CSA: The Confiderate States of America, a bold thought-provoking film that tackles such a topic, has just been released in the UK.

Writen and directed by Kevin Willmott and presented by Spike Lee, CSA , among other things ask the questions:-

• What if the Confederate Army won the Civil War?
• What if Abraham Lincoln was caught in blackface while on the Underground Railroad by Southern soldiers and lived to a ripe old age in Canadian exile?
• What if America struck Japan first in WWII, and eventually supported Hitler’s plans for Europe?
• What if slavery was an idea that was never abolished?

The feature length film then unfolds with humour, a clever retelling of history, documentary style, in the guise of a BBC television production that has “finally” been able to see the light of day in the Confederate States of America.

Through the use of other fabricated movie segments, old government information films, television commercials, news breaks, along with actual stock footage from our own history, a provocative and humorous story is told of a country which, in many ways, frighteningly offers a view of a world which Bush would like to reinvent.

Return Of Slavery

After victory, the US President brings slavery back to the northern states by offering a tax rebate to businesses and households who will buy and own them.

Liberals move to Canada. The nation chooses an expansionist policy and conquers Cuba, Mexico and South America. As world war looms, the C.S.A. takes a non-aggressive stance toward the Third Reich and their move toward racial purity (although not condoning their wasting of possible slave stock by the Final Solution) and makes a preemptive strike on Japan on December 7, 1941.

Kennedy is assassinated soon after being elected as it appears he will not only emancipate but also give women the vote. A growing black terrorist base stems from Canada and a Cold War breaks out…complete with the Cotton Curtain being built between the two countries.

Through it all, including a contemporary run for the presidency, we follow a political dynasty, the Fauntroy family, who lead the country through its triumphs and tragedies.

We arrive to a today that, in many ways, we recognize. Although a nation that is content and prosperous, there is a tremendous divide within and suspicious eye without. Current politicians refer to America as two countries and perhaps, other than geographically, there is no difference between Red and Blue or North and South states. We have always struggled with the idea of whether America is the United or Confederate States of America.

The Black celebrity-hostile white media is always on a fault-finding mission to find blemishes in Black celebrities. If they fail to find faults, they can easily invent scandals.

The mega star Michael Jackson has been tagged a paedophile, Tina Turner’s first musician husband Ike Turner has been labelled a wife batterer despite having divorced and beaten his wife decades ago.

• The tag on James Brown being a marijuana smoker and wife batterer among several other negative tags has stuck. Each time the musician’s name is mentioned in the white press, these prefixes go with it.

• The godfather of soul’s bankruptcy in the 80’s was widely covered and sensationalised, not to talk of his incarceration for an offence no white man would have been jailed for.
• Other Black celebrities have had their share of the biased and racist white media. Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul’s tax bill bankruptcy ’scandal’ write ups in the white press was relished on for sometime.
• The late jazz musician Miles Davis also had a nasty confrontation when a white cop beat him for no apparent reason.
• Diana Ross’s airport scuffle with white airport officials was considered by many Blacks as a racist act. It was clear that the white official who searched her in an indecent manner just wanted to embarrass the singer and to show her that she was no different from other Blacks.
• Many dead Black artists like Sammy Davis jnr and Paul Robeson had traumatic experiences of racism. At one time Sammy Davis jnr was embarrassed when a group of white patrons saw him swimming in a swimming pool at a hotel in San Francisco. The whites demanded that the water in the pool be removed because a Black man had had a swim in it!
• Paul Robeson was vilified, hounded and driven into exile by both the media and a Black-celebrity-intolerant Criminal Investigating Agency (CIA). Other late artists like Paul Williams of the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke were victims of traps set for them in their own country.
• In the 70’s reggae calypso king Eddy Grant was hounded out of Britain back to his home in Barbados by abnormal taxation that his contemporary white performers were never subjected to.[/ul]
  The Black stars of today are grappling with the same injustices that overturned the successes of their predecessors in the 60’s and 70’s.

  We Against The World

  One needs to study Tupac Shakur’s upbringing in racist America to understand the lyrics in the song Me Against The World. The ‘ world ‘ refers to white America which seems to be driven by the racist slogan of yesteryears “Keep the n***** in his place”

  It does not matter whether you are a Michael Jackson or Oprah Winfrey, in the eyes of the whites you are an ordinary Black American.

  In sports, Black celebrities do not only have to fear losing but be on the lookout for the microscopic and fault-finding white media. The late Black tennis player Arthur Ashe’s self confession of being HIV positive was amplified and sensationalised in the white press.

  Another Black sportsman OJ Simpson nearly left America because of the negative write ups on his alleged murder of his white wife. The white press had already tried and convicted him of murder long before he could appear in court.

  Tyrannising Tyson

  The white press has succeeded in painting the boxer Mike Tyson as a rapist, sex maniac, wife batterer, drug addict and an insane boxer. While Tyson is a scandalous boxer, the Tyson the white media paints is a mad man only fit to be permanently confined to an asylum. Poor Tyson cannot even shake hands with a woman without the press accusing him of indecent assault.

  In a desperate attempt to clear numerous misconceptions about his name, Tyson told a five-person Nevada State Athletic Commission that he was not as bad as the white press painted him.

  “You don’t know me: You don’t know if I’m a victim or not. You don’t know my horror stories,” he said. He continued: “I’m crazy but I’m not crazy like that. I don’t want to kill or rape nobody or nothing like that.”

  The legendary boxer Ali Muhammad born Cassius Mercellus Clay had even more odds to fight outside the ring than any other Black sportsman. The press relished on his brushes with authority; the attempt to draft him in the army to fight in Vietnam when he made the famous statement that he had no quarrels with Vietcongs because no Vietcong had ever called him n*****, his divorces, his conversion to Islam and finally his succumbing to Parkinson Disease.

  Another Black boxer Carter Hill was jailed on trumped up charges. His fate inspired film makers to write a script which led to the film Hurricane on the life of the boxer starring Denzel Washington.

  Hollywood Raw

  In Hollywood, Black celebrities have been given a raw deal. One would wonder why it had taken 39 years for a Black actor Denzel Washington to win an Oscar in 2002 after Sydney Poitier. Halle Berry also became the first Black actress to win the same prize.

  According to Hollywood, good actors and actresses are all white. Despite Hollywood having several good Black movie stars, the Oscars always go to white movie stars.

  In the modelling world, Black women are discriminated despite most of them being better looking than whites. Super model Naomi Campbell despite making it to the top has been a victim of negative publicity by the white press. Her only sin is being Black.

  The white press has succeeded in painting Black celebrities as not being different from other ordinary Blacks to be lumped in the same race dustbin. While Black celebrities have been hounded by the hostile white press, white celebrities, many of them perverts, are not given the same bad publicity.

  The white press even romanticise their eccentricities as being part of their perverted images. Homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites and even schizophrenics are rarely condemned as being sick.

  Hollywood is full of white eccentrics but the white press usually turns a blind to their bizarre actions while beaming their spotlights on Black celebrities.

  Black Negatives

  The Apart from a few, almost all Black celebrities have negative adjectives to their names; Michael Jackson is a moody child lover (which suggests paedophilia), Mike Tyson is an incurable maniac with violent swings, James Brown is a drug addict and wife batterer while OJ Simpson though cleared by the court is a wife killer.

  It is not surprising that most Black American celebrities have at one time talked of living somewhere else away from the madding and hating crowd that is America.

  The famous late Black writer James Baldwin ran away from America to live in France, the Black model Josephine Baker did the same by settling in the less-racist France.

  The Black civil right activist William Dubois went to Ghana on a self-imposed exile and so did Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver who went to live in Algeria though he later went back to America.

  Uncle Sam and John Bull seem not to have forgiven the ‘ n*****’ for freeing himself from the shackles of slavery and colonialism and the wolf pack as Bob Marley called them who would like to take him back to the slave ships or plantations. It is even worse when the Black man is a celebrity.

  The blues singer who sang the lines O lord/ the colour of my skin is a sin was
  not being blasphemous but realistic looking at the injustices a Black man especially a Black celebrity faces in the white world.

  ]]> http://www.blackmag.org/is-white-media-anti-black-success.htm/feed 0 http://www.blackmag.org/batty-man-fi-get-boom.htm http://www.blackmag.org/batty-man-fi-get-boom.htm#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2004 02:02:25 +0000 BlackMan http://www.blackmag.org/blogs/archives/45 It seems like gay people have convinced themselves that dancehall lyrics are the reason why people hate their sexually unorthodox activities. The reality is that a great many totally straight and heterosexual people find same sex relationships abhorrent and even offensive.

  And, they do not like to see such things in their faces. These people are au fait (cool) with the idea of freedom of speech and expression but have a problem when other individuals or groups exercise of that freedom, tramples on their own.

  When it comes to some dancehall artists they are expressing their feelings towards this in the manner with the same passion and in the same manner in which dancehall music expresses itself: rough, gruff and raggamuffin style!

  Some artists are particularly articulate and anti-homosexual without using sentiments that can be misinterpretted as being liable to incite others to kill gay people. Others, simply do not care what they say as to them the message is the most important and not how it is conveyed or who it upsets.

  Banning dancehall artist Sizzla from entering the UK to peform on the basis that his lyrics would incite others to kill gay people, is utter rubbish. For nearly 20 years modern dancehall music has been happily co-existing with gay culture, even embraced by it, without one single death as a result. Yet, the shortsighted propagandists gay media and their supporters, have suddenly concluded that the reason for all their troubles is dancehall music! Yeah right…

  Firing Line

  Of course the dancehall artists who write and perform lyrics liable to put themselves in the firing line of legal precedents are entirely to blame for their own demise or failure to secure the right permit to perform in terrorities where their music is played heavily. Or even to railroad their careers. It is obvious that if one feels strongly against homosexuality, or any other matter for that fact, the form of protest and how (or delivery) also has to be a factor that should be taken into consideration.

  Just going into a studio and delivering the message “Fire Bu’n Batty Man” or “Batty Man Fi Get Boom” on record clearly isn’t working! Another, better constructed approach is needed. And, a well constructed argument against homosexuality is not that difficult to structure and there are legitimate grounds where one might want to voice their opinion against it. These include the following:-

  • Homosexual groups are most prone to AIDS/HIV so their activity can be said to be a potential death sentence.
  • Homosexual couples cannot naturally give birth to their own children.
  • In many places around the world, particularly in Muslim and highly religious areas, homosexuality is illegal.
  • According to the teachings of Rastafari, Muslim and biblical communities, homosexuality is strictly forbidden. The Bible use the term “it is an abomination…”

  It is important in all of this to highlight the fact that gay people, however odius or divine you may think their sexual activity, have as much right to practice their sexuality as any other.

  So, which route the argument will now take is up for speculation. Will danechall artists bend over backwards, to coin a phrase, and compromise by refocussing their message for impact but without the elements that can put them in the dog house? Will some of them apologise in person like some gay groups say they want? How will this affect new anti-gay songs? Your guess is still as good as mine.

  One thing is certtain: the gay groups seem determined to make their point. And in places like England they now seem to have the law on their side. So, unless anti-gay dancehall artists are smart they will be shut out of that territory and deprive their genuine fans access to seeing them live. Unless they handle their business smartly that is.

  Watch this space.

  ]]> http://www.blackmag.org/batty-man-fi-get-boom.htm/feed 0 http://www.blackmag.org/x-reasons-why-eminem-is-bad-for-music.htm http://www.blackmag.org/x-reasons-why-eminem-is-bad-for-music.htm#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2004 21:20:58 +0000 BlackMan http://www.blackmag.org/blogs/archives/46
• Bigotry
  Eminem is famous for rampant anti-Semitism. His recent hit Without Me complains “…well the FCZ won’t let me be,” apparently referring to the Founder’s Conspiracy of Zionists, a supposed secret jewish mind-control plot often mentioned in Neo-Nazi literature. Why doesn’t somebody take him to task on this?

• Get the man a therapist
  Eminem brags in his lyrics that he has named his penis “Haley” and refers to it constantly in his latest songs. And we pay to listen?
• Get the man a therapist part 2…
  The “Haley” references include this bizarre and deeply disturbing threat toward his mother:
  “Ma…. Haley’s getting so big now, you should see her, she’s beautiful!
  But you’ll never see her, she won’t even be at your funeral!”
• Get the man a therapist, part 3…
  Did you notice that the famously homophobic Eminem refers to his genitalia as “she?” Why can’t we get help for this man?
• The backwards mask
  When played backwards, several of Eminem’s songs reveal curse words, including several instances of the word cr*p.
• Sexism
  Women are nothing but mindless receptacles for sex in Eminem’s world, as evidenced by his current hit Hot in Here where he issues these commands: “It’s getting hot in here… so take off all your clothes.” In the chorus a female voice responds in submission, “I’m gonna take my clothes off.” A terrifying look into a misogynist fantasy.
• Read between the lines, part 2
  If you listen closely to Without Me Eminem threatens another man that “you could get your ass kicked.” At best this is a reference to vindictive animal cruelty, at worst it’s a curse word and should not be allowed in music. If you interpret it as the latter, replace the “a” above with an asterisk.
• Why isn’t he in jail?
  Eminem repeatedly brags about his criminal background, even stating in one early song that he would “rock the mic like a vandal.” Is this the role model you want for your children?
• Worse than stealing
  Enormous sales of Eminem albums in recent years have detracted from those of far superior artists, such as Elvis Costello and Indigo Girls. There are rumors that they will file a lawsuit.
• Bigotry, part 2
  In his hit film 8 Mile (which sources tell me is a reference to the supposed length of Eminem’s penis) the star issues this shameful “battle rap” tirade toward an African-American opponent:
  Get yo’ negro rhymes out my white face
  You don’t try to mess with the master race
  I’m gonna use rap to bring back slavery
  Then I’ll shave your ‘fro in my shavery
  I bust Aryan rhymes from the phrase to the letter
  ‘Cuz anything blacks can do, whites can do better.
• Entertainment takes a brain
  In his song The Real Slim Shady Eminem commands followers to “circle the parking lot” in their cars, and in the next line commands:
  …please stand up.
  Put one of your fingers on each hand up.
  This would be impossible to do while driving.
• The numbers don’t lie
  Eminem is rap’s most popular artist; but a 1998 University of Chicago study proved rap is the least enjoyable form of popular music, probably due to its horn deficit. Rap scored an 8.6 on the Henderson Audiological Good Scale. By comparison, the study found that Classical music scored a 16.9, Christian Rock a 19.6, and a spectacular 22.4 for ska.
  So why do rap fans pretend to enjoy it?
• Why isn’t this man in jail? Part 2
  Eminem confesses to several murders in his lyrics (see Bonnie and Clyde ‘97) and after more than five years of an intensive homicide investigation, police still have no evidence that Eminem did not participate in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.
• What century is this?
  Did anyone else find it disturbing that all of the black characters in Eminem’s hit movie
  8 Mile were played by Caucasian actors in blackface?
• He’s a fraud
  Listen closely to the beautiful chorus of the song Stan. Do you hear it? That’s not Eminem’s voice. Why don’t you give credit to whoever really did the singing, Mr. Eminem? I guess he’s too young to have heard of Milli Vanilli.
• It’s not true music
  If you listen closely, you can hear that Mr. Eminem’s background music is generated by a machine, and in fact Eminem does not know how to play a musical instrument. Isn’t it strange that we have made this man a millionaire, when he is an inferior musician to even I, who learned to play the tuba in High School? Further, music theorists prove that true music must contain a horn section. To quote Greek philosopher Asquintas:
  Oh horn
  The sword with which thou sad is shorn
  Men hath no frown when their world is horned
  Your golden blowsong, which demons hath hated
  Like a brass flaresnake, longing to be inflated
• Read between the lines
  Some of the lyrics in another recent hit, Closet, could be interpreted as being insulting to his mother (his mother being Michigan Senator Wilma Shady) and to his father (Leave it to Beaver star Jerry Mathers). Eminem relates an apparently traumatic experience when his father “split” but in reality his father returned just two hours later.
• Why isn’t he in jail? Part 3
  Eminem’s song from a few years ago, Cop Killer, encouraged violence against police and is considered one of the ugliest pieces of music ever written.
• Did I mention he should be in jail?
  In Closet Eminem proudly declares, “I got skeletons in my closet.” It is widely thought by me that this is the skeleton of Tupac Shakur. Have the police not heard this recording? Wouldn’t this song be grounds for a search warrant?
• Cinematic Idiocy
  Speaking of 8 Mile, the final scene had the audience I watched it with howling with laughter. There is almost no way to disarm a nuclear device using only rap.
• Original? Hardly
  The song The Real Slim Shady is a cover of the Roy Orbison song of the same name, released in 1976.
• The occult connection
  In the lyrics of Without Me, Eminem confesses he “created a monster.” It is widely thought that he performed a ritual of Jewish mysticism to raise a Golem. From the text, it was apparently constructed of chopped liver, wheat, and hard liquor.
• The occult connection, part 2
  It is widely thought that the aforementioned Golem went on to become Andrew W.K.
• Know the Man
  Eminem’s hair is not naturally yellow; he dies it chemically. Such physical dishonesty has long been an indicator of weak character. To quote Sartorius:
  Beware the man with a tinted mane
  For it is theft thou soul doth contain
  He longs for your brother’s oxen
  He longs for your boy’s ass
  When he is near, keep both well-chained!
• Bringing out the worst in us…
  Eminem glorifies cold, unfeeling amorality with the lyrics:
  Ice, ice, baby.
  Too cold, too cold.
  Ice ice, baby. Too cold, too cold.

• Excuses, excuses
  Eminem claims in Cleaning Out my Closet that he is a victim of “Munchausen’s Syndrome,” apparently as a way to defend his anti-woman attitudes (Derrick Van Munchausen was the real name of troubled 80’s pop star Rick James).
• As further evidence…
  In his hit Mongrels, Eminem states:
  Impure races
  In nonwhite places
  Gonna rearrange your face
  Like Trading Spaces
  See anything wrong with those lyrics? That’s right; they’re stolen word-for-word from the hit Unwhite Holocaust by Simon and Garfunkel.
• Verbal filth
  To quote the song Kill You:
  Bitch I’ma kill you! You ain’t got the balls to beef
  We ain’t goin’ never stop beefin’ I don’t squash the beef
  Why would we let our money support this growing and malignant anti-vegetarian movement?
• The incomplete performer
  Hey, Mr. Eminem. Standing still and moving your arms slightly is not dancing.
  There is no question in my mind that any performer who won’t take the time to learn the art of dance should not be allowed to sign a record deal. To quote Farquitheus:
  The rod of joy smites the male
  Whose limbs hath flail
  Jump! Flail! Jump! Flail!
  I have soiled myself.
• Conspiracy of silence
  It is widely thought that Eminem was one of the key players in covering up the faking of Tupac Shakur’s death.

]]> http://www.blackmag.org/x-reasons-why-eminem-is-bad-for-music.htm/feed 2 http://www.blackmag.org/americas-paranoia-is-infecting-its-people.htm http://www.blackmag.org/americas-paranoia-is-infecting-its-people.htm#comments Thu, 11 Dec 2003 02:40:51 +0000 BlackMan http://www.blackmag.org/blogs/archives/47 On Wednesday, October 22nd, 2003 while preparing for the start of the “Return of the DJ Tour” an agent from the United States Secret Service visited my home address. I was not home at the time and he left his card.

When I called him he told me that [url=http://www.cheaptickets.com]cheaptickets.com[/url] claimed that I made threats against George W. Bush while on the phone with them checking on my flights. I assured San Francisco field agent William Killgallon that I made no such threats. When I asked what cheaptickets.com was claiming that I said he would not say.

He then took some info such as my age, weight, height, birthdate, social security number (which I didn’t give – never give out your ssn) and if I owned a firearm. He then mentioned that cheaptickets.com claimed they had a tape of the conversation. I told them to get a copy of the tape and call me back because I didn’t say anything about the president or anything like that. I figured cheaptickets red flagged me because of my company name and that I booked four flights to Oklahoma City.

About a couple of hours later agent Killgallon called me back and said that him and another agent wanted to come out an interview me in person. I was in a rush getting ready for the tour and the show that night in San Francisco and explained that I really didn’t have time for this nonsense. He explained that their concern was that I was getting on a plane that next day and that they had to do this. So I agreed for them to come interview me in 30 minutes. I made sure I was outside when they arrived cause I didn’t really want them snooping around my place as this all seemed very suspicious to me.

The Spies Arrive

They arrived and we all checked each others identification (DJ T-Rock was there and witnessed everything). I showed them one of my business credit cards to prove that I had a business called “Bomb Hip-Hop Records”, showed them a CD, a flyer for the S.F. show (even invited them down but they didn’t seem like they were into hip-hop) and the tour itinerary. They asked for a copy of the itinerary and I gave them one since I had nothing to hide. They asked why cheaptickets would claim that I said something against George W. Bush and I explained that I did not and if cheaptickets provided the tape they would see that I didn’t.

They still did not tell me what cheaptickets claimed I said. They then asked me the name of who I spoke to at Cheaptickets.com which I didn’t know. I was just calling to get the total amount charged to me since it wasn’t on the email. Wouldn’t cheaptickets know this if they were making these claims?

They then asked to come into my place and check my room to make sure there were not any “targets of George W. Bush on my wall with targets drawn on them.” I hesitated for a brief second but then figured why not, all they are gonna see is graffiti photos on my wall and records. Note – one agent had a big USA pin on his tie… I bet it was a camera taking photos of my room.

Here are some tips for the Secret Service. A terrorists wouldn’t be so dumb to actually have a business with the word “Bomb” in it… would they? Bomb Hip-Hop has been in business since 1991, I’ve always paid my taxes and the tour information is posted on the official Bomb website – they have internet access at the Department of the Treasury don’t they?

So was it really cheaptickets claiming that I made a threat or was that just a lie by Secret Service so they could investigate me? No worries, I’ve just mailed complaint letters to the United States Secret Service and my California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. Maybe they can help me. As for anyone calling me on the phone… assume my phone is tapped.

[b]Story Update[/b]

So far Cheaptickets only response has been :

Dear Mr. Paul:
We regret that the subsequent visit from the authorities caused any undue inconvenience to you. Please be advised that in these days of heightened tension, national security is of paramount concern. Hopefully, such inconveniences will not be repeated.

Sincerely,
Brian Rittenberg
Internet Service and Support Team Leader

]]> http://www.blackmag.org/americas-paranoia-is-infecting-its-people.htm/feed 0 http://www.blackmag.org/are-black-films-keeping-it-reel.htm http://www.blackmag.org/are-black-films-keeping-it-reel.htm#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2003 23:59:07 +0000 BlackMan http://www.blackmag.org/blogs/archives/50 For years, I had railed against censorship in the movies. I had argued that no matter how lousy a movie, no matter how violent or shocking the images, neither I, nor anyone else, had the right to prevent such films being shown.

In recent years, my views on this issue have changed. And what brought about this change? Nothing less than the endless conveyor belt of Gangstas-in-the-hood type movies. For years, I and countless others had been bemoaning the lack of any significant Black presence on the cinema screens. Then the flood came.

At first this was a most welcome screen invasion. Films such as [i]Boyz ‘n’ the ‘Hood, Juice, New Jack City, Sugar Hill, Jason’s Lyric[/i] showed, if nothing else, that Black folks enjoyed a bit of mindless movie violence as much as anyone else. The audiences who went to see these movies were overwhelmingly young and Black. A lot of these films not only featured soundtracks full of the latest R & B and hip hop sounds, but also seemed to have the same energy as this new Black pop music which was on its way to being the dominant musical force of the age. However, as with the music biz, what is innovative and fresh today soon becomes hackneyed and pass once everyone else has decided that this is the hit formula to be copied.

Instead of anticipatory screams of “here comes another one”, we were saying “oh no, not another one!” every time the next over-the-top body count-fest movie came along. Such was the cliché-ridden trap into which these films had descended. The storylines were so basic they could have been written by a programmed computer or a committee.

When the change came it was hardly noticed. [i]Waiting To Exhale[/i] hit the screens and was a financial success. The most noticeable factor was that the protagonists were not testosterone-fuelled young psychopaths but four middle class, wrong-side-of-thirty, female friends. In Hollywood, as in a lot of places, money talks loudest. The success of this film did not go unnoticed.

Among the films that led the backlash was [i]Eve’s Bayou[/i] and [i]Soul Food[/i] released in Britain within weeks of each other. There are some similarities between the films but it would be stretching a point somewhat to try and make too much of a thematic connection. Both films are told from a child’s eye view and feature the theme of a mainly unified family facing various situations at a particular moment in time.

These films are very good examples of what appears to be a new Black film genre – movies that show us in a relatively positive light. No women get called “bitch” or “ho” and the “N” word is not used once. Not surprisingly, the characters are a lot more believable than any of the identikit psychos of the shoot-em-up movies.

Films like these need and deserve our support. Let’s hope their success will inspire and lead to many more Black movies which focus on similar themes and include lots of feel good factor.

]]> http://www.blackmag.org/are-black-films-keeping-it-reel.htm/feed 0 http://www.blackmag.org/black-heroes-in-the-hall-of-fame-2.htm http://www.blackmag.org/black-heroes-in-the-hall-of-fame-2.htm#comments Mon, 18 Aug 2003 04:07:57 +0000 BlackMan http://www.blackmag.org/blogs/archives/1040 How would you like to see Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Bob Marley all on the same stage? That’s easy if you live in London, England!

They’re about to be treated with the return of that spectacular Black history on stage show Black Heroes 2 (or Black Heroes In The Hall of Fame) at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, Surrey, on Saturday & Sunday September 6th and 7th. This follows hot on the heels of its successful return to the London stage during last month’s Destination Brixton exposition.

The brainchild of former Voice Editor Flip Fraser in collaboration with Khareem Jamal (music), and JD Douglas (dialogue), Black Heroes 2, often described as a “live Madame Taussaud’s”, is an explosion of information, drama, music, song and dance.

It is a kaleidoscope of cultural expressions, designed to educate, stimulate, motivate and entertain audiences. It brings to life over 5,000 years of Black history and achievements, paying tribute to The Kings & Queens of Africa, The Freedom Fighters, The Great Achievers, The Great Entertainers as well as contemporary figures like Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Dr Martin Luther King and Marcus Garvey.

It fuses theatre, drama and music into a highly entertaining, never-boring Black history lesson that leaves you with a feeling of great pride and mental elevation. It brim with all the enthusiasm and gusto one would expect of any West End production, only it’s ours, about us and featuring us! And it’s a pride that goes back a long way…

In fact it’s been 16 years since the production was first staged in London at the Shaw Theatre in July 1987, before moving to the Astoria Theatre in the West End where it created history as the first British Black musical to play in the West End.

Since then it has gone on to become the most acclaimed Black production in British theatre, creating a whole new generation of theatre audience wherever it played both in the UK and abroad.

In the USA, in cities like Chicago, Washington DC and Detroit, the production has become a ‘must see’ event, and boasts the highest ‘returning audience ratio’ for any major theatrical production, with many patrons seeing the show on three or more occasions.

The outstanding achievements of Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame in the USA during successful tours in 1992 & 1994 have never been reported in the UK media, but in Washington DC, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Miami, the production has been showered with numerous Honours & Awards, including the prestigious Spirit of Detroit Award, Keys to the County of Dade (Florida) and a Proclamation Declaration from the Mayor of Washington DC establishing Feb 5 as “Black Heroes Day” for nation’s capital.

I myself even saw the production at the Ward Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica and was mesmerized by it’s awesome quality and presence! I can personally recommend it if you haven’t yet seen it and see it again even if you’ve already seen it as it’s like sweetie: its sticky!

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