Have you ever been eating with somebody & then they taste something disgusting and immediately offer it to you to share in the experience? “YUK! Here, taste this!” I have never understood that exchange.

I also have never understood why so many folks claim to despise negative stereotypical images fed to us, but continue to support them.

I believe Melvin Van Peebles was the one that once said Hollywood has an Achilles wallet: if it makes money no matter what it is they will make it. So it could be said that Hollywood and televison are artistically/politically/morally neutral – they couldn’t care less if it’s a movie about Madea or Mumia as long as it makes money. Examples range from corporate support and wide distribution of Michael Moore’s antiestablishment documentaries, to the Kwanzaa cups at McDonald’s. It could be further said that the responsibility lies with the audience then, to make quality decisions that in turn effect the quality and content of the material. But it seems to me that every time there is an award show on BET or a racist misogynistic reality show or a poorly written melodramatic farce celebrating contemporary coonery, folks FLOCK to it in unprecedented numbers.

Some claim intellectual curiousity, some say they can’t comment unless they see it, some just love it as a guilty pleasure – all of which are fine. My issue comes with the fact that if you put money into supporting these projects then they will continue to make them – even bigger and more frequently. My greater issue comes with the fact that we collectively as audience members don’t find and support the alternatives with the same amount of enthusiasm. We don’t search out and support and vote with our dollars for the films, shows, movies and art that enhance and cleberate our mythology.

Boycotting beef for its unhealthy practices has forced supermakets to carry healthier grades of meat; it is because of people’s knowledge of pesticides and their action against buying those things that we have the word organic plastered on everything. Our money is our vote. Enough people did not buy the crappy stuff and voted with their dollars for the more expensive, more difficult to find, healthier alternatives – and the market changed to adapt for that. Healthier options are now more accessible, less expensive, and companies are falling all over themselves to offer them.

The current talk of the town is the new Tyler Perry adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls…” There is a lot of dissenting opinion over whether he should have been the one to handle such sensitive and culturally important material, and critics are already panning the result. But even among those who claim to not like the idea are many who are willing to contribute toward the success of its opening night. I can’t count how many folk – most of whom could never stand a Tyler Perry flick – are organizing viewing parties and screening trips.

To sum up the questions this calls to mind for me:

Why do we support things that we proclaim not to like? Do we just like to hate? Are we a hater nation? A group folks who rather than taking the time to find the things that serve our soul, would rather eat what’s offered to us no matter how bad because the temporary moment of collective hate gives us a sense of unity, inclusion and power?

I use the term ‘hate’ with some trepidation b/c i feel like the term has its own issues. Too often we claim ‘hate’ for honest, constructive criticism — or hold back criticism for fear of being labeled a hater. But if we stigmatize all criticism as hate, what does that do to our ability to hold our cultural output to a higher standard? Are we doomed instead to accept without feedback whatever drivel is produced in our name?

Do we not realize that these films, songs, and images travel around the world, and are projected forward in time? They serve as our representation in places we may never go personally.

I feel like we are commenting on how sad the fire burning down our house is instead of trying to put the flames out.

We have the advantage of coming from a technological time of incredible diversity. Between TV, movies, cable, and the internet we have more choice in entertainment than previous generations could have imagined. Today’s adults also have the advantage of spanning eras – we may look at violent video games in a different way, for example, because we were rasied on pin ball machines and Pac Man. What we fail to realize is that right now is the oldschool for someone else. What kind of impact are we having on the future if we dont make diversity available to the future tastemakers of society?

The history of race in hollywood is far beyond the scope of what i want to talk about here, but i’ll just say that race has been wound up in the growth of the genre since its invention. Film has not made a growth spurt or technological innovation without a significant statement on its perception of people of color.

1st feature length movie: the birth of a nation
first ‘talkie’: the jazz singer
first color film: gone with the wind
one of the first films shot digitally: starwars phantom menace (need i remind you of jar jar binks, the ridiculous ‘asian’ stereotype characters which opened the movie, or the ‘jewish’ mosquito character?)
honorable mention as a large advance in special effects: king kong (a movie i feel like they remake every 5 minutes)

but no longer can we completely point the finger at a Hollywood system that won’t let us in, if we are the ones behind the camera and more importantly the ones supporting the exact type of product we wish to change. one of the most important parts of any performance is the audience. if we are an audience that does not seek out and celebrate the best, we can’t expect the best.

I will not belittle Tyler Perry as i feel he is NOT the problem. The problem as I see it is diversity/choice. The problem is distribution and access. The problem is that there never seem to be any more than 4 actors of color in theatres at any one time – usually in a comedy and usually not the lead. The problem is that despite the technology available to us, we do not have as much choice and variety as we may think. The problem is, i have a new favorite film I’m going to recommend at the end of this piece, and could only find one possible place for you to see it.

Name 2 asian american leads in a film this year or in the past 5 that wasnt a comedy
Name 1 lead actress of african decnst in a dramatic film in the past ten
Name a “Quirky” indie film that stars an majority Latino cast
Name a film with a Middle Eastern character who is not the villain.
Name a film with a gay lead character where their sexuality was not the central issue of the story.
Name a special effects movie or science fiction movie with major cast members of color.
Name a movie where the lead black male had power that he doesn’t give away to a white character.

I don’t claim to have the answers. I’m trying my best, with my humble store and film company but i’m only one person with one vote and one voice. We all have to work at this if we want change. Entertainment has never been JUST entertainment for us. Throughout our history, entertainment has been a tool/instrument of revolution, and a barometer of change. Don’t negate the power of social media and the internet as one of these tools. Our ancestors in this country did a lot more with a lot less.

Seek the alternative. Find it, support it, spread the word about it. I just watched a Brazilian film from 2009 called Besouro – about a legendary capoiera player in 1920s Bahia, Brazil. I cannot express what a life-changing film this was for me, but i intend to try in a future post. In the meantime, here is the link the the trailer. You can purchase the DVD on amazon.com – PLEASE do so, then hold a screening party.

Support good film.

Perez got pretty slammed on the Brooklyn blogs for her comments. “As much as I find Rosie Perez to be a decent actor, sexy and certainly part of NYC’s charm, I must say comments like these make me want to kick her in the shins,” wrote one commenter on Brownstoner. We cornered Perez after the show, and she was happy to clear up what she worried was a hostile comment. “What I really wanted to say was that, yes, I’m nostalgic for the past, but I’m also excited about the present and hopeful for the future,” she explained. “Things do change. Water always has to flow or else it becomes stale. But with change, you can bring along some of the good minerals that came from the top of the waterfall.” She said she’d read some of the blogs and seen the nasty comments. “I think it’s their guilt of being the gentrifiers. They don’t know how to take it,” she said. “But I had to look at myself and I realized it came off a little hostile, to be honest.”

What Rosie meant to express was that the neighborhood has a growing sense of elitism. “I live in Clinton Hill. The gentrification is not only the mom-and-pop shops getting displaced, residents getting displaced, people getting priced out even of the Associated markets,” she said. “It’s the sense of entitlement that people bring with them to the neighborhood.” People seem to think since they’re paying a premium for the lovely neighborhood, they don’t have to say hello, and they should be able to rule the space. They’ll think to themselves, Perez groans, “‘This is our place in the park, I don’t care if you played soccer here, we want to put our baby strollers here.’ What? Excuse me? That is not the feeling of New York. That is why New York City is the only place where you can come, whether you’re gay, straight, transgender, freak, geek, and live a fairly decent life and not get killed. If you do get killed, it’s probably a tiny, tiny percentage because of the color of your skin or because you want to wear a pink tutu on your head. But if you do that in Arkansas, you might get killed. In NYC, your chances [of getting killed] are very slim because it’s called tolerance and respect for your fellow humans. And saying hello to your neighbor is a great start. Even if you’re in a bad mood, just give me a nod.”

Next time we’re in Clinton Hill, Ms. Perez is certainly getting a tip of our hat.

by  Emma Pearse copied from www.nymag.com

p.s. to whom it my concern, we need to talk

Well folks you’d be wrong those images where from the year 2007 and the place those images were seen was on a banner ad on MYSPACE!

There’s more than one – in another, a similar character stands opposite a gorilla, with the goal of the game to push a coconut out of a tree.

If the ad were on a smaller site perhaps I could manage to be less concerned. But this site has captured the imagination of millions of people around the world and whether consciously or not they influence the perception of those people depicted. I know that these are concerns of myspace as indicated by their very detailed process of screening and the ability to report if some one is lewd, crass, offensive or otherwise insensitive. So imagine my shock when I didn’t get so much as a “we’ll look into it’ and got pretty much the same reaction when I sent the complaint to other sites whom I thought could help make my point.

The silence was deafening. Was I crazy?

I feel in our efforts as a country to see past race we deny ourselves the ability to actually heal from something we still suffer from. Kind of like taking a medication that only buffers the symptoms, but you still have a cold and you can still pass it on.
Ok so this is the point in the article where I give you my heart felt dissertation on the power of images and pull out my bibliography of quotes and books to prove to you that these issues still exist… but i think this time I won’t. This is a journey that I should not have to inspire you to take. Do the research yourself, ask yourself hard questions and be honest. in the mean time ill be working on alternatives. I’m actually taking a break from editing to write this – I found the unanswered letter I wrote to TOM from myspace and thought I’d make mention of it on my site before it vanished into obscurity.

Over the past few months I’ve been watching several historical films that deal with race in America (a solders story, crazy in Alabama, glory, in the heat of the night) and at the same time have been mulling over in my head the use by both public figures, my friends and myself of the word “nigga”

What is it about that word that’s so attractive?

Why is it ok to say it on TV and you cant say “shit?”

It’s supposed to be such an ugly word but it feels like it’s becoming increasingly common in our pop culture. My mind instantly flashes to a club that my friend took me to that was populated primarily with white people who where all dancing and having a good time and then the DJ spun the #1 song in America at the time which was “gold digger” by Kanye West. Everyone went crazy, as was the tradition at the time and started singing the song VERY LOUD! Tension built as the hook approached and to every ones credit no one said “nigger” but Kanye.

Which brings me to the question why? Why is ok for any one to use it? I mean, sure we can say whatever we want I’m not challenging that. I’m challenging the hypocrisy of it being called an ugly word but still being used casually. I don’t know how many interviews and talk show appearances I have heard people/artists say “when you use it enough it takes the power out of it” or “we use it for a term of endearment”

2 thoughts run through my mind
#1 we still got a lot of healing to do(not just black but this entire country)
#2 we are not being creative enough.

There were several words besides “nigger” that were used to denigrate and demean us that I feel should be used more often until the power is taken out of them, as well. Here’s a short list
- spade
- jigga bo
- tar baby
- egg plant
- spook
- sambo
- chimp
- ape
- snow flake
- spear chucker
- booty scratcher
- coon

Really try substituting those words in your mind for how you’ve herd the word nigga used.
“yo, that’s my Jigga bo”
“where my tar babies at?”
“all the real fly coons throw your hands up”
“ I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger be she ain’t messing wit’ no broke spear chuckers”
See. Its got a little sting to it that I think “nigger” has lost…and if all else fails emphasize the “ER” that was at the end of “nigga” before it was dropped for the “A”

I finally got the courage to watch “Hotel Rwanda” last night. I followed that story in the news when it was happening and it was hard to deal with then. Hard to read and then digest as reality. It’s hard to imagine somewhere in the world shit like that is still going on. Needless to say I had some ill nightmares last night. It was happening here and the warring factions were gangs and of course there were people trapped in the middle and I was one. All these MCs were on the radio encouraging the killing and it was all the gangs would listen to. There was no Paul Ruesesabagina to negotiate for lives, there was no safe space – as often there is not. I won’t get into details as those of you who actually read this blog from time to time are probably tired of reading about my personal slice of ‘uglies’ in my world.

Ask yourself this question this 4th of July. When was it ever not an ugly time in human existence? Horror exists, it seems weather we choose to pay attention to it or not. Perhaps it serves some greater functions that we don’t see but regardless there it is.

2 things really quickly before I change the subject dramatically – #1. there is a line in the national anthem that says “…the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that the flag was still there” do you know how many fucking bombs have to go off to see something through an entire night? #2 there was a song during the credits of “Hotel Rwanda” that made my jaw drop almost as much as some parts of the movie. It was a song by Wyclef and in the song he said “if America is the United States of America why cant Africa be the united states of Africa? and if England is the United Kingdom why cant Africa unite all its Kingdoms and become the United Kingdom of Africa”.

Is he not aware that this county was attained by genocide that till this day is not historically dealt with fully? Actually it was started by people from the United Kingdom who enslaved, tortured and conquered people all around the world – not just here. ACTUALLY it’s the reason I speak and write English and can’t even dream in a language native to where any of my people are from. ACTUALLY I don’t want to go into how wack that line was (to me)… I should try to see the positive in everything. I think he was trying to just say ‘Africa Unite’… however it was poorly executed.

Hey at least it wasn’t him putting his energy into a line like “it’s hard out here for a pimp”

pimping is illegal… shouldnt it be hard?

A friend of mine went to a FREE screening of “Hustle and Flow” and not only does she want her money back (LOL) but she said that it was so sad that it’s worth REopening our “why black folks aint gonna rise” file. For those of you who aren’t in on the joke, the “why black folks aint gonna rise” file was an actual file that us and some of our friends kept where we collected things created by black folks or about black folks that we felt did more harm than good (in our opinion) and couldn’t believe existed in this day and time.

OK so let me end this blog with something WACK about ME and then something happy.

I realized this past week that I’m really vain. I DJ’d at a club a couple of weeks ago and usually I shave my mustache off. The gig went great, some days passed and I got an ingrown hair on the rim of my lip that was unpopable. I know this because I squeezed it in every direction which only made it red and big, real big. It looked like a giant herpe and it changed my whole attitude. I was even hesitant to go out cause I knew I would feel obligated to explain that what was on my lip was not contagious and folks can greet me affectionately without fear. It has since gone through the stages of pimpledom and is on its way out but I was amazed at how something so small can change your life.

The last thing I’ll leave yall with is that recently me and my wife celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary and almost didn’t notice. Its been great fun. It still feels like one big sleepover. Neither of us is really that into remembering dates but we’re happy – more so than either of us thought possible. I suppose I can balance the statement made earlier by saying: When in history hasn’t love and happiness shined through the darkness and colored our human experience for the better? There has always been that, weather we choose to see it or not.

I suppose recognizing the balance between what’s ugly and what’s beautiful is what makes each so.

At the MLK day festival last week, I got into a lot of conversations involving the words “they” and “we.” What I realized and mentioned in a couple of those conversations is that the power to change things can only come from changing that “we” to “I”.

For instance there was this young man that walked the entire length of the celebration very slowly with 2 scantly clad women (one black woman, one white) walking behind him. At first glance (and 2nd and 3rd and 70th) he appeared to be a pimp.

I say “appeared to be” because I don’t want to assume. Perhaps he was in a horrible fire the night before that consumed all of his clothes and the only place open before the festival was a costume shop. Perhaps the costume shop (Mid-January being so soon after Halloween) only had 3 outfits left, a pimp, a KKK member, and a clown… so he chose the less of 3 evils and came as a pimp. As for the 2 young ladies, perhaps they weren’t prostitutes at all, but his friends, who dressed up like that for moral support. Or, maybe he WAS a pimp and his miniature multiracial prostitute parade was his perverse interpretation of MLK’s dream.

What bothered me is that no one stopped him and said anything. What bothers me more is that “I” didn’t stop him. Whether or not he realized it, he made a statement that day and “I” didn’t. He’s in the back of my psyche and I’m not in his, and “I” only have me to blame. “We” must be as bold as “they.”

We/I need to start booing at poor performances

We/I need to pull poorly behaved children over and talk to them

We/I need to be less of a hermit so that people see alternatives

We/I need to need to be more pro active and practical in our day to day application of love on others,

We/I need to know that there are no small things all things matter.

The flip side of this story was that after the celebration, several teens gathered in the parking lot to battle. But not with violence – with dance!! It took me back to see that. It also took me back when I saw the po-po (police… duh) arrive. But to my surprise they looked the situation over and let it be. My wife and our homegirl went up to them and actually thanked them for treating our children like human beings. It’s important to tell po-po when they do the right thing. We need to be as bold as the truth.