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JUNE 26, 1997 AUGUSTA FOCUS
6A
ArTPeat
Documentary examines complex
relationship between Blacks and Jews
' Blacks and Jews redeiines coa
lition and conflict between two
‘communities July' 29 on P.O.V.
" Confronting Black and Jewish
relations head-on, Blacks and
Jews explores the shared history
and the roots of conflict between
‘the two communities. Heading an
‘African-American and Jewish pro
duction team, film nakers
Deborah Kaufman, Bari Scott and
Alan Snitow go behind the stereo
tvpes and explosive headlines to
reveal four riveting stories that
tread provocatively on the fault
lines of racial coalition and con
flict. From death on the streets of
Crown Heights, New York, to di
rector Steven Spielberg’s contro
versial visit to a predominantly
Jblack high school in East Oak-
Jland, Calif., Blacks and Jews re
'sists simple analysis and easy an
_swers. Blacks and Jews will air
‘nationally Tuesday, July 29, at 10
‘p.m. ET on PBS as part of the
‘P.O.V. series, broadcast
‘television’s only continuing show
case for independent nonfiction
film.
. “I wanted to make this film be
cause I was concerned about this
ritual of conflict between Blacks
and Jews that I didn’t under
stand,” said Kaufman. “I had
grown up thinking that Blacks
and Jews were part of the most
important liberal coalition in
s &
-Roc and the 2 Tight Click
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Eighteen year old D-Roc, and
twenty-four year old partner Mac
Daddy Leon have gotten ahead start
on their music business careers. D
'Roc follows up his successful debut
for WRAP Records,Englewood 4 Life!
'byunitingwith Mac Daddyandform
'ing the 2 Tight Click. The result is
their 1997 album 7rue Dawgs.
1995 brought D-Roc his first na
tional recognition on his collabora
tion with East West/Elektra Record
ing artist Diamond, and hit single D-
Roc is featured on “Bankhead
Bounce.” But even before the coun
try knew what was up with the
Bankhead Bounce, D-Rocwasamem
ber of Atlanta’s own Ghetto Funk
DJ’s. He collaborated on the south
ern hit “Slip-N-Slide,” which ap
peared on the Ghetto Funk DJ’s al
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Black-Jewish rap group, “The Cure” in Crown Heights, N.Y.
American history—the civil rights
movement, social justice issues—
and I didn’t understand how they
came tobeat each other’s throats.
I wanted to reframe the discus
sion of Blacks and Jews which, we
felt, was stereotyped,” she said.
“It’s incredible that there had
never been a film about Blacks
and Jews,” adds Scott. “And it
wasn’t an easy program to make.
People in America have a hard
time talking about race, and about
differences.”
Writing in The Chicago Sun-
Times, Roger Ebert saidßlacksand
Jews “will undermine stereotypes,
inspire discussion, and help repair
bum and released on Hard Head
Records in 1994. D-Roc wrote “Slip-
N-Slide Part 2” for his 1995 debut
album, Englewood 4 Life!
“Bounce, Shorty, Bounce” became
the first single from D-Roc’s album,
and, madehisstatementon the thriv
ingbassmusicscenewhich hasspread
all over the South and beyond.
Englewood 4 Life! referstothe ghetto
where D-Roc lives and grew up. In
cluded on the album is a unique
holiday rap, “Christmas-N-The-
Hood,” as well as other danceable
boomin’ cuts like “Shake, Wiggle,
Wiggle” and “Shout”.
Now a three year veteran of
Atlanta’s music scene, D-Roc ak.a
Lil’' D, takeson the musicindustry as
the 2 Tight Click, with collaborator
Mac Daddy.
a wrongly damaged relationship.”
Harvard University professor
Henry Louis Gates Jr., calls the
film “ an important contribution to
ourunderstanding of Black-Jewish
relations. It is well-documented,
balanced and sensitive to nuance—
anunusual combination inany film,
but essential for a documentary on
this controversial subject.”
Variety said the film “presents
relevant information about the
multiracial structure of U.S. soci
etyand hasimmediateimplications
for the way two races perceive and
interact with each other.” Mixing
penetrating on-camera interviews,
newsreel footage, archival material
The album title True Dawgs is a
reference to the ghetto ways the 2
Tight Click have grownupinandlive
around. D-Rocand Mac are nodiffer
ent than other young men their age,
with interests in cars, sports, and
freaks, but once on stage and behind
theirmics, theirtruetalentsandlove
for music come through. Recorded at
Atlanta’s Digital Edge Studio, all of
the material for True Dawgs, was co
written by D-Roc and Mac Daddy.
Writing and performing contribu
tionsare made by the 9 Yardz(Kaine
and K-9) and Knuckle head, who are
featured on the album. Most tracks
are produced by Craze, while C-Rock
contributes work on two songs, and
DJ Smurfproduced “Freak Somethin’
Pt. 2" which features performances
by Smurf and MC Shy-D.
art e music e literature e theatre
and political theater, Blacks and
Jews also features commentary and
analysis from scholars and critics
like Patricia Williams, Cornel West
and Letty Cottin Pogrebin.
Blacks and Jews opens with the
1991 Crown Heights riots in Brook
lyn, New York, when long-standing
tensions between Caribbean-born
blacks and Hassidic Jews erupted
in a widely reported wave of vio
lence that, for many, has come to
represent all Black-Jewish rela
tions. But the truth is far more
complex. The film depicts the rela
tionship of West Indian journalist
Peter Noel and Moroccan-born
Lubavitcher Isaac Bitton, the man
he protected from an angry mob
during the riots. “The next day,
there’s a photo of this man lying
prostrate on the sidewalk splashed
across the front page of The New
York Post,” Noel recalls. “It showed
the black people’s inhumanity to
ward Jews. And I’'m saying, ‘Wait a
minute. Where is the photo of me
trying to help this man?’”
The second story looks back to
the civil rights era, as Rabbi Robert
Marzx, founder of the Jewish Council
on Urban Affairs, and Black hous
ing activist Clyde Ross recall the
Jjoint efforts of Black and Jewish
leaders to fight racism and real es
tate speculators in Lawndale, on
Chicago’s West Side. As Blacks
moving up from the South in the
Brownstone kicks Latin flava
" Arecord release with a twist, the
title track of Brownside’s debut
album, East Side Drama, doesn’t
appear on the album for which it
was named. Instead, the album’s
title track will appear on an up
coming second posthumous Eazy-
E album,due out by the end of the
year, on Ruthless Records. Toker,
the lead rapper of Brownside, ex
plains, “In the title of the song,
“Eastside Drama,” we're kicking
up the drama, and Eazy, himself,
kicksthe songoff. Hedoes a straight
upintroduction to The Brownside.”
As history has it, company presi
dent and CEO Eazy-E, himself ,
planned to release Brownside’s al
bum through his Ruthless Records
label, and the rest would be his
tory. However, the devastating
tragedy that stole his life at such a
young age, led Brownstone tomake
the decision, “We were down with
Eric Wright, the Eazy-E we knew,
' S 0 now we must move on.”
' Hailingfromthe East Sideof South
i Central Los Angeles, the group that
' Eazy-E himself used to call, “Mexi
cans With Attitude,” is kicking
gangstaraponthe Mexicantip. There
' isonepiece of musicthatrapfans will
i certainly recognize on Eastside
' Drama, namely on the track “Vatos
; In The Vario,” or fools in the hood.
| Toker said, “Eazy suggested doing
something like a Spanish and En
' glish version of something like ‘Boyz
'in Tha’ Hood.” Eazy said he would
' never let anyone else mess around
| with the legendary track tothatclas
isicsong,‘BosznThaHood.’Sol
kicked it up.”
' Afterthe death of Eazy-E, another
| tragedy happened, as Brownside
! member Danger was murdered.
Toker pointsout that the song “Can’t
' Stop The Southland”, was “kicked
up” by Danger. The album’s final
track, “Rest In Pe;x;;ntvadzo a very
personal song for ,whowroteit
i on behalf of his little brother who
| died in a “gang thing.”
' When asked what he felt about
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Isaac Bitton meets Peter Noel, the man who saved his life
during the riots in Crown Heights, N.Y,
1960 s bought homes in Lawndale,
thenapredominantly Jewish neigh
borhood, brokers pressured white
homeowners into selling their
housesataloss, then turned around
and sold the same properties on
contract to Blacks at grossly in
flated prices. Working with an in
terracial, interfaith grassroots coa
lition, Marx and Ross played key
rolesinthe Contrast Buyers League,
which picketed banks to demand
regular mortgages for Black
homebuyers and organized a mili
tant payment strike when realtors
— most of them Jews — refused to
renegotiate the exploitative con
tracts. In the third segment, jour
nalist and former Nation of Islam
member Salim Muwakkil travels to
Washington, D.C. for the 1995 Mil
lion Man March and discusses the
powerful lure of the rhetoric of Min
ister Louis Farrakhan.
The film also examines how the
media seize on extremist speech,
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being a Mexican rapper, Toker says,
“Everybody has something to say.
The rap thing was another way for
peopletoexpressthemselves.” Toker
provokingarepeated ritual of Black-
Jewish recriminations that polar
izes communities and strangles
meaningful dialogue.
The final segment in Blacks and
Jews chronicles the media feeding
frenzy that erupted in 1994 when
students at East Oakland’s
Castlemont High School were
thrown out of a movie theater for
disrupting a screening of Steven
Spielberg’s holocaust epic,
Schindler’s List.
Were the students who laughed
at the onscreen execution of a Jew
ish woman guilty of anti-Semitism?
Or were they just acting like teen
agers?
Grounded in realism, Blacks and
Jews offers no easy answers. In
stead, it raises some provocative
questions and underscores the vital
importance of open-minded discus
sion in an ongoing effort to resolve
conflictsand promote problem solv
ing.
added, “If you kick it up Latin, you
have to stay Latin. Why try to be
other people or sound like other
people... Youhavetobe whoyou are.”