She's been off the set of Starting Point for less than two months, but former CNN host Soledad O'Brien is stirring up controversy yet again. In a Harvard Institute of Politics video, O'Brien arrogantly lectured "white people" who want her to "just see beyond race."
O'Brien, now a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, gave her reaction to the "white" critics of her documentaries on race: "And I was like, again, 'okay white person, this is a conversation that you're clearly uncomfortable with. And I have no problem seeing race, and I think we should talk about race.'" [Video below the break.]
O'Brien related how "white people" called her documentaries "divisive":
""People would sometimes want to, when I give speeches, stand up and say I think your 'Black in America' documentary is divisive. You know, I think like, you know, listen – we shouldn't think of ourselves as African-Americans. We're Americans. And everybody should stop separating themselves out and I would think' – first of all, as only white people who ever said that, 'if we could just see beyond race. If only people didn't see race, it would be such a better place and you are responsible for bringing up these icky race issues, Soledad. You should just let sleeping dogs lie.'
During her time at CNN, O'Brien produced documentaries on race like "Black in America" and "Latino in America." Though independently producing documentaries now, O'Brien still has a production partnership with CNN.
She also gave her take on what the new "civil rights" is: "Today, civil rights to me is about education; it's about opportunity; it's about where you get to live; it's about the wealth disparity; it's about the opportunity gap; it's about the achievement gap. So same debate, but just sort of different pieces."
(H/T The Washington Examiner)
