Black In America 2

I happened to be in front of the television the other night and caught the viewing of
CNN: Black In America 2 by Soledad O'Brien. I was compelled to watch it after a few minutes of debating to opp for something not so serious at such a late hour about 30 minutes later I was glad that I had not changed the channel. It made me wonder how did other people feel about the special? I asked myself is she just singling out Blacks and if so why? Then as it went to commercial I noticed Latino In America (if you are on Facebook here is the link for Latino In America. {Synopsis: CNN’s Soledad O’Brien journeys into the homes and hearts of a minority group destined to change America. Is it the ultimate clash of cultures or the ultimate melting pot?}

Not to be funny but then I wondered since she is exposing how it feels to be Black and Latino in America is she going to go through the other ethnicity groups. I personally would like to see a special on each considering nobody really knows how other groups feel and we all will not take the time to explore other cultures past asking, "What ethnicity are you?" Maybe the special will enlighten us? Maybe the special will give us a different perspective on the person that is standing beside us in line at Kroger or who we are competing with for our next raise? Maybe the special will make us all a little more sensitive to others struggles everyday? I'm not sure but I know I will sit and watch, the truth hurts but I would like to be enlightened!

Here is a link to the NY Times take on the Special (click here)
"Being black, or anything else, in America is far more complicated than one demographic characteristic."

Below are just a few facts...
Blackinamerica.com- Black In America is an online community for African American men, women, and families, and want to shatter negative stereotypes and misconceptions. This platform stimulates positive ideas, dialogue and solutions. This site is not affiliated with CNN, but does compliment their "Black In America" special reports.

Race and Ethinicity:

The U.S. population's distribution by race and ethnicity in 2006 was as follows:

• Total population: 299 million
• White alone: 74% or 221.3 million
  • Not including the 23.2 million White Hispanic and Latino Americans: 66% or 198.1 million
• Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, of any race: 14.8% or about 44.3 million
• Black or African American alone: 13.4% or 40.9 million
• Some other race alone: 6.5% or 19 million
• Asian alone: 4.4% or 13.1 million
• Two or more races: 2.0% or 6.1 million
• American Indian or Alaska Native alone: 0.68% or 2.0 million
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander alone: 0.14% or 0.43 million

These figures add up to more than 100% on this list because Hispanic and Latino Americans are distributed among all the races and are also listed as an ethnicity category, resulting in a double count. {Courtesy of Wikipedia, 2006 was the last official stats that I could find}

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2097, 50% of the entire US population will be Hispanic.

I'm not done with this post but I am interested in your thoughts so this will do for now... ;)

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