this is beautifully written and wonderfully put, thank you H. I really enjoyed reading this post.

Thanks and keep em' coming!

Very well done and thought provoking. Were there no strengths in the Black community covered? Was it just from the standpoint of the selective 'problems' of the Black community? Kind of disappointing. I especially like the concept of "journalistic malpractice" wonderful idea which I wish would become more evident in journalism.

Absolutely.

I think that CNN would have done much better to make a series on the subject, several documentaries over the course of several months. But that would require an actual commitment to the truth and to helping others understand reality, and that's not really CNN's cup of tea.

I did not see the broadcast (no cable, no CNN) but I agree: how can a journalism team claim to treat the issue of HIV/AIDS in Black America without including the fact that there are sexually active Black gay men, some out, and some "on the down-low".

Unfortunately, the D/L phenomenon is what they might use for their excuse, claiming that gay Black men, D/L or not, are not part of the "Black mainstream" (whatever that is) --- when the more accurate reality is that the "Black mainstream" doesn't want to hear about such issues.

Had they included gay Black men (D/L or not) CNN would have gotten complaints from Black conservatives claiming that Black America was being unfairly slandered. Since the Black conservative forces are judgmental about men having sex with men, however it might occur, such is their viewpoint.

(I do not wish to be judgmental, either. However, I personally feel that the anti-AIDS efforts in the GLBT community, both white and Black, have softened the safe sex message too much: we have backed off to the point of presenting responsible sex, and safe sex, as if it is "optional" --- but responsibility is not optional, whether we are dealing with sex or driving an automobile, and whether one is straight or gay, white or Black, seronegative or seropositive. I think we do need to crank up the message that simple irresponsibility is not an acceptable option --- and if that is the option you are selecting, you need to grow up. Either learn how to drive safely, or stay off the road.)

But it is not a journalist's responsibility to represent a population group in accordance with the way it wants to think about itself --- it is the journalist's job to identify reality, possibly analyze it, and then report it. And especially so when the effort is to identify problems and clarify them so hopefully they can get addressed effectively.

My point being that this may have been a failure of courage on CNN's part as much as it was a failure of perception or comprehension. And you are correct, Alexander, that in taking this path CNN robs gay Black men and organizations of the worthy credit they deserve for disseminating HIV/AIDS and safe sex information in their communities. My fear is that the Black Church and the Black conservative voice has more influence than gay Black men, and thus this will be a difficult uphill battle. But as a white gay male with many Black gay friends, both seronegative and seropositive, I applaud NBJC for trying to move this boulder, and thank you, Alexander, for this important post.

Alexander and Projectors,
I watched all four hours of the CNN special, and I found it strange that when the series began talking about HIV/AIDS, that Phill Wilson wasn't more extensively quoted.

I also realize the reality that you cannot distill 400 years of a people's history, triumips, and struggles into a 4 hour broadcast.

At best you'll get a nice starting point for a conversation, but as Alexander pointed out, it's a flawed conversation because not all of the African-American family (GLBT people) was included in the mix.

I don't have cable, so didn't see show. Was there any mention of the existence of sex/rape in prison, the absence of condoms in prison, and the disparate sentencing given to blacks v whites for similar drug crimes?

Epidemiologically, this is a "duh". Of course HIV is going to be contracted in prison under these conditions, from a few prisoners who were HIV positive on entry, probably (given drug conviction) from IV drug use.

The whole special created groups of people as invisible. It seemed very interested in pushing heteronormativity. The answer to the problems that plague the black community in a nutshell was marriage. Yes traditional marriage between a man and a woman. I believe that this approach was taken because of the special reliance on the so-called leadership of the black church which as we know has not had a history of tolerance or acceptance towards the GLBT community.
In the Womans section you were either a noble single mother struggling through poverty or a dick deprived woman of affluence.
In the section on men they used Joseph C Philps to push the message of meritocracy while avoiding men that were gay and men that had disabilities. The bottom line is that this special was never intended for POC...it is further arrogance to believe that the black experience can be summed in 4 hours. I learned nothing from this special.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/health/research/30aids.html

Interesting NYT article that ran today.

I would agree that the CNN Presents of Black in America did not do a good job with talking about our Black community as a whole. There were moments when I was watching and I was wondering why they didn't mention ANYTHING GLBT related in our community. They did have perfect opporunities to do that..especially with the HIV/AIDS part of the show. Their espiode called "Black Men"..I thought they should have mentioned the "Masculinity" issue with black men and black gay men and the "Gender role" we set for ourselves.