CNN’s LZ Granderson Chokes Up During Riveting Segment on Danger of Being Black in America
CNN columnist and ESPN host LZ Granderson got choked up while describing the stress of being black in America — and particularly of being the father of a black teenager — in a riveting segment that left co-anchors Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow speechless.
Granderson appeared on Friday morning’s edition of CNN Newsroom just hours after Omar Jimenez — a black CNN correspondent — was arrested along with his entire crew while reporting on the unrest that has attended the in-custody killing of George Floyd.
In an intense segment, Granderson related his own harrowing experience with police, which he detailed in a new column for the LA Times, to Jimenez’s arrest.
“To see what happened to him on live television was absolutely heartbreaking,” Granderson said of Jimenez. “I teared up because I know how traumatic it is to be surrounded by police officers and not quite sure what’s going to unfold next.”
“I know people think, oh it was on camera, it was on television, nothing bad was going to happen,” he continued. “Well, say that to Mr Floyd. Say that to Eric Garner. Just being in front of a camera, just being on television isn’t enough. Being a professional isn’t enough. Being educated isn’t enough. Being rich isn’t enough. When you have darker skin, there is no insulation for this type of behavior.”
Granderson then talked about his own son, choking up as he told Sciutto and Harlow that “he is a young man now, he recently just graduated from college, and I can’t tell you the fear that the fear that crawls across my body when he leaves the house. Still.”
“He’s been with the family since the quarantine has happened, and he’s an avid runner, he actually was captain of his track team in high school, and I can remember after Trayvon Martin, my husband saying that we needed to make sure that he had a sweatshirt that said the high school’s name on it in big bright letters because he loved to jog in a hoodie, and my husband was afraid because of the neighborhood that we were in that something bad may happen,” he said.
Granderson concluded by saying he wrote his column “because I wanted people to understand what it was like, and it’s not just about your educational level, it’s not just about where you live, it’s not just about whether or not you are respectable. It’s about humanity. And I am hoping that particularly some of the white individuals who are still confused about what is going on will read the piece and recognize that it is so stressful at times just to be black in America. And I’m not overstating that, I’m, I still tense up, I’m 40-some years old, I’ve been to grad school, I’ve won awards, and you know, I still tense up. Because I don’t know if this is the day. And it’s real. It’s not made up, this is real.”
Harlow and Sciutto were speechless for several seconds before thanking Granderson.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
