{"id":26844,"date":"2012-12-07T23:25:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T23:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=26844"},"modified":"2017-04-13T21:09:59","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T21:09:59","slug":"annette-john-hall-cnn-series-cuts-to-the-core-of-black-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=26844","title":{"rendered":"Annette John-Hall: CNN series cuts to the core of black identity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annette John-Hall: CNN series cuts to the core of black identity<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>
\n2012-12-07<\/p>\n

Annette John-Hall<\/a><\/strong>, Inquirer Columnist<\/p>\n

No surprise that Black in America<\/em>, Soledad O’Brien’s<\/a> documentary series on African American life and culture, was among CNN’s most-watched programs. No other show has offered a deeper look at what it means to be black, in all its complexities.<\/p>\n

As provocative as the previous four broadcasts were, I dare say that nothing will cut to the core of black identity more than O’Brien’s fifth installment, Who is Black in America?<\/em>, at 8 p.m. Sunday on CNN.<\/p>\n

If you know Philadelphia<\/a>, you’ve got to tune in. The documentary is flush with Philly folks.<\/p>\n

Students Nayo Jones and Rebecca Khalil of the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement explore racial identity, sometimes painfully, under the compassionate guidance of instructor Perry “Vision” DiVirgilio. Drexel professor Yaba Blay<\/a>\u2014whose (1<\/span>)ne Drop project<\/a> gave O’Brien the impetus for the documentary\u2014shares her own story.<\/p>\n

Along with O’Brien, all attended a packed screening this week at Drexel.<\/p>\n

Like any good documentary, Who Is Black in America?<\/em>left me pondering fundamental questions: Just who is black in America? Is blackness predicated on skin color or a cultural state of mind? And who gets to decide?<\/p>\n

One little drop<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through the years, skin color has been politicized and racialized. Just look at President Obama<\/a>. Even though he identifies as a black man of mixed race, his identity is the topic of endless public debate<\/a>. As if he’s going to change his answer.<\/p>\n

After all, the “one-drop rule<\/a>,” a law adopted by some Southern states in the early 20th century, designated a person black if s\/he possessed even a trace of black heritage – in effect, only one drop of black blood. By that rule, our biracial president would have had no chance to enjoy the privileges conferred on pure-lineage whites.<\/p>\n

Today, multichoice census forms allow us to check off what we truly are. Yet colorism continues to shackle us in a racialized society.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for O’Brien, her parents made it easy for her. Growing up in a white community on Long Island, Mar\u00eda de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien, fair-skinned, freckle-faced, big-Afroed daughter of an Afro-Cuban mother and an Irish-Australian father, never had to grapple with the “What are you?” questions.<\/p>\n

“My parents made it very clear: Do not let people tell you you’re not black and not Latino,” O’Brien, 46, told me. “They understood the hostility of the environment. … You needed to be steeled.”…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No surprise that “Black in America,” Soledad O’Brien’s documentary series on African American life and culture, was among CNN’s most-watched programs. No other show has offered a deeper look at what it means to be black, in all its complexities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,394,20],"tags":[13043,4888,11148,12774,6627,7993,3343,7992],"class_list":["post-26844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-media-archive","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-annette-john-hall","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-inquirer","tag-soledad-obrien","tag-the-philadelphia-inquirer","tag-yaba-a-blay","tag-yaba-amgborale-blay","tag-yaba-blay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53480,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26844\/revisions\/53480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}