Black In American vs. Black in CNN

In case you’ve been living under a rock or you don’t have cable/satellite, CNN is doing a six part series called Black In America. This series discusses all the things that ails Black America, such as HIV, dropout rates, infant mortality, unemployment, incarceration rates, ect…. They do throw in a few niceties for good measure. Of course I will watch the program, but I am an expert on being Black in America so I am sure nothing they say or present will surprise me.


My issues is with CNN it self. I love CNN and because I just recently decided to get cable again after going on a ten year hiatus, I watch it quite frequently. But what I noticed is there are no people especially women that look like me on CNN. Take a look at the pictures above whadda’ya think?


I mean I can’t watch it 24/7, so unless the sistah or brother comes on during my work hours or in the middle of the night, I’mma say there are no dark skinned sistahs or brothers working at CNN. No really… it looks like they did the paper bag test before they hired their reporters/anchors. They all are fair skinned with a good grade of hair. In fact if look at the pics above in some cases it’s hard to tell if some of these sistahs are black, white or a combination. Trust me I know we come in all flavors and colors and that is cool. But don’t hate me because I want to see a lil mo chocolate on CNN.

I was watching the first installment of Black In America and as I looked at Soledad O'Brien I thought what the hell do you know about being Black In America. This woman could pass for White. As she was asking questions to the panelist she seemed to be clueless as to why black men are locked up at disproportionate rates. This woman seemed totally clueless to the plight of black people.

It just seems like an oxymoron to me…. How are you doing a Black in America series and no dark skin people work at the company, well at least in the primetime hours? I don’t know maybe all the dark skinned brothers and sisters are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whatever the case I just wish the media would show the entire spectrum of Black, instead of their own interpretation of beautiful Black people.

This is not a light skin vs dark skin post. This is me saying all black people are beautiful; we are not a carbon copy of one another. We come in shades like ivory, olive, red, cinnamon, bronzed, yellow, brown, chocolate, and ebony. We are the work Diaspora and we ALL are beautifully and wonderfully made.


So CNN if you’re reading ….. PLEASE HIRE A CHOCOLATE EBONY SISTAH.