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GUEST COMMENTARY By Frederick L. McKissack Jr.
Blaxploitation films
making a comeback
Hollywood is all set to revisit a
genre that supposedly died two
decades ago—the blaxploitation
film. Itshouldn’t. Producers Doug
McHenry and George Jackson
plan on remaking The Mack, a
classic of the genre. The two told
the Los Angeles Times that the
conditions that created the main
character, Goldie, exist today.
“We're going after a bigger more
epic film—not a remake,”
McHenry said. “We see it as a
Pulp Fiction and Scarface.”
The Mack was a 1973 film star
ring Max Julien as Goldie, a re
cently released convict who en
ters the highly lucrative pimping
business on the mean streets of
Oakland, Calif., as a way to sur
vive. The movie tried to be a
morality play involving two broth
ers—one a pimp, the other ablack
nationalist. The two are at con
stant odds, until white policemen,
upset that Goldie won’t pay them
protection money, kill their
mother. Thisact bringsthe broth
erstogetherinanattempt toclean
up the streets.
Technically, the movie was a
disaster, with a script so thin that
it was barely visible. And it had
the look of a not so well made
student project, not surprising
since it was shot in five weeks.
So why was this poor quality
Urban League president
calls for inclusion in face of
‘Supreme Court decision on Prop 209
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* “We deeply regret the Sapreme
Court’s decision to uphold Prop.
'209,” said National Urban League
president Hugh B. Price, in re
sponse to the Court’s decision to
reject the challenge to California’s
‘controversial proposition. “Let’s
‘make every effort to contain the
‘impact within the state of Califor
m”
_ In light of the decision, Price
urged California to move forward
with policies that promote inclu
‘sion, pointing out that the state’s
economy and civility depend on
Amproving education and oppor
tunity for every person. He em
phasized the urgent need to im
prove public education and for
using outreach measures and ad
‘mission criteria that foster inclu
'sion in higher education. Those
‘criteria include socioeconomic
‘background, geography, talentand
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film about a pimp so successful
within the black community?
“At atime when most black men
realized a fundamental freedom
and power over their lives was
denied them at every turn, the
pimp, for better or worse, was
equated with self-assertion,”
writes Donald Bogle, author of
Blacks in American Films and
Television (Garland, 1988).
“A lot of films today are about
victims, but most of the films then
were about empowerment,” Pam
Grier, an actress in some of these
films, told Entertainment Weekly
in 1996.
Grier, for instance, starred in
Coofy, a film where beauty, brains,
and gun-play were the main in
gredients. Grier, in her biggest
and most memorable role, played
anurse whois out toget the people
that turned her sister into ajunkie.
It was a strange kind of empow
erment that these movies pre
sented. Still, they were doing
something that mainstream films
hadn’t done till then—give audi
ence a sense that black people
were beautiful.
These films still resonate with
the hip-hop generation.
New Line Home Video released
The Mack on video in 1991. In
1997, the movie sold 67,000 copies.
McHenry and Jackson said they
potential. Colleges and universi
ties must make certain that they
continue to recruit from urban
and rural public schools.
“This decision poses a challenge
to the entire country to move for
ward even as the Court has moved
backward,” said Price. “We urge
other states not to go the Prop.
209 route. By squeezing minority
young people out of higher educa
tion, this regressive policy could
have a disastrous impact on the
future of our country.”
Last month, Price held a confer
ence where he made several rec
ommendations to the President’s
race relations initiative. After
learning of the Supreme Court
decision on November 3, Price
urged President Clinton to re
double his commitment to inclu
sion by using his bully pulpit, con
vening power and regulatory and
legislative authority.
A Closer Look
have been besieged by requests
from actors willing to do the film,
and it seems that rapper Snoop
Doggy Dog has the inside track on
playing Goldie.
It may come as a surprise that
white producers in Hollywood are
very uneasy about the trend.
“The Mack is a throwback to an
image blacks have been trying to
fight offscreen,” one producer told
the Los Angeles Times. “Every
black actor of note talks about
turning down maid and slave
roles, so why make a movie about
the industrial-strength pimp of
all time?”
That’s a tough question.
The past year, three of the bet
ter mainstream films dealing with
African-American issues—Rose
wood, Get on the Bus, and Love
Jones—were critical successes but
commercial failures. Contrast this
with Booty Call and Baps, both of
which did very well at the box
office, and the success of action
pictures with African Americans.
Apparently, movies about the
black condition not relating to its
criminal elements are not wanted
by the community, and they will
be made more and more infre
quently as Hollywood sees that
these films are not going to make
money. The era of blaxploitation
films may be upon us again.
Letters
Race is no issue in Goshen protest
Thank you for your front-page
article on October 30, concerning
the Citizens for Fair Schoolingand
the Goshen site selection battle.
The issues are taxes and justice.
The only color that is relevant is
green—not black, not white.
Black students cannot be kept
from Hephzibah High School in a
county school system that overall,
is only 30 percent white. Laney is
1.6 percent white; Josey is 4.9 per
cent; Glenn Hills is 5.6 percent
white. Hephzibah and Butler to
gether contain approximately 56
percent of all white high school
students in Richmond County. A
large percentage of these kids could
be rezoned to one of the 46 sites
involving 55,000 plus acres that I
have proposed west of Hwy. 25, all
midway between Hephzibah and
Butler, as well as midway between
Hephzibah and Glenn Hills, if ra
cial criteria is paramount.
Black and white Richmond-
Countians are being sold out by
the RCBE. Failure to build a high
school in Richmond County near
Ethnic pride can lead to racial tension
Iread your paper every opportu
nity I get, because it has a lot of
info that people of all races can
use.
I was taught to respect anyone
older than myself and have since
learned to respect anyone, regard
less of their age. I believe more
people need to do so. Then racism
would not be such a problem.
YOUNG PEOPLE'S COMMENTARY
This week’s topic:
Do you think that females and males should
attend school together?
Yes, boys and girls
can learn together
I don’t agree with the research
that says boys and girls learn bet
ter when they are segregated. I
believe that students are able to
learn when teachers are willing to
teach them. I also believe that stu
dents learn when they are willing
to take the necessary steps. These
steps include listening, following
directions and studying.
Tiffany Bush
No, education for
both sexes is better
Separate education for males
and females will help raise educa
tional standards in America. In
many American schools, students
are not able to learn because their
minds are focused on sex and not
the mastery of reading, writing
and mathematics. The classroom
is a place for learning. It’s not a
place where boys and girls learn
how to flirt.
Nancy Booker
Gate 5 will result in incoming popu
lation associated with the Fort
taking their brains, money and
housing to Columbia County which
kills Richmond County’s property
tax base. What about the indus
trial areas near the Goshen site
that we have paid millions of tax
dollars to buy and develop and
then the needed millions of more
tax dollars to further develop this
land in the future to lure industry
there that some people call “cor
porate welfare?” What if even a
slow growing residential popula
tion near these areas begins to
question the need for certain types
of industry to locate near residen
tial areas because of safety/aes
thetic/environmental concerns?
What does this mean for Rich
mond County’s future industrial
tax base?
I am passionate. At Dr. Larke’s
personal request I campaigned and
publicly spoke for his appointment.
Adna Stein, Y.N. Myers, Andrew
Jefferson, Mary Oglesby and
Cherie Foster lied to the public
The slogan that UNCF uses, “A
mind is a terrible thing to waste,”
should not apply only to the Negro
college. There should not be a
Negro college, or a white college,
or an all male or all female college.
The old days are gone. The slogan
should state, “Anyone’s mind is a
terrible thing to waste.
Until all races can view others as
Yes, separation
violates the law
I believe that males and fe
males should attend the same
schools. Separating students in
school because of their gender is
unfair. It violates the Constitu
tion of the United States. The
Constitution says that all people
should be treated fairly.
Shacoula Wilber
Yes, separation is
not the answer
I don’t think that we should
separate the sexes in school. Peo
ple should not look for excuses to
explain their shortcomings. If stu
dents want to do good in school,
they will. We all know that teach
ers must teach and students must
listen and study in order for our
schools to improve.
La Toya Washington
No, separation is
better
Boys and girls should not at
tend school together. Studies have
demonstrated that girls who at
during the November, 1996 cam
paign at public forums, and some
of their advisors also lied to lead
ers of the Richmond County PTA
statingthat Goshen was not where
theschool was going. This occurred
as they solicited taxpayer support
for two bond issues to cover the
RCBE’s past managerial inepti
tude. Richmond County property
owners pay approximately 75 per
cent of their county taxes to sup
port RCBE schools. Now every
one, children included, pay a one
cent sales tax toward the RCBE.
This community passed the bond
issue and one-cent sales tax out of
good faith, but the community’s
good faith has been betrayed by
lying, self-serving arrogant politi
cians.
A high school must be built west
of Windsor Spring Road as advo
cated by CFFS for reasons of safety,
taxation, population, existing de
velopment, future growth and jus
tice. That school could be the most
easily racially-balanced school in
blind people do (without judging
on color or race), there will always
be biases and racism.
But in another 100 years, there
will be a majority mixed race of
people and the minority will be the
few all black and all white that are
still left—and they will be dying
out. >
Morality has to be taught in the
__AUGUSTA FOCUS NOVEMBER 13, 1997
tend schools with boys have less
respect for themselves. Their
grades, also, are lower.
Tomekia Seals
Yes, to leamn respect
I think boys and girls should
attend school together. When the
two genders attend school togeth
er, they learn to respect each oth
er. Later in life, the two will have
to get along with one another in
the workplace. Much of the sexual
harassment that we hear about
today grew out of disrespect and
misunderstanding.
La'Toya Rogers
Yes, gender should
not inhibit learning
Ithink females and malesshould
attend school together. First of all,
separate schools for males and fe
males is not constitutional. It vio
lates the equal protection clause of
the 14th Amendment to the Con
stitution. Also, I don’t see how self
esteem and good grades have any
thing to do with the separation of
students by gender. It has more to
do with a student’s mental ability
and one’s willingness to study.
Iris Rivers
all of Richmond County because of
the demographics of that immedi
ate area and nearby “white” areas
of Hephzibah, Goshen and South
Augusta. However, if this commu
nity is willing to bus nearly 1,000
or more predominately black chil
dren from their heavily populated
neighborhoods along Tobacco
Road west of Peach Orchard Road
totheindustrial heartland of Rich
mond County, to serve approxi
mately 577 predominately white
high-school children living in all
or Richmond County east of Hwy
25 and south of Tobacco Road that
will go to Goshen, while continu
ing to pay mushrooming one-cent
sales tax bills and property taxes
(don’t forget the Augusta-Rich
mond County’s projected
$10,000,000 shortfall for 1998) to
have a second rate school system,
then that is a decision all Rich
mond County will have noright to
gripe and complain about when
the chickens come home to roost.
Dietrich W. Oellerich Jr.
Hephzibah
home, the churches and the
schools. It cannot be legislated.
If people living as citizens of the
USA would call themselves Ameri
cans firs and use their ethnic ori
gin as a subtitle, it would help
eliminate some of the racism prob
lem. ,
W.E. Adams
North Augusta
9A