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 “50th”
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 2nd, 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.
