The Gospel of white fascism (Part 60)...

 The Gospel of white fascism (Part 60)…Melvin Van Peebles: memorializing an American Icon, debunking Jada Pinkett’s case of the "Ayesha Curry blues", and decoding Lizzo's lascivious "Ted" twerk lecture…

“I wanted (my) people to leave the theater with their heads up.”

—Melvin Van Peebles, In an interview explaining his inspiration for creating the movie, “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song”

“Self-sabotage is like a game of mental tug-of-war. It is the conscious mind vs. the subconscious mind where the subconscious always eventually wins.”

—Bo Bennett, Social Psychologist

“I really wanna’ learn how to love…I know what it isn’t.”

—Jada Pinkett, "B-list" actress and host of "Red Table Talk"

“...my ass is my greatest asset."

—Lizzo, Ted Talk

To the consistent (and patient) readers of this blog: Family, once again, being back-logged with content, I’ve run into the dilemma of needing to tackle several subjects at once. Meaning, one mo’ time, I’m gonna’ ask for your kind indulgences as I wax philosophic on timely topics and endeavor to decode a coupla’ issues which have made news as of late. Mind you, the common thread tying all these “stories” together is one unifying principle—and what’s this you ask? Welp, before answering this question, lemme acknowledge an ancestor and then I’ll deep dive into deciphering the aforementioned query with a “3” part expose which’ll make the latest bout of political theater (TV news) a bit more transparent. This said, lemme start by giving props to the iconic Renaissance man…

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 13th, 1932. He was the son of Edwin Griffin, who was a professional tailor, and Marion Peebles. Melvin graduated with a B.A. in Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University, and shortly thereafter enlisted in the Air Force, where he ended his service after three and a half years—also, he added the “Van” to his name while living in the Netherlands in his late 20’s.

After leaving the Netherlands, Melvin worked as a Cable Car Driver in San Francisco, California. There, he wrote about his on-the-job experiences and put them into a book titled, “The Big Heart”, credited to “Melvin Van”. While on the job, a passenger suggested Melvin try his hand at being a filmmaker. Hence, with no experience at all, Melvin went about the task of teaching himself the art of filmmaking.

In the midst of making himself an auteur, Melvin was given an opportunity to continue his academic studies in the Netherlands. So, while in the process of moving back to Europe, he ran into Amos Mogul, who founded the avant-garde, “Cinema 16” film company, and after a long talk, Amos agreed to put Melvin’s short films into his company’s rental catalogue. After Amos screened one of Melvin’s films at a festival in the spring of 1960, he took Melvin’s short movies to Paris where he showed them to a couple of executives at the Cinematheque Francaise Theater. Shortly thereafter, Melvin was invited to Paris by the founders of this theater, and it was in France where Melvin not only made another short film, “500 Francs”, but he started to build himself a reputation as a noteworthy writer.

Now, not only did Melvin begin to write for the investigative journalist magazine “France Observateur” from 1963 to 1964, but he also wrote for a politically satirical magazine called, “Hari Kari”, and eventually, Melvin was elected to this mag’s editorial board. In keeping with his prolific literary bent, Melvin published four novels, a short story, and a play titled, “La Fete a Harlem”, which would later become the musical, “Don’t Play Us Cheap”—this was before he would make his first feature-length film, “The Story of a Three-Day Pass” (La Permission) in 1968, which he adapted from his novel of the same name. This film caught the attention of Hollywood producers who mistook Melvin for a white French movie director, after it won the top prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival as the “French” entry. Even after finding out Melvin was of a darker persuasion, Hollywood’s execs were so impressed with the film, Columbia Pictures gave Melvin the financing to do his first American feature film, “Watermelon Man” in 1970.

Now, Melvin’s “Watermelon Man” is a story about a bigoted white guy (played by Godfrey Cambridge in white makeup) who one day wakes up Black. Moreover, if this ain’t funny enough fam, Columbia execs wanted Melvin to turn Godfrey’s character back into a white man at the end of the film—but Melvin refused to do it saying, he didn’t want audiences to think of being Black as a curse. So, when he screened this movie for the Columbia brass, and they asked why he didn’t turn the character white again, Melvin feigning ignorance said, “Oh wow, you know, I forgots (to shoot) that.” Fortunately, Melvin kept his ending.

After Watermelon Man, Melvin was determined to have complete control over his next project, which was to be his magnum opus, in my opinion, titled, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” in 1971. With his own money, and a $50,000 loan from none other than Bill Cosby—yeah, the same “Pill” Cosby who just got outta’ jail y’all, Melvin financed this film. Mind you, He also wrote, directed, edited, starred in, and co-arranged the film’s score with a (then) up and coming R&B group named “Earth, Wind, and Fire” (Oh boy!)

Now, I wanna’ stop here to reflect on the first time I saw this film.

When I was 19, an older co-worker mentioned this film to me, and when I heard the title I was like, what the hell is a Sweet Sweetback? 5 years later, is when I’d actually sit down and give this film a viewing. Now, for those who haven’t seen this movie and are thinking about watching it in the future, I must tell you, this is the quintessential “art-house” film. Meaning, beyond its unpolished look, there are several montages which conventional films don’t follow—which according to your tastes, can endear or annoy the person watching. This said, I wanna’ go over “3” of my favorite parts of this film which, in my opinion, make it a classic.

1. Fam, this image opens the film with a police siren playing in the background. Mind you, the caption says: “This film is dedicated to all the brothas and sistas who have had enough of “the man”. Now, when I saw this, I immediately snuggled back into my seat and grabbed my popcorn ‘cause I knew this was gonna’ be my kinda’ movie. So straight away, this clip sets the precedence of keeping in the tradition of “Black Nationalism” and “Black POWER”, ya’ dig. 

2. This scene (right) is where Melvin chokes out one o’ tha’ crooked cops who were beatin’ up on a brotha. So after this is when Sweetback is “on the run” from the police—which is what sets the movie in motion. By the way fam, you can click on any of these pics to make them larger.

3. This scene is one where the Black community, knowing what happened to Sweetback, help him out by getting him outta’ the cop car so he can keep runnin’.

 Now understand, this movie has several more “controversial” scenes, one in particular being the film’s opening, where an older sista christens “Sweetback” with his name, and another where Sweetback is having an outdoor tryst with a white woman, while a group of white men watch. All and all, this movie, along with “The Spook Who Sat By the Door”, hold a special place in my heart ‘cause these films bought the collective consciousness of Black people out of a defeatist “integrationist” mind-set and into one of Black power and self-determination. 

So, to the ancestor we knew as MELVIN VAN PEEBLES, I say, for a life well-lived and a battle well-fought, take your rightful place amongst the ancestors and continue to keep us in your heart from the celestial place where you now reside. ASHE AND AMEN!

This said, now I can get into decoding the debaucherous and depraved depictions of our people, which can cause us to partake in an assortment of erroneous emotions and reactions (or inactions), which'll need an expiditious resolution. In other words, let's get it crackin' wit'...

Part 1.

Jada Pinkett and the "Ayesha Curry blues"

Now fam, recently, Jada Pinkett celebrated her “50^th” birthday on her “Red Table Talk” show. In it, she had a bevy of stars give her an assortment of “shout-outs” and well wishes before she sat down with her mother and daughter to talk about her current emotional state. Now, with a newly shaved head, miss thang, I mean Jada, was asked what she wanted, before she uttered these words: “I really want to learn how to love...I know what it isn’t.” This said, lemme break down what she really meant.

What Jada was trying to say was, I want to learn to love myself, without being married, or tethered, to a white (or non-Black) man. Ya’ see, Jada’s got what I call the “Ayesha Curry blues”—meaning, because she’s been told she has fair-skinned, European-looking features, Jada always thought it would be a matter of course for her to meet the white Prince Charming, marry him, and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, her white knight never showed up. So, she felt, her next best option, or the one she had most available, was a rich Black man…Will. Problem is, Jada never got over wanting to be with a white guy, so she’s taking it out on Will by treating him like dirt. Moreover, Jada’s bald head, is saying to Will, being a Black man, you don’t deserve a feminine looking, or acting female, you only get what I decide to give you—and this is also reflected in Black women’s weight issues. They feel Black men don’t meet the criteria for them to get and stay in shape, thus, they’re telling us, you’ll only get what we feel like giving you.

Now, some of you might be saying, bruh, don’t you think you’re being a little hard on sistas? I mean, what happened to all those times when you talked about seeing our people’s dysfunction in the context of the white fascist social order which created them? Welp, I’ve been giving this some thought lately, and I was thinking maybe this was the case—until I saw what I’m gonna’ talk about in…

Part 2.

Lizzo’s Ted “Twerk”

This past October 2^nd, the illustrious platform “Ted Talks” decided to let Lizzo talk about the anthropological and cultural significance of “twerking”.  Now, the saddest part of all this is, Lizzo doesn’t understand how white fascists are using her to keep sistas “single and spending”—now lemme explain what I’m talking about.

Not only is Lizzo devaluing all the strides Black Americans have made over the last half-century, but she’s not realizing the reason white fascists have given her this platform. Which is to further denigrate the image of Black women. Mind you, white fascists are doing this by portraying Black women as the embodiment of everything men find unattractive. Lizzo is now the official poster girl for Black women being obese, loud, and oversexed. Hence, making Black women unattractive to the overall populous of men, thus, keeping them out of loving relationships--and when this happens, women naturally gravitate towards buying stuff to heal their wounds.

Part 3.

Lizzo video

Now fam, instead of showing Lizzo’s Ted Talk vid’, I’m gonna’ post a “reaction”to it. This said, I wanna’ confess how I usually can’t stand “Mediocre Tutorials and Reviews” videos ‘cause of the obnoxiously dumb faces this young brotha makes. However, this vid’ echoes how I feel about Lizzo’s Ted Talk episode almost to the letter.

Warning: This video contains adult language, viewer discretion is advised.

 

 

 Fam, speaking of the white fascist agenda to make Black women look "hyper-masculine" and unattractive, peep out this Jill Scott vid' I just discovered.