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The Augusta News-Review - February 7, 1974 -
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Iff 1 by Al Irby
ARE THE RASH OF BLACK FAR-OUT MOVIES
DETRIMENTAL TO TRUE BLACK IDENTITY AND
PROGRESSIVE IMAGE BUILDING? SHAFT, SUPER FLY,
SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG, COFFEY, AND
CLEOPATRA JONES ARE BUT A FEW QUESTIONABLE
BLACK MOVIES THAT ARE FLOODING THE AMERICAN
MOVIE HOUSES. ALL OF THESE INSIDIOUS FILMS GIVE A
SUBTLE MESSAGE THAT BLACKS ARE VIOLENT,
CRIMINAL, OVER SEXED AND SUB-SAVAGE.
Most all of the Black films damage the rising status of all
Afro-Americans. Today’s racial movies are negative Black
stereotypes and are more slyly and neatly camouflaged than the
menial roled Black films of the past, but the same degrading
messages are there. They depict Blacks as violent, criminal, sexy
savages who are prone to get even with whitey on the silvery
screen.
Many of the high-salaried cast members try to dismiss the idea
that these films have a negative effect on the audiences. They
contend that movies featuring heroes who push dope, hustle
women’s bodies and mutilate their foes are mere entertainment,
and have no lasting effect on the theater-going public. I simply
don’t know how many thinking people can swallow that type of
hog-wash logic. This brand of reasoning assumes that movie-goers
can and will distinguish Black humor from reality, and will
separate this action from daily living.
FICTION VS. POOR BLACK YOUTHS - It is possible true
that well-balanced adults may be able to see these far-out movies
as pure entertainment, and some middle-class young people with
well organized home life in their backgrounds may regard these
Black movies as pure fiction. But when under-priveledged young
Blacks view them, there is a good chance that they will emulate
the action as reality.
Movies have told lies about Black people in the past.
Remember it was the American Movie Industry that taught
Blacks and whites that Africans were savages, and that their
Afro-American descendants were lazy happy-go-lucky, thieving,
sexually promiscous, and mentally inferior. In 1920 and 1930
Hollywood produced such racial trash as The Birth Os A Nation,
The Coward, The Nigger, scandalized Blacks and induced
weak-minded whites to believe that Blacks were uncivilized and
low-lifed.
These insidious views seeped into Black’s sub-conscience and
developed a self-hatred that caused them to kill and malign one
another. In the 1940 s and 50s, white movie producers beamed
the Black movies that kept Blacks in their places. Topsy, Uncle
Remus, Amos and Andy, and a gang of house-boys and maids for
Miss Ann, these were the type of Black parts seen in those years.
THE GOOD BLACK BOY, THE BAD BLACK GIRL - Blacks
have to be careful of the hidden messages, that many racial
orientated films convey, such as Porgy and Bess, Carmen Jones
and Cabin in the Sky, many of this type feature good Black boys
and bad Black girls, the neglected Black wife, and the sex-crazed
Black guys.
Sidney Poitier has done a major job in portraying the better
side of Black-life in America. In latter years Hollywood has
reluctantly attempted to remove most of discrediting stereotypes
of Blacks. During the corrective transition Blacks lost all of their
jobs in the movie industry. Little by little the Hollywood tycoons
would produce something decent in regard to Blacks such as The
Intruder in the Dust, Pinky, and The Defiant Ones.
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL PAYING OFF - In the 1960 s Blacks
in America began to develop a new pride, the Civil Rights
movement awakened a spiritual charisma among Blacks. The
white business world seized upon this Black awareness to
establish a lucractive economic market of mod clothes and
cosmetics. Among the first to capitalize on this new market was
the movie industry Films such as Putney Swope, and such
nonsense as Baadasssss Song packed the theaters all over the
nation. Movie producers saw that there were tremendous profits
to be made from a people starving to see its heroes hitting back at
the whites that in the past had kept them subdued.
It is true that the movie industry has given a small number of
Blacks the opportunities to direct and to appear in some films
directed at the Black trade. But it is real questionable whether
Blacks have made any real progress in the world of films. Most of
these racial films radiate negative images of Black people. The
heroes and heroines are usually criminals of all types;
street-walkers, pimps and drug pushers.
Inspite of Gordon’s War, feeble attempts at respectability like
Coffy and Cleopatra Jones, they show the heroes fighting against
drugs in the Black community, but the over-all plots depend on
unreality, high jinks, sex, and violence predominate.
Some Blacks and whites contend that such films are beneficial
to Blacks as a whole. This minority reasoning holds that these
films depict the Black men and women as heroes, defying the
system. Black youths can see another Black dudes slapping and
even killing whitey. It is the hope of the producers and Black
actors that these pictures will make Blacks feel less inferior, and
better able to overcome oppression by the majority group.
The youthful Black audiences generate much excitement,
whenever a Black punches, kicks or even kills a white bully. Some
members of the movie industry see this a “catharsis of
aggression” and a release of violent impulses.
Frantz Fanon, the revolutionary thinker, and Black Marxist,
suggested that violence against the oppressor was therapeutic for
the oppressed, but young Fanon did not present a bit of scientific
evidence to support his wild theory. Albert Bandura, a noted
psychiatrist of Stanford University, however, has shown that such
a relief of tension is likely to be temporary, and that scenes of
violence may activate a latent potential for violence and
aggression.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out many strategies in his
philosophy of nonviolence and moral uplifting. A person who
becomes violent indicates his frustration and inability to cope
with a situation. The New York Times recently reported that the
Black on Black homicide rate is about eight times higher than the
white on white rate.
A PSYCHOSOCIAL SHAME ON AMERICAN BLACKS -
Although there are many psychosocial reasons for the Black
community to have one of the highest crime and homicide rates
in the country, something must be done to stop the prevailing
opinion that Blades lack feelings of respect for each other. And
that they are often consumed with self-hatred that they project
onto other Blacks.
Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, noted Harvard University psychiatrist,
made this damaging statement; “Blaxploitation cheap movies
degrade Black people in America.”
WALLACE PARBER
222 7th STREET SHOP
6 Days A Weak 9:00 Until!
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549 Broad St
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Page 4
Things You Should Know
—1
BURW...
. . .Os ALEXANDRIA, VATHIS RUNAWAY " '
SLAVE WAS ARRESTED IN BOSTON ON MAY
24,1854. THAT WEEK THE U.S. ATTY. REFUSED
AN ABOLITIONIST OFFER TO BUY HIS FREEDOM; TO UPHOLD THE
'FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW" BURNS WAS TRIED/ AND MAY
2J ft PRES. PIERCE CALLED UP22 REG.^ARTILLERY,
1500 DRAGOONS'MARINES/BOSTON POLICE,ETC,TO GUARD HIM.
HIS "SLAVE PRICE"WAS ONLY SI2OO, BUT THE GOVERNMENT SPENT
OVER $40,000. TO RETURN HIM TO SLAVERY./
Black news
is good news
Every day something good can
happen to those beautiful ears of
yours. It’s called Black news. And
the way you get next to it is by
tuning in a National Black Net
work station.
Every hour on the hour 18 times a
day, (slightly abbreviated schedule
on Sunday) you can hear about
what’s happening in you- world.
That’s because it’s news reported
and edited by Black people.
Listen to the good news. Black
news on the National Black
Network.
The National Black Network
I Lk b Division of Unity Broadcasting Network, Inc.
jF 1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10019
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DON’T WANT TO GET INVOLVED ... ?
THE AUGUSTA NEWS-REVIEW
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY
Mallory K. MHlender Editor and Publisher
Mailing Address: Box 953 Augusta, Ga. Phone 722-4655
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I |
BY VERNON E. JORDAN, JR. F
BLACK COLLEGES VITAL
Negro History Week is a time to look not only at historic Black
leaders and heroes but also at the institutions Black people have
forged and which have sustained us through an often bitter,
struggle-filled past. Among the most important of these
institutions are the still-thriving Black colleges. Black people owe
a special debt of gratitude to these schools which provided higher
education to masses of Black students who were not permitted to
enroll in white universities, and which, even now, form our first
line on the advanced educational front.
The historical record of these schools, many small and most
underfunded, is staggering. From their very beginnings, about a
century ago, the Black colleges have provided the leadership first,
for the Black community, and later for the community at large.
Three-fourths of all Black PhD’s took their undergraduate
training in Black colleges, as did three-fourths of Black army
officers and two-thirds of Black political office-holders. Similar
figures could be citied for Black professionals, businessmen,
ambassadors and for many African leaders, as well.
So the Black colleges have historically been a training ground
for excellence the reservoir for national and international
leadership. They represent not only a precious resource
predominately managed and run by the Black community, but
also a vital national asset.
That role continues. Although many white colleges have finally
opened their doors to Black students and have made a tenuous
start in hiring Black faculty, over a third of all Black college
students attend predominately Black institutions. And most of
these students come from families that are poor, or who can’t
afford the high institution fees charged by predominately white
schools. Many need, and get, the remedial work they need to
make it in college, remedial work most other schools don’t bother
doing.
The dual pressures of underfunding and high demand for
services put most predominately Black schools in a financial
squeeze, and it is one of the shames of this nation that public and
private funds aren’t flowing in greater amounts to these
institutions.
But as they face the expanded needs of the future, some are
suggesting that predominately Black schools are no longer
necessary and that they constitute a sort of reverse segregation.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
These schools are needed because predominately white colleges
have not demonstrated their desire or their ability to recruit -
and graduate - Black youngsters in sufficient numbers. In fact,
there is every indication that the Black enrollment boom in white
colleges is tapering off, partly because federal tuition grants are
drying up, and partly because many schools were more interested
in tokenism that looked good for federal civil rights officials.
And the Black colleges, though born in response to segregation,
are not segregated. Their faculties and administrative staffs have
always been among the most integrated aspects of American life,
and their doors have always been open to white students. Most
Black colleges have a greater proportion of white students than
white colleges have Black.
By their very existence, Black colleges affirm the American
tradition of pluralism and ethnic group instiutions. The
predominately Black college is no more a segregated institutional
than Notre Dame is a segregated Catholic one. Other ethnic and
religious groups have institutions which, while open to the general
public, retain their distinctive character just as predominately
Black colleges reflect the history, culture, needs and aspirations
of Black people.
As Negro History Week is a week to celebrate the achievements
of Black Americans, let us celebrate our basic institutions that
have nutured our development and fostered our hopes, and of
these, the Black colleges are among the most vital.
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; The Essence Os Augusta
Augustus Miller
t This week the Essence of Augusta will direct its attention to
those young brothers and sisters who are now demonstrating
that education is their “thing”.
» Students such as Sheila Timmons, Wayne Phillips, Tammie
Evans, Augustus Hall, Juda Jackson, Benny Fowler, Deborah
’ Fowler, Jacquelyn Miller, Pamela Grant, and Denice Thompson,
i are preparing themselves to be the future leaders of Augusta and
America.
There are many factors that go into the making of
“Somebody”. First of all, the person has to want to be
somebody. Second, the student has to seek the advise of parents,
teachers, and counselors. Thirdly, the student must be willing to
work hard at reaching the goal that is so desired. By THINKING
and PLANNING, many goals established by students can be
reached. Regardless of the realistic goals in the person’s ming, he
must THINK and PLAN to accomplish those goals.
A large number of students (more than mentioned in this
article) probably have planned what they would like to be as
adults. These special students show a great sign of maturity
because they know that someday they will have to earn a living
for themselves.
However, there are other students who need to wake up and
realize that one day soon they will not be young boys and girls,
but men and women. Unfortunately, a few young brothers and
sisterszill not make it because they put stylish yearning before
basic learning.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be with the gang or
group for this is very important for growing up together.
There is nothing wrong with being “fly” and driving a mean set
of wheels. These and many other things are good for being
accepted with friends. However, will you as students settle for
just a few little things in life? Especially, when opportunities are
so abundant. Will the student today study and keep up in class?
Does the student read a newspaper everyday, once a week or a
book often? Does the student substitute profanity for words he
should know? Does the young brother and sister really know
“what is going on?” These questions can only be answered by
each and every individual.
Getting it together and ’eing somebody takes more than being
“cool”. It means working hard at learning something meaninfgul.
The excuse for not learning all that is to be learned is one way of
lying to yourself and lying to other brothers and sisters that you
are really “together”.
An EDUCATION is one of the easiest things to get. However,
it can’t be given to you or anybody else, it must be earned. It is
hoped that all young brothers and sisters in Augusta will make
EDUCATION their “thing”.
Things You Should Know
tease &
MATZELIGER...
- He CAME TO THE US . FROM
Nf. DUTCH GUIANA IN THE EARLY 1870 i
I
2? y, WENT T 0 WORK IN A SHOE FACTORY
IN LYN N, M ASS. AT AGE 2 5 /AFTER 5
YEARS SPARE-TIME WORK ON AN IN
VENT I ON,HE REFUSED AN OFFER OF $ 1500. /» YEARS LATER,
ON MARCH 20,1883, HE PATENTED A NEW ONE-A SHOE LAST
ING MACHINE THAT REVOLUTIONIZED THE INDUSTRY ALL AROUND
THE WORLD /
WISH