I haven’t done one of these mainly because I didn’t feel like talking about frivolous media consumption while the world is on fire, but we still here. Let’s get on with it.
TV
George Floyd video - I didn’t want to watch this because I just didn’t want to see a black man die. Again. If you haven’t watched it you should. To see and hear a grown man call for his dead mother is heart wrenching. It’s terrible. It’s disgusting. It’s merciless and it’s absolutely necessary. We must not turn away from this horror because it makes it too easy to ignore. This is what happens just down the street, on the “wrong” side of the road, and right next door. In the video one witness makes the comment, “He is human bro.” This says it all, but allow me to pile on. George Floyd is human. The cops are blithely inhuman.
George Floyd witnesses - Witnesses ask/beg officers to stop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. They are casually ignored. That very nature is the terror here. A man’s life is slipping away and the guy could be casually eating ice cream, texting someone, or waiting for the light to change.
Dave Chapelle - 8:46 - Dave dropped this on Netflix. It’s worth watching. It’s not funny as much as it’s one man’s exasperated commentary on things he’s been talking about his entire career; fear of cops, inequality, racism. If you’ve watched any of Dave Chapelle you probably know this. If you don’t you’re just not listening.
BLM Protest Videos - Watch as many of them as you can. These protests are the gesticulations of a people long ignored struggling to write themselves into their own story that has, up until now, been written by someone else.
MOVIES
I haven’t watched many new movies for obvious pandemic reasons. I think during this time it’s important to educate ourselves on what’s happening with race in America today. There are plenty of lists on things to watch and read and listen to, but I want to try to do something a little different and pair movies up with another piece of media that I think compliments it in some way.
I Am Not Your Negro - James Baldwin (2016) - To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015) - At the beginning of I Am Not Your Negro James Baldwin is asked if things are, “at once getting much better, but still hopeless”. His response is that the real question is, “what’s going to happen to this country.” 50 years later we are still asking these same questions. There is a shot at 37:12 in I Am Not Your Negro of a white cop standing with his knee on a woman’s neck. 50 years later we are still seeing these same things. In the past 50 years we have landed on the moon, mapped the human genome, invented the internet, cloned animals, built the iPhone, gone from records, to 8-tracks, to tapes, to cds, to streaming music, elected 11 different presidents and still, today African Americans walk through the world linked to their past by the chains of racism.
Amy Cooper video (2020) and Get Out - Jordan Peele (2017) - This movie was a huge hit, but I think the ending is all the more terrifying and shows the real world horror of life in America for a black man when it is watched and compared with the video of Amy Cooper. In the video Amy calls the cops and in order to get the response she feels entitled to, she tells the cops that Christian Cooper, a black man, is threatening her. Never have I seen a more clear example of life imitating art, intentionally or not. Watch the movie first then watch the video.
Hurricane - Bob Dylan (1976) - The Hurricane - Norman Jewison (1999) - Just Mercy - Destin Daniel Cretton (2019) The arrest of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in the late 60’s led to the protest song by Dylan in 1976 which led to the movie with Denzel Washington in 1999. The movie Just Mercy from 2019 is not about Rubin Carter, but it’s about the same thing. A black man is arrested, tried and convicted of a crime with very little evidence and is later found to be innocent. It’s the song, it’s the movie, it’s the movie again. Black people are living in a real life racist horror movie version of Groundhog Day.
13th - Ava Duvernay (2016) - Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs speech (1986)
You can watch 13th for free on YouTube.
Reagan’s speech you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8gAQ_cQ7Q
The film goes into great detail about the issues with America and the prison industrial complex and Reagan’s speech is just a small part of it. I see Reagan’s speech though, as something I remember in my early life. Not the speech itself, but the the War on Drugs and the “Just Say No” campaign. The War on Drugs has terrorized black and minority communities and has led to mass incarceration on a scale so large that as of 2019 there are 2.3 million people in jail. Nixon began the war on crime that laid the foundation of the prison industrial complex, Reagan built the jails, Bush filled them and Clinton created the three strikes rule which was a shot of adrenaline to this system.
The following is not something I’ve come up with myself, but it is based on facts and it is true.The US criminal justice system is NOT failing black and brown people. It is working exactly as it was designed. This system was created to destroy black and brown communities. It was created to continue the system of slavery after slavery was outlawed. It is a FOR PROFIT industry. Those who profit from it are the modern day slave owners.
MUSIC
I feel the need to articulate current events with some music. Some old. Some new.
“Strange Fruit” - Nina Simone (1965) - There has been a spate of Black and Hispanic men and women found hanging recently. From May to June there have been 6 hangings, all ruled a suicide. If you want a horrifying description of these modern day lynchings listen to this song.
Black on Both Sides - Mos Def (1999)- A honest and raw description of life for a modern black man. It is honest, boastful, and beautiful. The black man is simply put, a man. As a man he strives for love, success, and happiness. As a man he also sometimes fails. You and I are no different than a black man. In Umi Says, Mos Def repeats the refrain, “I want black people to be free.” We must all sing this same refrain.
“Changes” - 2pac (1998). Just listen to it. Then listen to again. This song was released in 1992. It could have come out right now.
R.A.P. Music - Killer Mike (2012)- Before there was Run the Jewels there was Killer Mike and El-P in the studio whipping out this AK-47 of an album. Follow this up with Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet. Follow that up with some action.
RTJ4 - Run the Jewels (2020)- A 2020 soundtrack. Or is it 2000? Or 1960? Whatever year it is this shit is good!
RANDOM NOTES
I’ve also recently discovered the work of Tobe Nwigwe on Instagram. Check it out @Tobenwigwe
Gil Scott Heron said the revolution will not be televised. Heron, no doubt, did not foresee a world where everyone could be a camera, or that their voices could be amplified to such a degree, but the world is being forced to examine its own disfigured self. All through the mirror in our pockets and backpacks and living rooms. One thing Gil Scott Heron was right about in his song is this, “black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day.” We must join them.