chris and the prison system? We’re done there? The transitions in this episode seem a bit abrupt.
[9:18] Soledad is really going hard with the questions tonight. First she asked Dr. Newman if her patient would be alive in 2 or 5 years, now she asks this gentleman if he thinks death is a better option for him than life.
[9:29] … And here’s the Harlem Children’s Zone. The organization gets a lot of press, but such genuine success is a rare find.
[9:34] Tackling the achievement gap, obesity, AND sending kids to Disney World. The Harlem Children’s Zone has a whole lot going on.
[9:40] “Beating white Hollywood at its own game” … Is that what people call what Tyler Perry is doing?
[9:50] Perry’s story is certainly inspiring, but CNN’s time could have been better spent spotlighting more “regular people” instead of a celebrity. It isn’t as if we’ve never heard his story before.
[9:56] It’s great to see this show acknowledging some of the tension that exists around Tyler Perry’s work. Showing that nuance exists in the supposedly monolithic Black community is always positive.
[10:00] That’s for NewsOne’s liveblog of CNN’s Black in America 2. We hope you enjoyed watching with us.
