Hello All:
I am so saddened at the transition of sister/friend Ntozake Shange. I had just sent her a birthday greeting via FaceBook. Had no inkling that it would be the last she would receive from us on this plane of action.
She is now up there with the rest of her peers - the great writers who have left their imprints on our hearts and minds.
I'm sharing with you a couple of articles on Ntozake, of the many I had the privilege to write. It was always a joy to run into her at different events, such as Woodie King's plays, jazz performances and local events. She never allowed the three strokes she had suffered prevent her from getting out and being active. I totally admired her for her fortitude as much as I did her writing.
Colored Girls' author Ntozake Shange Honored At Bed Stuy Book Signing
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Hi Bea:
Well, here we go again. Another person missing the point. It seems that no matter what we do, there is always going to be somebody to bitch, moan and groan about it.The "Colored Girls" movie is set in the same date and frame of reference in which Ms. Ntozake Shange originally set it - the 1970's. The only real change made was to add the brothers to round out the context of the cinematics, other wise it would have just been a choreopoem on film; a long list of recitations.
Frankly, I think Tyler Perry has already proved his merit and worth over and over again. Would you have preferred Steven Spielberg do the movie? hmmmmmmm?
If some of the brothers or the sisters (yes, I'm real school enough to still use the terms "brothers and sisters") are having a difficult time dealing with the situation in the present time period, I think they're being just a little disingenuous -- because a great deal of the same crap still happens on a daily basis. Maybe it's because we consider ourselves of a different class -- better educated; above it all, etc. Maybe we think we're evolved and so we pretend that we can't relate to the situations in the movie.
Guess what folks, just tune in one morning to Jerry Springer, Maury Povich (?), or one of those ridiculous divorce court shows - any one of the many so called reality shows - and watch the same garbage play out over and over again among our people in front of the cameras for all the world to see.
Ntozake Shange may have either been ahead of, or behind, the times, depending on where you live and who brought you up.
And, guess what folks, Black people will for ever be "homophobic" and that's a good thing. There are just some mainstream "values" we shouldn't allow to permeate our culture. Sorry y'all -- if you don't agree, it's your prerogative. But don't send me any retorts, because I won't entertain them.
Moving forward, I agree, that our Brothers who are making all these gang banging thug based movies get what they deserve - nothing; no respect, no sympathy, no affection. Of couse, that doesn't count the bling they garner every time they do something that is insulting to Black people. THEY'RE PAID!!! If they tried to do something uplifting and positive, the whites would stop that cash flow immediately.
It's time to stop playing throwback to the days of ignorance, guys. We're in the 21st century. Nobody is going to respect this latest phase of Black dementia. The only statement you're making with those videos, hats to the side, pants hanging off your ass, shoes untied, is that you really aren't ready for the world. It's one thing when it's adolescents doing it; they have been accorded the right to be silly, stupid and dumb, at least to age 18; but when you're 32 years old, what's your excuse.
Take some of that money and bling, while you still have it, and do something your parents, children and people can be proud of. Make some positive movies about Black men really taking their place in the world. Time for a paradigm shift.
Anywaaaaay back to Colored Girls -- I have never been "colored", so that is one reason that I marginally related to Ntozake's play. There was a point in my life when I was a "Negro", but that was a long time ago. Can't relate to that either. Actually, I've always been Black. And to me Black is a state of mind, not just a color or pigmentation. It's more than melanin. It's our mentality. And I've also always been a WOMAN (of course I started out as a GIRL) However, as a Black WOMAN, emphasis on WOMAN, I have been abused, neglected, disrespected with the best of them. Thank God I've never been raped - well, at least not physically. I maintain that all BLACK PEOPLE male or female have been raped repeatedly by the imposition of an infrastucture that invaded our society and kidnapped us -- forcing us into mind numbling centuries of degradation.
We are raped every time they don't educate our children; pay us less than what we deserve; try to steal our ideas, culture, inventions without either paying us or giving us credit for it - ever hear of Rock and Roll? Every hear of the light bulb; how about botox in the lips to make them as full and voluptuous as ours? how about butt pads to make their behinds look as curvaceous as ours? How about driving, walking, talking, thinking, living, eating while BLACK? How about the dis-education of our children? All forms of rape. So in point of fact, we all are being raped daily, and the only people suffering the consequences are we, ourselves. They seem to get away with it scott free.
So Brothers, make a movie about loving each other - and not that so-called abusive "thug love" either, sorry, I'm a romanticist. I understand that our contemporary sisters may not hold the same standards when it comes to their choices in men, but there must be some shred of similarity, or we wouldn't be hearing all these complaints (coming from both sides of the aisle).
Next video, do one where the Black woman actually looks like a Black woman - okay? Not some one who could only get your attention because she's a few shades darker than white, with blonde hair and blue eye contacts. Tyler Perry's women look and act like Black women; even Madea -- and for this I totally love and respect his work, his mind and his courage.
So enough of the criticism. If you have anything positive to add to the equation in terms of another movie, video, poem, we'd love to hear it. The brother brought this one out of the mothballs. Most of you never even heard of Ntozake Shange until the movie; and a good many other of you weren't born, or should I say conscious at the time she did the play. I know she feels honored that he chose to produce it; and he feels honored that she gave him permission to do so.
Check out some of the other wonderful things your elders have done and bring it forward; then we can righteously say that there is no gap in our history or culture; there is a continuum; and we respect it at all levels. And stop trying to beat up Tyler Perry. That brother has truly paid his dues. Give him the respect he deserves; watch and learn from his example - like brother Spike Lee, and other Black producers who blazed their own paths, he would have not been the mogul he has become had he waited for recognition or "permission" from whites, or from those Blacks who "know everything."
It was always a pleasure to interview her, write about her, and watch her be who she was. Her work is eternal, as is her spirit.
Rest in Eternal Power my Sister
Stay Blessed&
ECLECTICALLY BLACK
Gloria Dulan-Wilson
