I was very surprised, to say the least. They've got a better mix of personalities this time around.
I wonder if Oprah agrees with Danny Tisdale's comments. I'll paraphrase them since I can't find them on line : I no longer consider myself an African-American, but an American of African descent, with the emphasis on American.
Later in an online interview on PBS' website : "As I expected, the project solidified my love for this country, as a American of African descent whose ancestors shed their blood in this soil for a better life for me. It also confirmed my appreciation of the ideals for the men and women who were here originally and who came from other lands to create this great diamond in the rough that we have today. I better understand that democracy is not guaranteed, and that my participation is required to keep and enhance it; for me this is one of the greatest gifts of the project."
In another interview that was in a magazine or something (that showed up on the web and which I unfortunately do not have a link to), he said something along the lines, that he would have endured what his slave ancestors endured, if it meant his descendants could have the life and freedoms that he has in this country.
Interesting that such an experience makes some people bitter or wanting to forget it, while others like him, it makes them appreciate and love this country even more and what its founders went through.
Even just watching half of the show, I found myself VERY thankful for sacrifices of what people went through back then. His comments are VERY telling in light of the blather that comes out of the mouths of some today.
Contrast that with what Amy-Kristina(?), the female of African descent had to say:
That day when we were out in the hot sun trying to plant the corn, understanding that historically the colonists' lives depended on it, I could see that, honestly, if it weren't for the Native Americans and the African slaves, the colonists would not have thrived the way they did.
Apparently, she's one that did not get it. It still was about "her people" and "their struggle". She still could not appreciate that everyone around her was engaged in exactly the same struggle