May Black Woman Pain Films Now Die and Officially RIP

I suppose that there is no human being that doesn't desire to see themselves and their lives mirrored on screen in a way that gives voice to the things that happen in their everyday lives. The problem for black women is that our lives are generally only shown in a one-dimensional stereotypical manner that doesn't allow for us to be the humans that we are who experience life and its circumstances in the same way as any other being would.

During these production meetings it is if there is some 'wheel of torture' that is spun when people are trying to tell our stories and the only selections are PAIN, MISFORTUNE, NEGLECT, ABUSE, POVERTY, OOWB etc.  Do I think that it is always their intent to tell our stories from this point of view?  Yes.  I believe that there is always this intent because people have become conditioned and therefore accustomed to this being the only way that we [black women] can be seen on screen that we or anyone else will identify with.  EPIC FAIL! The motivation to continually portray and prey on us in this manner is a learned behavior and a direct product of them, like us, being raised on these type of films for years believing that these films represent all that there is in our lives.

Stellar Cast of "For Colored Girls"

Tyler Perry Presents: For Colored Girls arrived in movie theaters on Friday, November 5.  I went to the first showing in my area paying my $6.00 like the few other folks there who had the same idea I did (to get in and out quickly).  Trying to adapt the magnificent play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange for today's audience is an epic undertaking and unfortunately I don't think that it was done as well as it could have been done.  I don't know if Ms. Shange was not interested in adapting her original work for film but I think that she should have been the person to try.  It was an enormous fail for her to not have been the one to do the screenplay.

The actresses cast [loved them all] in this film are some of the most phenomenal of our time.  So when I hear laughing in a movie at inappropriate times... I know that not even the most stellar of actors can save something that was lost in translation.  There was not a enough back story for most of the characters to engage the audience into being interested in these women at a deeper level.  The transition from script to the original poetry was rough and distracting. Tyler Perry has been criticized incessantly for the lack of nuance in his films but to be honest a lot of his previous films didn't need it because most of them were the over the top slap stick variety meant for laughs.  This film needed to be more!  It needed to be all things and even nothing at times, in a way that relayed the greatness of life despite all its inconsistencies.

This movie brought men into the forefront when they really should have remained more periphery.  There are many reviews that criticize this film for being another male bashing movie because the film focused more on the pain rather than the empowerment of the women for making it through some difficult situations that involved men but also involved poverty, race, gender and class.  More resilience and less sorrow could have saved this film from becoming the drudgery that it was to me.  I left that movie feeling emotionally beaten down.  Pain is not all that there is to living this life in brown skin.  Hell, it is not even in the top five if you are really living.

Visually I thought that the the film was beautiful but it was not enough to keep this film from being yet another miss at relaying black women stories in a way that doesn't evoke pain and suffering as a mainstay in lives that are extremely diverse and far more interesting than the way we are written.  Can we tell our stories authentically without being chained to "black pathology" in a way that cripples us all forever?

Imagine a World Where Every Black Athlete Walked Away

It's football Sunday and after reading an article on one of the media mafia's websites about the unbelievability of Sean "Diddy" Combs becoming an NFL team owner I couldn't resist flipping it a little and wondering what would happen to all those white owners if all black athletes were smart enough to leverage their economic power as a unit and walk out.  By the way, I don't give a damn about defending Sean Combs' ability to do anything because I consider him to be one of many infectious diseases that has corrupted one too many youth.


What would happen if all black athletes collectively chose to just walk away from their respective sport.  Take the time to think about that for a second.  Extreme madness, strokes and huge financial ramifications would occur and it would be epic.  I actually can't think about it without smiling a little.


The comment section had people defending Mr. Mabary by saying he was being satirical.  That may very well be what he intended (yeah right) but his use of the racist stereotypes tanked the satirical piece for me after that.  He crossed over into the same stereotypical racist BS that many white people have no problem doing because it is part of who they are in this world that has skewed so far white.

There’s also the issue of NFL owners, the oldest and whitest of old white guy clubs, being wary of a young owner with a dubious legal past and considerable media notoriety.

Why couldn't Sean Combs be an NFL owner? Debauchery and violence hasn't stopped this guy.  Anyway I will leave it to you to pick out the other racist elements of the article. 

The NFL and the NBA are billion dollar businesses where the players are 60% plus black and the owners are 99.9% white!  Everything that I see about this "business" dynamic reminds me of the history of plantation life both before and long after slavery. Yeah sure, the players make large sums of money but their salaries are NOTHING compared to the income of the white men behind the scene.

Too many black folks are extremely content with receiving money from white folks for funding instead of creating and pooling our resources so that we can have our own businesses that build up our communities and our people.  Think of all the industries that would implode--sports, music, fashion, cosmetic, hair care, entertainment, automotive-- if it were not for black people and black dollars.  Black people have yet to realize, control and benefit from our full economic power on a grand scale. It sure would be a beautiful thing to see.

The Preacher, the Peacock and the Pimp

Did you know that peacocks are best known for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as a part of courtship?


Look I grew up in the church and I know the good that Christians can do.  But come on... not all "church folk" are Christians! There are still (after all the years of deception "in the fold") devout church folks who believe so much in the "man" that they will listen to and follow anything as long as there are enough Amens and Hallelujahs.  I believe there is a God but I DO NOT believe in organized religion that becomes a hustler's enterprise.

After looking at the comment sections of various reports on the allegations there seems to be two different groups speaking out about this issue, "the believers" and "the non-believers".  The "news" story about Bishop Eddie Long and the allegations against him have been going on for a week now and it just continues to unfold.
 
I am waiting to see what Eddie Long has to say for himself. 


Update: Eddie Long said nothing.  What I concluded from Long's "speech" is the fact that there seemed to be NO contriteness at all in regards to the situation.  He relied mostly on lofty rhetoric to portray himself as a victim who has been wrongfully judged and misunderstood!  Make no mistake... I believe this man is guilty of the allegations (and probably more) but he is also guilty of using this situation to perform in a grandiose manner to feed his HUGE ego.  Nothing he said was worth waiting five days to respond.  He did not once flat out deny an improper relationship with the young men in his congregation that were a part of his young men's group.  Long said that he will not try this case in the public but in the court system of justice.

"On the advice of counsel, I am not going to address the allegations and the attacks. I want this to be dealt with in the court of justice not the court of public opinion. I am going to fight. Fight very vigorously"

A man that counsels and preaches to people to have faith in God and believe in him ultimately decides to rely on man.