NBC to do Week-long Series on Black Women - Let the Gnashing of the Teeth Begin!

Thanks to all of the readers sending me this info. NBC is planning a series on the state of Black women in America. We're important y'all..... at least until the Democratic primary is over.

Some of the stats they list are just downright depressing. Of course they will assemble a panel of folks from the Hip Hop Industrial complex to talk about the depiction of Black women in the industry. Let's take bets as to who will be on it. You know our favorite hip hop apologist and prognostitute in chief is sniffing around... he could smell the bright lights of a network camera. Here is the info. Make sure you go over to the NBC Nightly News website to weigh in and tell 'em WAOD sent 'ya.

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS"

SPECIAL FIVE-PART SERIES


TO AIR BEGINNING ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26

New York, N.Y. – November 15, 2007 – Throughout the week of November 26, "NBC News With Brian Williams" will take a look at the issues facing African-American women across our nation in a new series "African-American Women: Where They Stand." The series will cover a wide-range of issues from their role in the '08 Presidential race, to the increased health-risks that they need to be concerned about.

Monday's installment will discuss African-American women's progress in the education field. Nearly two-thirds of African-American undergraduates are women. At black colleges, the ratio of women to men is 7 to 1. And that is leading to a disparity in the number of African-American women who go on to own their own businesses. Rehema Ellis will talk to educators, students and businesswomen about why this disparity exists. {Why is the fact that a bunch of Black women are going to college treated as a negative, a DISPARITY. As if by having black women pursuing and education is a BAD thing. Lovely. Just. Lovely NBC. Why not couch it in terms of achievement or success?What other group of folks on planet Earth going to college would be couched in terms of a DISPARITY??? We ought to be HAPPY that Black women are being entrepreneurial.}

Tuesday, Ellis will look at relationships within the African-American female community. Many agree the gender disparity in education and business among African-Americans is having an effect on relationships that African American women have. Some even say the implications could redefine "Black America's family and social structure." In the past fifty years, the percentage of African-American women between 25-54 who have never been married has doubled from 20% to 40%. (Compared to just 16% of white women who have never been married today). Ellis sits down with the members of a Chicago book club and talk about this difference and how it impacts them. {HERE WE GO, the whole " Black women are going to die old, alone, single and be eaten alive by nine cats because they went off to college and got an education. OH I can already see the blog will be hopping next week. FOOLISHNESS ALERT. }

Dr. Nancy Snyderman will discuss the increases risks for breast cancer for African-American women on Wednesday. Mortality rates for African-American women are higher than any other racial or ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death, including breast cancer. Black women with breast cancer are nearly 30% more likely to die from it than white women. Premenopausal black women are more than twice as likely to get a more aggressive form of the disease. And, not only are African-American women more likely to die from breast cancer, but they're less likely to get life-saving treatments. Dr. Snyderman will profile one of the only oncologists in the world who specializes in the treatment of African-American women with breast cancer.

On Thursday, Ron Allen will take viewers to South Carolina -- the first southern primary state -- and ask the question: Will race trump gender or gender trump race? In South Carolina, black women made up nearly 30 percent of all democratic primary voters in 2004. This year, polls show a significant number are undecided, torn between choosing the first African-American or first female Presidential candidate. Allen talks with the undecided, as well the state directors for the Clinton and Obama campaigns, who happen to be African-American women.{Black women in South Carolina have all of this political capital, how are they spending it? Are they obtaining any campaign promises? A guarantee that we will get Black women in the next cabinet at someplace other than the Department of Labor? Are we extracting promises of larger federal grants dedicated to studying all of these diseases Black women seem to be dying from in larger numbers? Don't forget about our January Road Trip to South Carolina.}

To close the series on Friday, Dr. Snyderman will raise the frightening statistic that African-American women are 85% more likely to get diabetes, a major complication for heart disease. And, like breast cancer, more black women die from heart disease than white women. Dr. Snyderman will profile a leading expert and a unique church-based outreach program in South Carolina that seeks to spread the word about heart disease risks to black women congregants.

Mara Schiavocampo, Digital Correspondent for "Nightly News," will address two hot topics in the African - American community: interracial dating and the impact of hip hop music on black women. Interracial dating is a growing trend in the African - American community. An Essence.com poll found that 81% of participants approved of black women dating non- black men. {Oh LORD, the Internet Ike Turners are going to be in a tizzy. Prepare for them to blow an online gasket. Hey, if you like it I love it. Wow and they are attributing it to hip hop hmmmm interesting.}

According to a U.S. Census Bureau report in 2000, 95,000 black women were married to white men. In 2005, that number increased to 134,000. Schiavocampo will talk to experts about the trend and discuss how this defines the "Black family" of the future.

Schiavocampo will convene a panel of leading black men and women from the hip-hop industry for an engaging discussion on whether hip hop lyrics and videos positively or negatively affect black women. The roundtable also will address how these portrayals are affecting relationships between black women and black men. {Who does NBC define as "leading?" FOOLISHNESS ALERT. how much you wanna bet Michael Eric Dyson weaseled a way up in there?}

Consumers can go online to join the discussion and share their thoughts on message boards. They can also read and respond to blog entries at www.nightly.msnbc.com .
Alexandra Wallace is the executive producer of "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Bob Epstein is the senior broadcast producer, and Rich Latour is the senior producer for this series.

OH I have the feeling next week will be a doozy 'round here. I say we do our own series reacting to their series. I need volunteers. Pick a night of the week to watch and write a review for WAOD. Hit up the Gmail.

What About Our Daughters Wins Battle!!!

Hi everyone,

My name is Bronze Trinity. I am a graduate student and a member of the Afrosphere Bloggers Association. I will be guest blogging here for a while to keep fighting againist negative representations of Black women. My first post my impression of what has happened this week.

What About Our Daughters has won the BET battle!

What was once a disgrace and offense to the Black community is no longer offensive! Based on the activism and drive of one fantastic blogger, Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters blog (WAOD) the offensive title was changed and all offensive material was removed from the show. THAT MEANS WAOD WON! No the show was not canceled but the show that aired was no longer offensive. The whole point of the protest was to stop an offensive show from being aired that would insult and spread stereotypes about Black people. In actuality, that offensive show NEVER AIRED! Its was CANCELED! What they aired instead was a version with the offensive title and content removed. I think that the fact that the show's content had to be edited actually proves that there was a lot of offensive material in the original show. If the show was a poignant social commentary to begin with then there would have been nothing to edit in the first place. What was left was just disjointed video segments. It didn't lift anyone up or inspire anyone to do better. It was a piece of crap!

At first I was worried that people were bringing too much attention to the show and actually giving it publicity. What if it had actually been a good show? Fortunately it was garbage, many people, the media, and critics saw the garbage and are now in the process of writing negative reviews. This negative publicity would not have been generated if WAOD did not bring attention to the show. It is taking attention away from BET's other shows! I hope that this finally motivates them to change the type of programming they carry. I also hope that channels like TVONE, that provide better programming, can capitalize of this by getting new subscribers! Understand this, one blogger with vast activism skills stood up against a television corporation and stopped an offensive show from airing. THIS IS A VICTORY!!! Please congratulate Gina because this is a victory against negative depictions of Black people in the media.

The war is not over and Black bloggers are going to find creative ways to use internet activism to improve the lives of members of the African Diaspora. We are taking back our lives, confronting and dealing with our own problems, and stepping up to change things. We will fight crime, drugs, AIDS, poor education, low self-esteem, poverty, and all the problems that affect us. This was a great example of how it can be done. We will use this example to help us fight all of our problems!