I think that you are misunderstanding the term "black Muslim." It should be a reference to a religious organization/movement, a.k.a. the nation of Islam or similar group. You can find so-called self titled "white-christian" groups as well.
If CBS meant anything other than a member of one of these type of groups, then they were clearly in the wrong.
And of course you cannot assume a black muslim is a member of one of these groups, any more that you can assume that a white christian is a member of the racist "white christian" groups either.
Not really. We all know what it means.
"Black" is a American term. Muslim is not. Hence Black Muslim means to most people just what it states.
The term once refered to radical organizations, but was adopted to refer to all in the American parlance.
Mohamed Ali, (formerly Cassius Clay) is a black Muslim.
Now you can argue the precise parsing of the language, but street talk still rules.
This is the kind of babble that results in people getting killed.
Why would any black person convert to Islam (and more than half of muslims in the U.S. are converted blacks) if they didn't follow the teachings of Farrakhan and Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad?
It's simply amazing anyone would utter such PC mumbo-jumbo after everything we've experienced. The very core of Black Muslims is their (i) hate for the USA, (ii) hate for Jews, and (iii) hate for "blue-eyed devils". I'm not saying this, the leaders of Black Muslims are. And, unlike you, I take seriously what they say, I don't try to sugar-coat it because it makes me uncomfotable. Yes, some people don't like, some people want to see us suffer, would butcher us if they had their way.
It's the same with bin Laden--he kept telling us he was going to hurt us, was going to seek revenge, and no one seemed to take it seriously. Rather, we late 19 young Arab guys with one-way tickets and light luggage onto the planes on September 11 because to suspect them would have been too horrible in this PC dominated world. September 11 was really a failure of our culture and society to have even an ounce of self-preservation in its blood.
I only hope the army isn't filled with people who think like you.