It's Just Another Saturday

As I write this, it's about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 25.   I'm at work but have a bit of down time.   I'm watching CNN's Black In America 2 with my co-workers gabbing as a soundtrack.   I didn't watch on Wednesday because I was at an Association of Black Media Workers event, and Thursday I worked night side.   Like a lot of people I think CNN's Black In America illuminated many of the ills without providing proper context. I applaud their second effort CNN's Black In America 2 which was more solution oriented. The network wanted to show the reality of the problems, while celebrating those trying to make things better.   Working in T.V. news I know you'll never be able to do every story 100 % justice, but you have to give it your best shot, and I think CNN has.   Unfortunately for many in my generation, particularly those who are African-Americans we take pride in seeing our stories, but we also need another form of context.   Whenever I see stories about the plight of black America, I think of how it relates to the rest of America.   I see a story about families struggling to save their marriages, and while African-Americans in some cases have a love-hate relationship with marriage, so too do other races.   No we're not post-racial but for a new generation of Americans we are cogniscent of the difference in our races, but very much aware of how our story relates to that of others.   We need to see our stories but how we stack up to others side by side.   Ours is a parallel journey as much as it is a divergent one.