tonight at 8 pm e.s.t (calculate it for your various time zones), i suggest you all to turn into cnn for their program "reclaiming the dream." it's a discussion in partnership with essence magazine to discuss issues facing african americans today like marriage, education, hiv/aids, incarceration and others. for the discussion, "influential" blacks like cornel west, juliane malveaux, t.d. jakes, hill harper and others have been chosen to weigh in on the various topics.
as always i think that these discussions are fun to watch, but often times the speakers end up preaching to the choir. the people who will watch it, are the people who are already aware of these issues.
one thing about this discussion that i do find very progressive is an opportunity provided by www.ireport.com. the site is allowing viewers to ask a question pertaining to one of these issues on video and they will play the video questions throughout the discussion. you know im cynical though, so i'm sure they're going to filter through the questions for those that fit into "direction" that they're heading with the show, but i still might submit the following questions
this show is called "reclaiming the dream" but what is the dream? and why does it need to be reclaimed? is it perhaps time to reformulate the dream, or how we conceptualize it?
i assume it is a reference to the famous speech by the late dr. martin luther king jr. but i think that over time it has lost its way and that this concept of this "dream" might be holding us back and be one source of the division among black people because after all it is...a dream, and a dream that we don't all share. it is a dream established by those in the civil rights movement so anyone who doesn't aspire to this "dream" runs the risk of being accused of not being about the business of improving life for blacks. i think that holding on to a specific idea of what is right and wrong for all blacks is very dangerous and shows a false sense of superiority associated with those who believe to be carrying on the legacy of dr. king.
as i was watching excerpts from the show, one of the speakers discussed the mentality of blacks towards the issue of teenage pregnancy and pregnancy out of wedlock, condemning the mentality of those today and favoring the methods during his time when young mothers were "sent down south if they got pregnant, to save their parents from embarrassment." i'm sure the speaker meant well but he is obviously romanticizing the way things were done in his time and condemning the way they're done now not recognizing that times have changed so methods have changed and the most productive thing to do is try to deal with conditions as they exist instead of comparing them to the way they were.
as always im interested to see how many people of my generation are even allowed "at the table" to speak on these issues, or if we are still sitting at the "kiddy table," not yet respected enough to join the adult discourse. at this point, i'll have the tivo cued up as to fast forward the bullshit.
honestly, dreaming is cool but i'm with the boy Dap on this one...waaaaaaaaake uuuuuuuup
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