Stay Involved!!!

It’s been a few weeks since I have written anything for the blog. I have been SUPER busy and haven’t had the time to write much of anything that wasn’t related to my job or graduate school. There are a number of issues that I want to hit so just bare with me if it seems like I’m all over the place. Trust me when I say that it all will come together at the end.

The first issue I would like to discuss has to do with Black films. A friend of mine asked me to write about the heavy bootlegging of Denzel Washington’s movie American Gangster and Tyler Perry’s Why did I get Married. To start, I planned to watch both movies in the theater. I am a huge fan of film, and take advantage of anytime I can see a good movie. I believe firmly that it is important if we want “quality” Black movies to come out we need to support the movie with our dollars. In the event that we don’t support these movies in the theater the only Black movies that come out will be movies like Soul Plane and other coon-like films, that cater to a crowd that is confused or stand in opposition to the self determination of the Black community. I think it is also clear that these movies were illegally released by the film companies. The quality was not of a random person filming the movie while sitting in the back of the theater, the quality was crystal clear DVD quality. The American Gangster copy even had a PLAY option at the start, instead of just beginning like most bootlegging DVD do. I think most people realize this fact and made a conscious decision that even if they watched the bootleg they still where going to eventually see the films in the theater or buy the DVD when it is released.

I have beefs with both movies as far as content, and other “quality” Black films that have been released since these movies. (The only Latino person in This Christmas was the Latina maid. Situation like this only lend itself to supporting stereotypes that we should protest at every junction. White folks type caste Black folks in their movies for years. We should not follow behind their ridiculous example!)I could list a number of things that could be improved upon in an effort to lift the community, but that would be beside the point. In short, although Black films have a long way to go, they have come along way throughout its history. In order for the movies that are a reflection of our community to continue to grow we need to support them with our dollars. The bootleg of American Gangster and Why did I Get Married are simply an extension of Black films that Hollywood tried to sabotage.

Historically, movie houses have given movie tickets to patrons of color with different movies from the one in which they purchased. (Movie sales are tracked the stubs that are printed when you purchase a movie at the box office.) This same process has been used in the music industry to curb the sales of our artist. This is a game the “industry” has played for years. To combat this we have to be diligent in our criticism of films that display our community, we need to support these films with our dollars, and be aware of the tricks Hollywood uses to sabotage the success of art that reflect our community. Before I conclude this issue I want to plug another Denzel/Forrest Whitiker film titled The Great Debaters. For all of you that went so hard to see American Gangster you need to make sure you support this film check out the clip ht tp://youtube.com/watch?v=8tP1bEIHRQo .

Moving on to topic number two. In May of this year there was a shooting in Brooklyn, NY. This shooting resulted in the death of a young man. The death of this very popular young man brought hundreds of teenagers from the surrounding areas of Brooklyn and Queens. The police where at the funeral in an attempt to monitor what they classified as a potential meeting of the alleged gangs involved in the shooting. At the funeral the police arrested scores of young men and women. They eventually let the young women go, but kept all of the young men for 40 hours. The young men that were detained for seemingly no real reasons have become known as the Bushwick 32.

Many of the young males that where arrested are students at Bushwick Community High School in Brooklyn. An associate of mine, Brian Favors, is a teacher at the school. Being the supportive and engaged teacher that he is, he attended every court date of the young men. On Friday December 1st Favors attempted to let the Public Defender of the boys know that she should move to get the cases against the young men dismissed in the light that the District Attorney was not ready to present their weak case. The Public Defender got annoyed with Favors and asked the Court Officer to remove Favors from the court room. The Court office mistook Favors for another young man in the crowd that looked “similar” to Favors and asked him to leave. (You all know how that goes, we all look alike.) Nkululeko Sechaba objected to leaving the court room initially, but soon realized that the court officers behavior was getting more aggressive. He decided that it would be best to leave and explain his case in the hall. Favors followed behind in support of Nekolulako. Favors attempted to tell the court officer that it was he who the Public Defender felt should leave the court. In the mist of the conversation a scuffle ensued after the police shoved Nkululeko Sechaba for trying to re enter the courtroom. A couple of students of Bushwick High School who saw the incident came to the aid of their trusted teacher. In the end all parties involved where beat up, and arrested. One of the high school students even ended up with a severe scare on his nose from being smashed into the wall.

Immediately after the incident occurred a number of e mails, phone calls, and text messages where sent to people around the city in order to rally support for the four brothers. The men where scheduled to be arraigned on Saturday morning at 9 am. It was essential that we showed the judge that these men had community support. Needless to say the courtroom was packed and all for men where released. I say all that to say this. It is important that we show support for not only Black films, but for real issues that are going on in the streets of all of our cities. Just like we can keep “quality” Black film in the theaters by supporting the film, we can keep Black men out of jail with community support. It is essential that we apply this concept to all aspects of our lives. Our numbers and dollars are enough in most cases to make the immediate adjustment to issues that affect us. Brian and Nkululeko both spoke of a sense of calm knowing that their where people on the outside that where in support of them. They knew that we would be working toward there release and that there would be hell to pay if they were not. We understand that getting them released the next morning is a small victory seeing that they have future court date, the point I am trying to make that it takes a united front, in order to make the moves toward a liberated future.

Any judge across America would think twice about holding our community in jail on trumped up charges if they knew there where thousands of people in support of the individual. Often, the judicial system works the way it does because they know in many aspects of our community we are not organized. The tide of this trend of un-organization is beginning to change dramatically. There are a number of grassroots organizations that are helping our community every day. The International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, the Malcolm X Grass Roots Movement, the December 12th Movement, The New Black Panther Party, The Zulu Nation, The Sankofoa Community School Program, etc. etc. all represent organization that are on the ground everyday in support of our community We need to take a stance and be apart of this collective of organizations that are working together to liberate the Black and Brown community. (Ironically the men that where arrested on Friday represent a number of different grassroots organizations in NY, this is a beautiful sign that we all are working together toward one goal of liberation).

On a side note, subsequent to the arrest of Brian Favors he was suspended from his job. The NYC public school system would rather have a dedicated teacher like Brian out of the classroom, then in the class showing through his actions the same resistance that he gets paid to teach about.

Moving on to topic number three. A very good friend of mine recently ran into some racial issues at work. I think most of us, who are fresh to the work force, are reaching the point where we are starting to see a lot of the crap that comes along with a “good” job and a “good” education. My friend is by no means a “revolutionary” type guy, he is all about the progress of Black people, but he isn’t all about the movement either. He’s a hard working young man, who handles his business day in and day out. No felonies, no baby mamas, nice “American” name, high school and college graduate the whole nine yards, the quintessential Bill Cosby approved type of guy. (This info was provided for all of you that believe you need the proper qualifications to avoid injustice). He works for the federal government in one of the more labor intensive jobs.( I don’t want to say what he does exactly, but you see these guys trooping up and down the street providing theirs services rain, sleet, snow, or hail).

A couple weeks ago while my friend was completing his daily routine he was accosted by his supervisor. After completing his probationary period on the job, they moved his to a new office. His first day at the new office, he was trying to get himself acclimated to the new station and neighborhood. He went out that day to complete his daily duty, but ended up spending more time in route than he originally had anticipated. When he returned, about an hour after his allotted time, he explained to his supervisor that a lot information they provided him was inaccurate. The manager decided to use this opportunity to berate my friend for his lateness. The supervisor said that this is what happens when they start to hire monkeys. (This is not a direct quote, but you can get the picture, about her comments) My friend was so taken back by her comments that he didn’t know what to do or say.

No diss to my friend, but the same person who doesn’t really follow the politics of Black people, or involve himself in the movement at all is ready for some sort of rally about the supervisor’s comments. All of us are guilty of this same behavior. We all are concerned about the state of Black people, but we don’t take any action until it affects us personally.

I say all that to say this, issues involving race are easy to ignore or justify when it isn’t happening to you. It’s easy to say pull your self up by the boot straps, when your boot straps are pulled up. The problem is when issue like the one mentioned above take place we all should be ready to take action. Not just the individual involved in the situation. In short I told him that he should write a letter to the station manager and his union rep explaining to them the situation. I also suggested that the most important thing he should do is professionally ( not politely) approach the supervisor about her comments. I am a firm believer that people talk crazy, because they are certain that there won’t be approached for their behavior.

In the event that they knew that they (white, black, brown, or other) would be held accountable for their behavior toward our people, they would be less likely to take such a ridiculous stance. The same vigor that we should take to the theater in support of our movies, or in support of our men and women who are being jailed at an alarming rate, should be institutionalized in our places of work and community. We need to create an environment where we are carving out the political space to move our community forward.

The final issue I would like to discuss is the issue surrounding a police shooting out in Brooklyn. The police shot and killed a mentally disturbed teenager after the mom, out of complete desperation, called the police to help her with her child that was having a mental break down. There is no real need to re hash the whole story you can read about it here http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/another-fatal-police-shooting-in-brooklyn/ . The contradiction of the police shooting another young Black male is clear. I have discussed it a number of times in the blog, and I don’t want to make it seem like this situation isn’t worthy but I think this situation raises a less discussed contradiction.

What is going on in our community when a single mother has no other option but to call the police to help her with a child that is out of control? Where is the since of community that is common among all people of African descent. We as a community in order to survive in a world where we are under constant attack, have to band together. That young man was not only assassinated by the police, but the community as well. We cannot always point to the immediate contradiction for a solution, sometimes, we need to point all the contradictions that created the situation. The contradiction of the police in the community is clear, but the reality of the breakdown in community is reflected vividly in this situation.

A break down in our collective effort is contributing to the demise of our community. We have signs of greatness (The National Black Out Day), but we have to keep our effort sustained. One day of resistance is not enough. In some cases a lifetime may not be enough, but we must be diligent in our effort to see change. Whether that change is at the theater, in the courts, at our jobs, in our community or elsewhere, we have to be proactive in making that change. Apathy is the tool of the oppressor and we ALL must say no longer are we going to fall for this trap.

Marvo

PS I want to send a BIG 11111906 the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. On Dec 4th we turned 101 years old. I know some of you revolutionary brothers out there are saying to yourself, Marvo is tripping shouting out those bourgeois Negros. All I have to say to that is check our resume!!! There are tons of brothers among our ranks that have contributed to the benefit of Black folks. Some of which you may agree and others you may not, but what cannot be denied for over 100 years the brothers of A Phi A have been at the front of our struggle. Just check the blog; I’ve been a member since Spring 03. A Phi A doesn’t represent one collective thought, what is collective is our dedication to the improvement of our community and working in the arena that you feel is the best way to lift our community. So I say with pride 111111906!! I want to send a shout out to all the Black “Greek” letter organization, non “Greek” letter organizations, and grassroot organization that have dedicated themselves to the onward and upward progress of OUR community. ’06!