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The announcement that NBC Nightly News would air a five part series, "African American Women: Where They Stand" has had blogs and e-mail inboxes buzzing for the last two weeks. Now that the series is here, the commentary is coming fast and furious -- and some folks are pretty heated.
The series actually turns out to be five 3-4 minute segments each on a specific topic. Monday night focused on the educational and business achievements of black women, noting that they are outpacing black men in college enrollment and graduation rates.
Prometheus 6 offered his comments posted the video:
To Average Bro, it seemed like just one more time when the media was using black women to beat up black men:
"Well, here we go again. Every 3-4 months, the mainstream media tries to focus on a topic of interest to black people, and as opposed to objective coverage, they resort to flipping to page 94 in The Book of Manufactured Controversy. ...
"[L]last night's segment lead off by showing a black single mom who owns her own PR firm. No problem here, entrepreneurship is positive stuff. But then the show starts throwing up a series of stats, namely the 7-1 ratio of black women to men at HBCU's and that black women account for 63% of all black college students. Never mind the fact that the academic gender gap is hardly unique to blacks, it's a universal problem that is just now emerging as one of the biggest epidemics in public education. And of course, the series reaches deep into The Book of Negro Excuses, and blames hip hop for the high dropout rates of black males. Typical. They droned on with more and more stats about how black women control a majority of the $850B of annual spending power in the black community, and how the rate of business ownership among black women is growing at a higher rate than that of black men."
The author of the segment on black women, Rehema Ellis, quoted Essence magazine editor Angela Burt-Murray on the importance of comparing black women's achievements to those of black men, because it may tell us something about the larger society:
"I don't think that what you are seeing right now should be viewed in isolation. Researchers will tell you that the trends you see in the African-American community really are the precursor to what is going to happen in the general population," says Burt-Murray.
Tuesday night's segment focuses on black women and breast cancer. While Black women are less likely to get breast cancer, they are usually diagnosed later, and have higher mortality rates. On Wednesday's segment, Ellis will talk with a group of black women about their relationships with each other, and their concerns about declining marriage rates. Thursday's segment will ask black women in South Carolina whether and race or gender will influence how they will vote in that state's pivotal primary. Friday's segment focuses on two major killers of black women -- diabetes and heart disease. There are also planned segments on the fact that more black women are choosing non-black husbands and the impact of hip-hop on relationships between black men and women.
Like Average Bro, Content Black Women thinks that NBC needs to devote more time to the topic to cover it fairly:
"O.K. NBC, here's my take. We need at least a full, consecutive hour on the same day - not 15 minutes spread out over 5 days.
"I am not trying to be critical on what I still consider to be a valiant effort on your part. I just believe the beauty, power and good of Black people who have emerged from and continue to be forced to endure as a product of some form of racism deserve equal time. This time could be inclusive of examining how many have overcome tremendous odds including racism and how we can help and empower communities that are still left behind (Tavis Smiley does a great job of this every year in his State of Black America with C-SPAN and it is what Bill Cosby is trying to do)."
The most comprehensive and critical coverage of the series is coming from the team at What About Our Daughters. Before the series started, WAOD contributor Professor Tracy offered a viewer's guide raising critical questions about each segment. For example, here's what she had to say about the upcoming segment on interracial dating:
"Black Women
