Congressional Reparations Hearings 6/19/2019

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

STAY BLESSED

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Date: Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 9:21 PM
Subject: Check out this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y6egQuqcWAg
To: ,

THIS WAS KINDA SORTA INTERESTING, CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT JOHN CONYERS INTRODUCED THE “STUDY” NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO -  THERE’S NOTHING MORE EGREGIOUS THAN FIXING TO BEGIN TO START A STUDY ON HOW TO FIX TO BEGIN TO START - THIS IS NOW TIME TO PASS THE LAW.  

THEY ARE STILL PAYING REPARATIONS TO ISRAEL - A MADE UP COUNTRY THAT DID NOT EXIST BEFORE WWII - WHY? BECAUSE AMERICA WAS “GUILTED” INTO FEELING RESPONSIBLE FOR ATROCITIES COMMITTED AGAINST 6 MILLION JEWS - THAT WAS NOT EVEN COMMITTED BY THEM, BUT BY THEIR COUSINS - THE NAZI GERMANS!!! 

 

WHY SHOULD OUR REPARATIONS REQUIRE ADDITIONAL “STUDY”  - A/K/A PROCRASTINATION - ON ACTIONS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN AND PUT INTO EFFECT OVER 150 YEARS AGO?  BECAUSE IF IT LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE DOING SOMETHING, THEY CAN DRAG IT OUT UNTIL THE POPULARITY AND FOCUS DISSIPATES - AND THEN IT CAN BE SHELVED AGAIN UNTIL 2050 -

THE ONLY PERSON MISSING THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN INVITED WAS BROTHER TREVOR NOAH - WHO NAILED THE MEANING OF REPARATIONS   - IF BLACK PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET WHAT WE DESERVE WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT MOVES FROM STUDY TO ACTION - NOW

ANYWAAAAAAY..... HERE’S THE VIDEO - CHECK IT OUT AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK 

BY THE WAY, THE OWENS GUY GOT ON MY LAST NERVE.  NOT LAUGHING 

Check out this video on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/Y6egQuqcWAg

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IN MEMORIAM TO AMOS AND ANDY - AND ALL OUR BLACK COMEDIC GENIUSES

By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All:

I don't know if I've told you how much I love good comedies!  I love to take a laugh break - especially if things have been rather stressful or I've been burning the candle at both ends - going to meetings, events, planning sessions - or if the meanstream media is providing it's bill of faire of CNN - continuously negative news.

So with all the T-Rump hype, and the attempts at lynching Bill Cosby via the meanstream media,  recently  I took a walk down memory lane and plugged into some of the predecessors of our contemporary comedians:  Amos and Andy from the TV series of the 50's and Mantan Moreland from the 30's and 40's.  Yes, these are the guys who have been castigated as being
"coons and buffoons"  by their own people - rather than being valued for what they truly were - absolute comedic geniuses - and you had to be if you lived in the era of Jim Crow and segregation (i.e. American Apartheid).  At least they were being funny on purpose - not like Ben Carson - who is a joke a minute.  These men had honed their craft and did us proud.  

They were able take the stereotype, turn them on their ear and make you laugh in the process - and not only get  paid, but in the case of Mantan Moreland, if his name wasn't prominently placed in the cast, most people wouldn't even go to see the story.  Can you imagine how Frankie Darro (his white counterpart in many of the movies must have felt?  He was actually playing second fiddle to Mantan Moreland's reactions, turns of phrase - witty and witless sayings.

Mantan Moreland 

I am ever grateful to my Mother, Ruby Love, for showing us these characters when we were still young enough to develop a true sense of humor.  She went to see them in the movies when she was a teenager.  Oklahoma had its own Black owned movie theaters - the East Side, the Jewel and the Aldrich - all built, owned and run by Black entrepreneurs.  They were still there when I grew up; and as a little tyke, I spent many a Sunday outing with my parents at the movies.  We saw a great many of the classics in the movies, along with the contemporary - like Ruby Dee in Ana Lucasta, or The Jackie Robinson Story; as well as whatever was playing in the other meanstream movies.

But Mom always said that a good sense of humor is the sign of high intelligence; and that if you had to explain a joke to someone, they were ignorant,  sick and sad.  

Anywaaaaaay......

After you guys loaded up my FB page with all these horrid photos and sayings of T-Rump, I snapped and decided I needed to take a "Brain Break!!"  As I was scanning the YOUTUBE listings, I came across a movie that had Mantan Moreland's name prominently place. As I scrolled down, I began to notice that there were several movie titles with his name in it.  Initially, I was turned off; then, it hit me - Mantan Moreland, a Black man, had made all these movies 80 to 90 years ago - wow!  This was history in and of itself.

So I watched one movie, and found myself laughing hysterically.  I watched another, thing plot, but same comedic genius.  All totaled, I watched at least 12 movies where Mantan Moreland was either star or had second billing - and realized that he was waaaaay ahead of his time - using pratfalls and physical comedic routines as his tour de force - he had me rolling on the floor laughing myself silly.  What was really special about him was that he was co-starring with a white lead actor in a day and time when most Black actors weren't mentioned until somewhere way down in the cast of characters - maybe around the 11th or 12th person.  Here he was getting top billing.  There are a series of movies starting around 1938 through 1946 where he was prominently placed as second banana - (NOTE: there were a couple of offensive scenes in the Mantan Moreland series that definitely warranted the criticism that came from the Black community as a result - one where whites appeared in blackface; and another where he was insulted by one of the white male actors - who later ended up dead in the story, by the way - but, I consider that mild, in an era of rampant Jim Crowism.)  Actually,  by and large the roles were no more negative than they would be had we been watching Laurel and Hardy; Abbott and Costello; the Marx Brothers; Danny Kaye; Richard Pryor - all of whom used comedic gestures, reactions, physical comedic routines to make the audience laugh - and I enjoy them just as much as I did Mr. Moreland's work.  I also found that he had co-starred prominently in most of the old Charlie Chan genre movies with Keye Luke.  They made quite a team.

NOTE  By the way, if you want to see Mantan Moreland at his best, check him out in DRUMS OF THE DESERT - it will blow your mind! And it was made long before the Tuskeegee Airmen were even conceived of in the US.

I later had a flashback to Black in the back day when I was a kid watching  Amos 'n Andy on TV with my parents.  So I checked to see if there were any old Amos and Andy movies online - and I truly want to thank the person who posted their first year episodes 1 through 26 on Youtube.  I've never laughed so hard in all my days.  Malappropisms - which is the hallmark of their comedy - abounded -  the plots were pure genius.  And I realized how much we lost when this great show and the cavalcade of Black talent was removed from TV - a result of  NAACP - our Civil Rights leadership at the time - viewed their work as it as an insult to the image of Black people; as opposed to the ability to laugh at one's self,  despite the disparities of  the overall meanstream society.   They were too busy trying to "assimilate" and show they could be as "dignified" as any white person, that they  picketed, wrote letters, and had the shows cancelled after two years on the air!  It threw thousands  of capable, competent, talented  comedic and dramatic actors and actresses out of work,  not to mention technicians, and craftsmen and artists!  They actually set us back in TV by at least 30 years, with the NAT KING COLE SHOW being the sole survivor.

l-r: Amos, Kingfisher & Andy

Amos and Andy, which was originally started by two white guys on the radio in the 30's; they had also appeared in Black face in the movies.  It had been popular among whites for years by the time they decided to put it on TV.  Of course, they couldn't have the original white actors who did the voice characterization play the lead roles; and Civil rights had so changed that there was no way they would have been so stupid as to try to do a show in blackface.  So they decided to put together the first on-air, all Black TV sitcom (situation comedy).  

They selected Spencer Williams, to portray Andy - who was always getting duped by his good old friend THE KING FISHER.  Williams was  a genius- Black  producer, writer, actor, performer in his own right, having produced several all Black movies in the 40's.  (NOTE: I've watched his original movies from the 30's and 40's  and got a kick out of his capacity to go from comedian to villain in the same story.  And what can one say about Kingfish! portrayed by Tim Moore.  He was the key character in the story, around which most of the p)lots turned - always scheming and getting himself and others into hot water.  When we were kids my classmates imitating him when somebody came up with something absurd "Holy Mack-el dere!"  Hilarious! Ernestine Wade played Sapphire, his wife - who was always on his case; along with his mother in law.  Amos, a taxi driver who proudly owned his own business, served as the narrator, straight man and wise one throughout the story line.  And Calhoun - portrayed by the great Jester Harrison (who later starred in other contemporary sitcoms - "AMEN" with Sherman Helmsley, Anna Marie Horsford and Clifton Davis, comes to mind) - was hilarious as the almost lawyer - who was prominently figured in most of Kingfish's deceptions.  

I can remember my mom and dad, and all of us, laughing til we hurt ourselves.  I also remember  how much we enjoyed seeing our own people on TV in the fine art of being themselves.   We were so proud of them!   While they used malapropisms liberally,  not all of the dialogue was laced with improper English.  In fact, Sapphire always spoke totally grammatically correct English, as did the other female characters - in contrast to the male characters.  Amos, who served as straightman and narrator mixed it up, depending on whether he was imparting some words or wisdom, or in character with his co-stars.

Their community was set in New York City - presumably Harlem - but an upscale Harlem, where people dressed well, were employed, had their own businesses, private clubs, all the trappings of a balanced, positive, prominent community.  Absent were the perjoratives, the profanity, the n-words, put downs and other hostile remarks that characterize our contemporary comedy.  Missing is the gangsta attitude and behavior that are supposed to be funny, but miss the mark for me.  They were  Black but they didn''t have to say it - they just had to be it.  It was like a private peek into our communities from Black in the day. They're not being or acting subservient to whites, each other, or anybody else - they're being who they are in the context of their community while the rest of the world is looking in.  The number and caliber of guest artists who appeared in the show was amazing - some were recurring performing different characters.   Joe Adams, who played Husky Miller in the movie version of Carmen Jones, was one of many actors who would repeatedly appear as a variety of characters.  
(NOTE: in school, we kids would try to imitate Kingfish: "Holy makc'l, there - you wouldn't be tryin' to bamboozle me, no would yuh!!" And we'd all crack up laughing at the one who came closest to imitating him.)

Anyway, I'm saluting  these Pioneer Black Comedic Geniuses who have blazed the trail  Like they say - make 'em laugh!!

 Now, of course there others from Black in the day - who do fit the perjoratives we've lodged against them  as "cooning"- like Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Perry); Willie Best, and others, who epitomized the "uncle Tom" imagery we look down on; or the great Butterfly McQueen, who appeared in Gone With the Wind ("Ms. Scarlet, I don't know nothin about birthin no babies!") - I still cringe watching them. But they would not have had any opportunity to have  been on the screen had they not brought that talent with them - sad to say.    

The depictions in Bamboozled - staring Damon Wayons depicted some of the more stereotypical roles Black comedic actors were forced to play - of course off stage they were intellectuals, intelligent, upright and positive - but could never be cast to play the serious roles. 

But where would Jack Benny have been without Eddie "Rochester" Anderson? Most people  think that Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were the first Black/White comedy team - but they would be on the late show with that. Not only was Rochester popular, other white artists wanted to work with him in their movies as well (TOPPER RETURNS).

Eddie Rocherster Anderson with Lena Horne

Richard  Pryor and Gene Wilder (SILVERSTREAPY;  Danny Glover and Mel Gibson;  Bill Cosby and Robert Culp - I  SPY; Will Smith and Tommie Lee  Jones (Men In Black I, II, III); Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum in Tenspeed and Brownshoe - it didn't go any where, but we enjoyed it.  Or how about Jackie "Moms" Mabley!  She was amazing.   

Richard Pryor

Not wanting to sound like a total prude - there were no four letter words, "b" words, or the other genre that passes for comedy today - and if you watched  them now, you'll still find yourself rolling on the floor with laughter.   

This is Black History Month!  This is, in fact, the 90th Anniversary of the establishment of Black History Month by Dr. Carter G. Woodson.  Not everybody led a picket line, or sat down on a bus - there were many who took one for us by being the first, or only Black in a movie; or on TV, or on stage - and they were brilliant at what they did.  This is not an exhaustive list - I'm sure there are others that you, your parents, or grandparents could name as well - please feel free to add them to the list.   These are the ones who made it possible for the Richard Pryors, the Wayans (a comedic/production/acting dynasty in their own right), Bernie Mack, Trever Noah, and so many other great Black comedians of today, to be who they are.  We  have to salute those brothers and sisters who kept us laughing through our tears!

Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?

Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria 

EVENT ALERT: PAN AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL (PAFF) OPENS IN LA

-->By Gloria Dulan-Wilson
Hello All:

Well Black History Month is in full swing.  Activities abounding all over the US.  And for those of you fortunate enough to live on the West Coast, especially in and around Southern California, the annual Pan African Film Festival will be featuring the creme de la creme in Black cinematography from February 5th through February 16th.  This marks the 23rd year that this organization, established in 1992, has scoured the world to bring the best in Black films.  

PAFF presents and showcases "the broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help destroy negative stereotypes. We believe film and art can lead to better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the same time serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times," according to their mission statement.  They are a non-profit corporation "dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding among peoples of African descent. PAFF is dedicated to racial tolerance through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression."

It was co-founded in 1992 by Danny Glover, Ja'net DuBois and Ayuko Babu, who serves as Executive Director.  It is the largest event during the Black History Month featuring more that 150 new films and over 100 fine artists and unique craft persons from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, South America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the diversity and complexity of people of African descent.

So if you're not there already, you might want to be there to avail yourself of one of this enduring, culture rich event!

Below are some of the events and their schedules.  Enjoy!!

STAY BLESSED & 

ECLECTICALLY BLACK 

Gloria

Pan African Film & Arts Festival Newsletter What's Playing February 5, 2015 STAY CONNECTED!   PAFF Website   PAFF ARTFEST Take a sneak peak at some of the artists that will exhibit at PAFF this year!  Painting by Aziz Diagne   Painting By D. Shannon Young Wearable Art by Aziz Diouf Painting by Nwachukwu Ike Jewelry by Adrienne Locket Painting by G-Baby The Artfest is free to browse! Our talented and eclectic exhibition of artists have something for every taste and budget! Visit www.paff.org/artfest/  to see what artists will be exhibiting this year! PAFF NEWS Latest Press Release The 23rd Annual Pan African Film Festival To Take Place in Los Angeles February 5-16, 2015   Hotel Accomodations PAFF 2015 has teamed up with the Four Points by Sheraton LAX to bring our out-of-town guests special discounted rates! Click  HERE to book your accommodations today! A shuttle service to anf from the theatre will be provided for guests staying at the host hotel. View The 2015 Event Schedule Book PAFF 2015 EVENTS Opening Night *WEST COAST PREMIERE* "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution" (US/Documentary) Visit Film Page for more info. Date: TONIGHT, February 5, 2015 Time: 8pm, red carpet begins @ 6:30pm Location: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Tickets: $100 (includes screening & after-party) Purchase tickets HERE.  Can't make tonight? Other Showtimes: Sat, 2/7 @ 8:30p; Sun, 2/15 @ 3:30p Related Films that may interest you "Black Panther Woman" (Australia/Short Documentary) Next Screening: Sat, 2/7 @ 5:35p "Concerning Violence" (Denmark/Finland/ Sweden/US/Documentary) Next Screening: Fri, 2/6 @ 8p "Chicago Love" (US/Documentary) Next Screening: Sat, 2/7 @ 6:55p "Freeway: Crack in The System" (US/Documentary) Next Screening: Sat, 2/7 @ 7p & 7:20p PAFF Institute: Panels & Workshops Saturday, February 7    "Christianity on Trial in Film: Examining the Historical Credibility of Biblical Epics on the Big Screen." 10a-12p A panel comprised of Christian apologists (intellectual defenders of the faith), biblical historians and Christian filmmakers will discuss the historical record behind Biblical epics such as "Noah," "Exodus" and the "Bible Miniseries" by examining the corresponding forensic, archeological and scientific evidence. Then, the audience will have an opportunity to put the credibility of the scriptures on trial through a Q&A session to determine for themselves whether these great epics are Fact, Fiction or Folklore.  Panelists: Ralph Winter (Producer - "X-Men;" "Fantastic Four") Kevin Grevioux (Writer & Actor - "Underworld" and "I Frankenstein") Dr. David Talley (Chair Biblical & Theological Studies Old Testament Dept, Biola Univ.) Moderator: Daisy Lewellyn (TV personality)   "Meet the Producers" 10a-12p Panelists will discuss what it takes to become a successful producer, getting your work in front of power brokers, and how to have staying power. Panelists: Clint Culpepper (Sony) Chris Gary (HBO) Tendo Nagenda (Disney) Moderator: TBA   Tickets are available in the Rave Cinemas 15 box office. Prices vary. Visit PAFF Institute for information on other panels & workshops.  STAY TUNED...   CenterPiece *WORLD PREMIERE* "Triangle - Going to America (Sost Maezen)" (Ethiopia/Narrative) Immigration has been the topic of many recent news reports and headlines, including President Obama taking bold new steps to fix America's broken immigration system. Triangle-Going to America addresses this very issue. Each year, hundreds of Africans from Ethiopia, Eritrea and and throughout the African continent leave their countries to make the journey across the world with hope and dreams of coming to America. The film's characters Kaleab and Jemal are willing to endure any danger to reach America and the promise of a better life. Along the way Kaleab meets Winta, an Eritrean beauty who is also making the journey. Together, they travel an arduous and illegal path wrought with danger, exploitation and death from East and North Africa through Italy, Mexico and finally to the United States. Stars Solomon Bogale and Mahder Assefa, two of the most famous actors in Ethiopia, and Muluken Teshome, Samson Tadesse, and Selam Tesfayie. Stars Muluken Teshome, Solomon Bogale, Samson Tadesse, Selam Tesfayie, Mahder Aseefa. Director and cast members will be present Visit  Film Page for more info Date: February 12, 2015 Time: 7pm, red carpet begins at 6pm  Location: Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza Tickets: $60 (includes screening & after-party featuring Ethiopian cuisine and live entertainment) Purchase tickets HERE Visit www.paff.org/films/ for a full list of films and  visit http://www.paff.org/festivals/paff-la/ for a list of all events at PAFF 2015. Individual tickets for all screenings are available now at www.paff.org/tickets/. Select the date of the screening you're interested in and select the screening time in order to purchase tickets. Tickets and Passes are also available in the box office of the Rave Cinemas 15. Established in 1992, The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. SPONSORS

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Now that you know, what are you going to do?

Stay Blessed & 
ECLECTICALLY BLACK 
Gloria 
www.gloriadulanwilson.blogspot.com/ECLECTICALLY BLACK NEWS