Chris Rock Finds His Roots and Cries on Oprah

By Monica Medina

First I must say, that it’s refreshing to see a man cry. It’s good for men to show their emotions. Chris Rock was on Oprah talking about the upcoming series that will air on PBS called “African American Lives 2″ hosted by Henry Louis Gates. On the series, Chris discovers that his great-great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Tinghman, went from being a slave to serving in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. Tinghman also was elected into the South Carolina legislature at 27 years old. He went from being a slave to owning 65 acres of land when he died in 1917.

Chris became choked up. “It’s weird how you don’t realize what low expectations you have for yourself until somebody shows you what your people have actually accomplished. It made me a little sad because I always considered myself so lucky. Yes, there’s a lot of luck with the success … but when you see that people before you managed to make it, you feel like maybe it’s your birthright or destiny. We as black people don’t feel that we’re destined to do anything but bad.”

AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2 airs Wednesdays, February 6-13, 2008, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS.