Program Note: In CNN's Black in America 2, Soledad O'Brien reports on the innovative and unexpected ways people are transforming the black experience by confronting the most difficult issues facing their community. Tune in on Wednesday, July 22 at 9 p.m. and Thursday, July 23 at 8 p.m..

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Soledad O’Brien jokes with several of the Journey for Change participants. Left to right: Steven Pallares, Zuliana Burnett, Sayris Pallares, Sadara Lewis, Queen Clyde, Mariah Ralph, Soledad O’Brien, Imaan Williams, Yolaine Calixte, Jenee Lawson, Sydney Smart, Daisa Carr. Joshua Hall on the floor.

Soledad O’Brien
CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent

Over the past year, 30 kids from the Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center have traveled to South African shantytowns, hosted a car wash to raise money for a burn victim, helped rebuild around New Orleans and cleaned up on the streets of Brooklyn.

They are all a part of Journey for Change, a group started by Malaak Compton-Rock to empower children who are growing up in neighborhoods rife with crime and poverty. Malaak, an activist who also happens to be the wife of comedian Chris Rock, believes these kids often limit their dreams. Her dream is to turn them into global citizens who believe in themselves and think big!

I traveled with these amazing young people, ages 12 to 16, eight thousand miles to Johannesburg, South Africa, and I have watched them as they changed and grew as a result of the experience. Their year-long journey will be a part of Black in America 2 on CNN July 22 at 9p and July 23 at 8p. We also continue to post additional material from the trip at CNN.com/BlackinAmerica. Below are blogs from three of the children: Imaan, Joshua and Sydney. I asked them to explain how the South African trip changed them.

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Program Note: In CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien examines the successes, struggles and complex issues faced by black men, women and families, 40 years after the death of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination this Saturday & Sunday, 8 p.m. ET

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CNN's Soledad O'Brien pieces together the story of the fatal moment in Martin Luther King Jr.'s death.

Through first-hand witnesses and original documents from that time, special correspondent Soledad O'Brien reconstructs the evidence and the story of the death of Martin Luther King Junior. Her CNN Presents documentary, "Eyewitness to Murder: the King Assassination," airs this Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm, ET.

Among those contributing to this special program are former ambassador Andrew Young, Congressman John Lewis, various policemen and firemen, the medical examiner, and the brother of accused killer James Earl Ray. We look at the man on the balcony who joined the CIA, the military intelligence agents on a nearby firehouse roof, the FBI officials who tried to drive King to suicide, but in the end, find no hard evidence pointing to any one other than Ray.

Editor's Note: In ‘Black in America 2,’ Soledad O'Brien investigates the innovative and unexpected ways people are confronting the most difficult issues facing their community in "Black in America 2." Watch this July on CNN.

Soledad O’Brien
CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent

Think the campaigning was challenging? The hard work begins today.

Here's what people have to remember. Black people didn’t elect Barak Obama. Yes, African Americans turned out in overwhelming numbers - 96 percent of African Americans nationwide voted for Obama.

But it was the Hispanic vote, too, that put him over the top. People debated whether Latinos would vote for an African American - they would and they did. 67 percent of Latinos who voted, voted for Obama.

Young voters turned out for Obama - 66 percent of voters under the age of 30 - voted for Obama.

New voters - who made up 11 percent of the electorate in this highly anticipated election year - 68 percent voted for Barak Obama.

And white voters... 43 percent of them, that's tens of millions of white voters, voted for Obama.

The promise of America is a promise for everyone–not just for "Joe the plumber," but all Americans who represent the diverse and changing face of our nation.

Program Note: In the next installment of CNN's Black in America series, Soledad O'Brien examines the successes, struggles and complex issues faced by black men, women and families, 40 years after the death of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Watch encore presentation Saturday & Sunday, 8 p.m. ET

We devote several days on the blog to smart insight and commentary related to the special.
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Soledad O'Brien reporting for 'Black In America'

Soledad O'Brien
CNN Anchor and Special Correspondent

I'm on the phone with a confused reporter, and I'm confused too. She keeps asking me why I "count myself as black... And why does Barack Obama?" My answer (for Sen. Obama, at least) is "have you seen him?" But she won't let it go. "Is your father annoyed that you deny him?" My dad is white. I interject. "Let's conference him in," I say. "Listen, he married a black woman, he has six black children. He'd be the first person to tell you I'm black."

The questions, to me, reveal more about the asker. This (white) reporter surely doesn't know a lot of black people, or she wouldn't be struggling so hard. She'd know black people come in all hues.

Our documentary, Black in America airs on Wednesday and Thursday and now all anyone wants to talk to me about is race. A clear sign, if you ask me, that this is a discussion that's been long in coming.

The TSA screener at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson airport asks me if the documentary is "worth letting his sons stay up to see?" I tell him definitely yes.

It's an indication that the story of black people in this country needs to be told – a wide range of stories – some of successful blacks, stories of some who are struggling. We interview corporate execs and recovering addicts, parents who've proudly sent all six kids to college and single moms who are struggling. We have lots of stories that make up who we are – and guess what, we're more than rappers and ballers and Secretaries of State (though we are that too).

Which brings me back to the reporter. Finally I tell her "this is clearly more about you than about me. Why is it so hard for you to see me, and Barack Obama as black?" I'm trying to remember that talking about race is a difficult conversation and it sometimes means starting at the very beginning. Let's start talking.

While the nation’s mouths are hanging open at Gov. Eliot Spitzer, every time his public apology airs I can’t take my eyes or my mind off of his poor wife, Silda Wall Spitzer. Why is it that she stood there beside her husband during his public admission yesterday afternoon? It certainly wasn’t to better herself. Gov. Spitzer’s advisors probably deemed the “stand by your man” philosophy necessary, but her presence at her husband’s press conference yesterday only truly benefited Gov. Spitzer, leaving Silda most likely irreparably humiliated. Nobody’s doing damage control in Silda’s camp. While advisors may see it as a team effort, why does that have to trump your personal pride?

Also, I wonder, when did he tell Silda? And what did she think? Gov. Spitzer became the New York Attorney General in 1999 and built his career fighting corporate corruption and investigating prostitution. In fact, in 2004 Gov. Spitzer was part of an investigation that arrested 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution.

This allegation that he repeatedly hired high-end prostitutes is a heavy blow to anyone vowing “till death do us part.”   Even if she is there for him “in sickness and in health,” did Silda have to be at the press conference?

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I'm standing around with some other moms after drop-off at my boys' school.  We have a few minutes, it's a relatively warm morning, and it's the day after the most recent primary – which means we are talking politics.

They always ask me who's going to win, knowing full well that I've got no clue, and I'd never even hazard a guess. 

Our conversation quickly turns to race:  One of the moms is Cuban-American – and a big Obama supporter.  Her father, she tells me, is not supporting Obama.  "It's racist" she insists. "He's an older man, who will never ever vote for a black man.  Won't happen." 

This is a curious conversation for me.  I'm black and Latino (my mom is Cuban, and now a naturalized citizen) and this isn't the first time I've heard this.  Especially now as the Latino vote is so critical.

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