{"id":19306,"date":"2012-12-08T14:30:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T19:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/?p=19306"},"modified":"2012-12-08T17:18:08","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T22:18:08","slug":"harlems-michaela-angela-davis-interviewed-by-soledad-obrian-for-new-cnn-series-who-is-black-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/?p=19306","title":{"rendered":"Michaela Angela Davis interviewed by Soledad O’Brian for new CNN series Who Is Black In America?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was so proud to see my friend and Image Activist Michaela Angela Davis interviewed by Soledad O’Brien for CNN’s new series “Who Is Black In America?: Soledad O’Brien Explores Racial Identity”<\/p>\n

In this clip Michaela asks one of the seminal questions of our time.<\/p>\n

(VIDEO)<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

I have forever contemplated similar questions. \u00a0I am black but of mixed race and born and raised in America.<\/p>\n

I was born at the intersection of two lineages. One black one white. \u00a0Different countries of origin. \u00a0Languages. \u00a0Economic status. \u00a0Professions. \u00a0Political systems. \u00a0And so on. \u00a0 All of this informed me as a person.<\/p>\n

My mother and aunt married my father and his best friend in the 60s. \u00a0Their unions were embraced by both sides of the family from the very first day. \u00a0 I have never heard, seen or \u00a0detected anything to the contrary.<\/p>\n

Both families settled in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park just a short walk from the adjoining neighborhood of Kenwood, the former home to President Obama\u00a0and his family. \u00a0Hyde Park was nationally recognized as the most liberal and racially mixed neighborhood in the country. \u00a0It also happened to be in one of the most segregated cities in the County.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0fruit of my family’s unions were always in fullest view at Christmas during which adults and kids of all colors – black, white and in between awoke, showered, played, ate, slept together and loved each other.<\/p>\n

My parents, aunts and uncles always referred to me and those like me as “mulatto”. \u00a0 We all considered it a term of endearment until we learned that it had become politically incorrect for some. \u00a0But to this day I find it hard to use another word to describe myself and others like me. \u00a0Sometimes I simply refuse to use another term and I explain why.<\/p>\n

Our families \u00a0used the word with a sense of \u00a0pride. \u00a0That something unique (but not better) had been delivered. \u00a0 \u00a0As I grew older I learned to detect two other things in their voices. \u00a0A trepidation that we might encounter fear, hate, injustice or even violence. \u00a0\u00a0Moreover, the\u00a0\u00a0hope, belief and resolve that we represented that which should be accepted without question. \u00a0That we represent \u00a0and would define the future.<\/p>\n

As I grew up and went to college I \u00a0learned what it meant to be black and I learned the answer to Angela’s question in the video – “why don’t you think black is enough? ” \u00a0My answer.<\/p>\n

It is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was so proud to see my friend and Image Activist Michaela Angela Davis interviewed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":832535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124718155,398,462],"tags":[77809719,5154,55758,124718158,13611479,93470272,124715020,124715021,8512045,9487,124715018,124715019],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19306"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19306"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19319,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19306\/revisions\/19319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/832535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harlemcondolife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}