CNN, Thank you for starting the conversation now let’s build: 6 BIG things you missed in the first installment of Black in America:

1. WHITE SUPREMACY: The U.S. was founded on white supremacy and it continues to shape and pollute every facet of American life. I appreciated the individual stories of struggle among African Americans, however where was the honest discussion of how these inequalities came to be and how they are perpetuated? In order to understand the statistical inequalities presented, we must examine slavery, lack of reparation, Jim Crow, organized racist terrorism, bank redlining which systematically walled off black communities from investment, unequal benefits from the GI Bill, and on and on and on.

Is it any surprise that in a nation where it was illegal for black children to learn to read that black children never quite caught up? Is it surprising that in a nation where black people were (and sometimes still are) barred from schools, professional organizations, social clubs and boardrooms that African Americans still lag behind “white” people in the race toward economic success?

2. RACE IS AN ILLUSION: There is no such thing as race. There is no biological foundation for the concept of race. It is a term invented by “white” pseudo-scientists that now thanks to the decoding of the human genome has been debunked once and for all. The illusion of race, that is distinct branches of the human family, was conjured up in order to unite previously warring Europeans around the lie of supremacy over Native Americans, Africans and anyone else from whom they could benefit. Alas our belief in the concept of race is so profound that even respected news organizations such as CNN continue to use the word. It’s time for a more nuanced and complex discussion. Race is an illusion but racism is all too real.

3. INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM: The special barely mentioned racism much less the way it is infused at the atomic level of every societal function whether it be healthcare, education, the environment or the economy.

4. A PYRAMID SHAPED ECONOMIC SYSTEM: The U.S. economic system demands a servant class. It is a myth that the system has room for all people to attain higher education and move into the middle or upper class.

5. INTERNALIZED OPPRESSION: When a people are told vicious lies about themselves for long enough on some level they begin to believe them. This plays a role in the color complex among communities of color for example.

6. INTERSECTIONALITY: The way in which women of color live at the intersection of 2 or more categories of oppression, namely racism and sexism. This is a distinct life experience that is NOT simply the sum of the way in which black men experience racism and white women experience sexism.

You cannot talk about being black in America without words like “white supremacy,” “institutionalized racism,” “white skin privilege,” and “intersectionality.”

For someone who has been researching, thinking about and experiencing so many of the issues so movingly presented tonight it is torturous to see us come so close to a historic confrontation of the issues yet still just skim the surface. If we are to heal these disparities and come together as one human family we must pull the veil back on the unmentionables, warts and all.

Bravo CNN for taking a step forward now let’s run with it! I would be happy to elaborate on any CNN forum if contacted.