Equality to suck

For those of you who were disappointed with CNN’s Black in America, there is an alternative. For whatever reason *cough*Barack*cough*, television seems to be focusing a lot on the lives of African Americans in this country. HBO recently aired part one of a documentary titled The Black List – perspectives from 22 prominent black people ranging from Serena Williams to Al Sharpton. As imperfect as Black in America was, this special is not really any better at depicting life for the average black American (if that person exists). The Black List is better, though, because it doesn’t claim to do that. If you have HBO, or like me are staying in a hotel where it’s free, you should definitely watch part two next Monday.

Some of the folks in part one didn’t say anything really significant, but I did enjoy Chris Rock and Colin Powell’s segments. Always funny, Chris Rock said “True equality is the equality to suck - like the white man. That was Martin Luther King’s dream.” When discussing Jackie Robinson, Rock said that baseball wasn’t really integrated until there were bad black professional players. I felt like this was an excellent way to show how tokenism can create illusions of equality. Outstanding individuals who achieve highly do little to indicate progress in general for a minority group.

Colin Powell (viewed by many as a “token,” but that’s another discussion) said some interesting things, but the one that stood out to me was that “A lot of white people still have not crossed over [i.e. acceptance of minorities], and it is an obligation to us as black people to help them progress.” I wasn’t sure how to view this statement; I don’t think it’s fair that we should have to work to be accepted by people who have shown that they don’t want to accept us. I wonder how others feel about this “obligation” to fight ignorance among people who have chosen to remain ignorant.

here's a link to a clip from Chris Rock's segment
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hj0p_the-black-list-vol-1-chris-rock-hbo_shortfilms"