http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/btsc.obrien/index.html Editors note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents and producers share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. For the past 18 months, CNN's Soledad O'Brien has been working on "CNN Presents: Black in America" which airs July 23 and 24, at 9 p.m. ET. (CNN) -- For Atlanta native Leah Wells, it's the humiliation she remembers most. Not long ago, Wells sent me a note and forwarded a letter she had just mailed to Glenn Murphy, chairman and CEO of Gap Inc. The letter detailed what happened when Wells and two girlfriends decided to ditch the gym during an office lunch break and do some "power-shopping" instead. The three young women, all in their 20s and all black, ended up detained for shoplifting. "We were dressed professionally," Wells told me. "It was casual Friday. We had on dresses and casual office wear. We were racially profiled. It was as simple as that." Wells says she and her friends were detained by six Gwinnett County, Georgia, police officers for "about an hour and a half" at the entrance of an Old Navy store, owned by Gap. Their crime, as Wells sees it, was being black in America. In her letter to Murphy, Wells describes enduring "disdainful stares from the mothers and grandmothers and children entering the store." Police responded to a call from mall security about a gang of shoplifters in the store. They found no stolen merchandise on Wells or her friends. No one -- not the police, not the store managers -- bothered to apologize. "No matter your education, your status or profession, some still only see the color of your skin," Wells wrote two months after the event. Black in America In the next installment of CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien examines the successes, struggles and complex issues faced by black men, women and families, 40 years after the death of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Sad to say, but it's a common refrain from black people in this country. All of us know someone who has, or have ourselves, been stopped for no apparent reason while driving or been searched for fitting a description. It happened to my brother Orestes. A Harvard medical student at the time, he was visiting a friend in Brooklyn, New York, when he was stopped and searched by officers late one night. He "fit the profile" of a robbery suspect. They dumped his belongings in the street and made him lie face-down. What infuriated him was that no apology ever followed when it became clear the cops got it wrong. It seemed no one felt that one was owed. My brother was seething when he told me the story. It happens all the time. And it happens across the geographic and socioeconomic spectrum: rich, poor and in between. What surprised me most often during our production of "Black in America" were the universal stories of blacks followed or profiled. It was shocking to me. So many parents told me of sitting down with their sons starting at 12 years old to tell them what to do if pulled over by the police so as not to get shot. I don't imagine many white parents even think such a conversation is necessary with their teenage sons. We've spent the past 18 months trying to accurately tell the story of black people in this country, a story rarely told with the depth and fullness it requires. Black people are seen frequently as rappers and "ballers" and sometimes exceptional, like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But coverage of the vast black middle class is nearly nonexistent. What's the impact of that on America? What's the impact of that on young black kids who don't see themselves in mainstream media associated with academic achievement, success, hard work? It's hard to know, but it cannot be good. I'm the product of a white father who's Australian and a black mother who's Cuban. They married in the United States in 1958 but had to leave their neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, because interracial marriage was illegal in that state. By the time my little brother Orestes was born in 1967 -- the sixth O'Brien child -- the Supreme Court finally changed the law and lifted the ban on interracial marriage. When I tell that story in speeches, older folks in the audience nod their heads while younger ones gasp. It was illegal for my parents to marry, and it wasn't all that long ago. Black and white people need to talk about our shared history -- policies that have held some people back, opportunities that some have not sought. My sense is the time is right for this dialogue on race. With a black man running for president Americans are talking about race every day. Leah Wells tells me she is "coming to an understanding" with Gap. When I contacted Gap myself, a spokesperson told me that an internal investigation led to the firing of a manager. Later she e-mailed this statement: "We realize it's probably too late. We regret that we did not apologize for what these ladies experienced at our store, and this goes against everything we stand for as a company." Wells has decided to not only get mad but get active, writing and talking about what happened to her and her friends on a day they just set out to do some shopping. Making a change is not for the weak willed. Our documentary "Black in America" will make you proud and angry, hopeful and frustrated. Please, go out and DO something about what you're seeing and feeling. Give your money, give your time, write op-eds, commit to changing the part of reality that's not good.
This is how I met Jesse Jackson. When I was in high school and working at a Sears in a mall, the security manager (who happened to be a black woman) at the Dillard's in the same mall falsely accused three black teenage girls of shoplifting, and even brought them in the back and patted them down. One of the girls was the daughter of a prominent pastor, and official in the local NAACP. Jesse Jackson came down and had a dog-and-pony show at our little mall that went along with the lawsuit against Dillard's. I think it was settled out of court, but I don't remember.
Racism is unacceptable on any level. We must ask what is the source of other races being suspicious of blacks on the street? That should be the focus here, not just throwing more accusations against non-blacks of them being racist. The guilt machine rolls on... We must address the root cause of all of this, which is crime and behavioral patterns.
I would say decades of discrimination, slavery, disenfranchisement, social brainwashing, and denial of equal education has caused great pains to the black community. Many point to African immigran'ts success to shown that it's not about race, I say it only proves the extent of the damages done to the blacks of this country. I think we as a nation have a responsibility to try and rectify the situation, but I think we have resistence from from both sides of political spectrum coming at two wrong direction.
How much do you think resentment of the past, shapes the attitude of the future for some black americans?
The wounds of the past is what keeps racism alive today. The cuts are just too deep. It is impossible for every single black person to forgive slavery. And it is impossible for every white person to ignore the color lines. It was already complicated with just two races, but now you throw in other races. With America becoming more and more diverse, there are many more stereotypes being created. The root of racism is stems from the past during slavery. Today's form of racism is not slavery, rather it's the double-standard. Hating a race is no longer dominant, it's the thinking that one's own race is superior to the other.
I think that's part of it, but honestly (and this is a simplification) it's BET. If you wateched the Boondocks, you will get the joke. I think there are a lot of things wrong, and both the black and white communnity are not doing enough to help change it.
While racism is clearly an issue here, another issue probably being overlooked is incompetence. 6 police officers? An hour and a half? What about the real shoplifters (if there were any)? And not apologizing? Great use of tax dollars there...
wizkid, you had a nice post earlier. I'd like to ad to it. Aaron Mcgruder wasn't joking when he made that. The only part that was intended to be funny was the delivery. It is very destructive for a television station that is bold enough to claim that it specializes in black entertainment to present to the public every stereotype that black people have fought so hard to eradicate. I still don't consider this story newsworthy. I've been searched many times before, never stole anything, never got an apology. I'm not as outraged by someone trying to protect their property/store as i am with the law being interpreted two different ways for different races or police brutality.
True, very true. The root cause of why some "black" people are suspicious of "white" people is the crimes that "whites" have committed against "blacks", and the behavioral patterns of racist "whites" in the past. You and Jeremiah Wright agree.
yes, racism in america has its root cause in crime ----> edit: I know you like to go with the standard, "black people are criminals therefore racism against them really isn't racism" maybe you should look up some facts on shoplifting and who the offenders usually tend to be.
i wish more threads in D&D were about race. Not enough discussion here about how certain races are victims.
[rquoter]I'm the product of a white father who's Australian and a black mother who's Cuban. They married in the United States in 1958 but had to leave their neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, because interracial marriage was illegal in that state. By the time my little brother Orestes was born in 1967 -- the sixth O'Brien child -- the Supreme Court finally changed the law and lifted the ban on interracial marriage. When I tell that story in speeches, older folks in the audience nod their heads while younger ones gasp. It was illegal for my parents to marry, and it wasn't all that long ago. [/rquoter] Any society that will prevent the creation of someone as hot as Soledad O'brien has a serious problem.
