Let’s face
it, most news programs only deal with race when it’s sensational – like when there’s some violent crime, riots, or when a white cop kills a black teen, or a black criminal shoots a white
cop. What usually follows are supposedly serious discussions on race which are, most of time, nothing but people screaming at each other on TV, which is good for ratings and
getting viewers all riled up.

Whether it’s
MSNBC, CNN or Fox News, nothing is truly dealt with or discussed in any comprehensive
way, and, ultimately, nothing is resolved. And soon enough, it’s all forgotten… until the next racial
incident, and it starts up all over again.

However, PBS’
daily news show, "PBS Newshour," has decided that, “because of increasing tensions
around the country to volatile levels and exposing a festering wound that has
yet to heal,”  to take a more serious and nuanced
approach to the volatile matter, when it announced yesterday that, starting this week, they’re beginning a
year long series to be called "Race Matters," which will be a segment of the program, and will deal with race, as well as “diversity, the divisions that have seemingly torn the nation apart, and what can
be done to bridge those divides."

The series will
be hosted by veteran journalist and author, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who, from 1978
to 1997, was a correspondent and occasional co-anchor on "Newshour," before
leaving in 1997 to become NPR’s Johannesburg correspondent, and eventually, the Johannesburg bureau chief and correspondent for CNN

Ms Hunter-Gault
said that she is very pleased that “PBS NewsHour is paying serious
attention to America’s most enduring challenge: racism,’ adding that, "My conversations
focusing on solutions come at a time of growing concern raised by disturbing
events in places like Charleston, Ferguson, Baltimore and New York over the
past year. It is my hope that these conversations will lead to greater
understanding and narrowing of the racial divide."