The BN-W notes and cast/production details of the monitored film(s) listed above are farther down in this eNewsletter.  

This Memorial Day weekend marks the celebration of the sixth year anniversary of Ban the N-Word – aka BN-W/Educate-Empower.   The past six years have not only included what we think are informative eNewsletters but also the BN-W “Imagery & Its Power” presentations, which our audiences – from the young to the young at heart – continually say educated them on something they were never aware of and/or empowered them from a different perspective.   While we strive to keep the fundamentals intact, we always enjoy adding something new.   Last year we introduced our new at-a-glance chart format, which gives our readers all the pertinent facts up front.   We will also continue with the “BN-W Suggested Reading” section that includes short book excerpts.   We’ve added “The Impassioned Writers” corner, which highlights original writings by passionate individuals with the goal of educating to empower anyone who’s fortunate enough to read their columns.   Read more about some of the writers – PJ Rain, Elmore Cisco James, Jr., C. Herbert Oliver, Franz Jones, and Anita Tsálagi Asha – in this updated BN-W Special Announcement .  

And, of course, the BN-W Resource Directory is always available for information and research purposes.   For videos, writings, and more on some of the top e ducators and scholars visit BN-W: Educators.   For links on activists and politics, visit BN-W: Politics.    There are also plenty of other areas of interest, so just cruise into the BN-W directory and plan to stay a while.

BN-W/EDUCATE-EMPOWER:   Events & Topics & Issues

Scholarship Alert :   The Theatre Scholarship Club is offering two $1000.00 scholarships to graduating high school seniors who are in foster care or in an independent living/group home situation.   For an application or additional information, please send an email to theatrescholarshipclub@yahoo.com.   The deadline is June 24, 2010.

The Off Broadway production of Black Angels Over Tuskegee is extended once again.   Its run at St. Luke’s Theatre ends May 31 – but its new run at the Actors Temple Theatre begins June 5.   Get the information to purchase discount tickets for $39.50 online or directly at the box office when you visit BroadwayBox.   This is a glorious play about the Tuskegee Airmen that will take you on an emotional journey from laughter and tears to anger and triumph.   Its run keeps getting extended because it’s such a powerful play.   Don’t miss it.  

The ten-time Tony nominated (unprecedented for a revival of a play) August Wilson play Fences starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis ends its run on July 11.   No discount tickets are available for this in-demand and critically acclaimed Broadway production.   Members of the BN-W camp won’t see it until mid-June, but based on the previous Wilson plays we’ve seen (especially Gem of the Ocean), there’s little doubt this one will disappoint.   Upon re-reading the book early this year in anticipation of the play’s April opening, it is noted, however, that many of the pieces in his 10-play cycle (aka as the “ Century Cycle”), which focuses on the Black experience in America during the 20^th century, use the N-word as it was often used during that time period.   Therefore, we’ll see if that usage is toned down for this Broadway production – as well as the upcoming Fences movie that’s been rumored to be a possibility.   The Tony Awards will air live on June 13 at 8:00pm on CBS from Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks is back on for the 2010 season.   McGruder’s apparently still at it with excessive and unnecessary use of the N-word.   In a piece entitled Boondocks Obsession with the N-word, H. Lewis Smith writes:   “ Language has been and is an effective means to marginalize minorities, and the word n**ger was and remains a shorthand way of effective mind control.   Boondocks’s vile, wicked and immoral use of the n-word is a sell-out to all of the African Americans who were victimized by this word.  Black America’s failure to hold Boondocks ACCOUNTABLE for its use of the n-word manifests an inability to rise above an 18th century mind state.   Many believe that when Blacks use the term, there is no power or harm in the word.  However, if the producer of the show was White, all of Black America would be up in arms over the use of the n-word, and the fact that Aaron McGruder is BLACK does not give him the license to degrade and demean Black America.  The n-word will always be a term of scorn and ridicule regardless to who’s the user or receiver.”   Read his full commentary here:   H. Lewis Smith on The Boondocks.

And speaking of the power of words and imagery, did you see the May 26 CNN segment with anchor Kyra Phillips apologizing for the use of the N-word in the musical selection – Fantastic Voyage by rapper Coolio! – of a story about a 103-year-old woman of African descent driving a Cadillac Coupe de Ville.   Decide for yourself if you believe this “shout out” was really a “mistake”?   Or was it something else?   Again, take note of the power of imagery and words.   First, see the video:   CNN - N-Word (HuffPost)   or   CNN - N-Word (Redding)

Now, for those who are curious and like to dig deeper, read the lyrics to the original Lakeside version of the Fantastic Voyage song and then check out the lyrics to the sampled version by Coolio.   Based on the difference in the quality of the lyrics and the particular selection of lyrics that someone at CNN decided they were going to play on air for that segment with a 103-year-old woman of African descent, the question still remains, do you believe this “shout out” was really a “mistake”?   Note the media manipulation, the power of imagery and words – and the message someone wanted to send.   Perhaps Phillips didn’t know what was going down but it’s clear that – based on the length of the segment and the exact pinpointing of what lyrics would be played – somebody did!

Nearing a worldwide box office gross of $2.8 billion, Avatar is now the #1 highest-grossing film in the world.   Because of that as well as its special effects and storyline, it will be talked about in the pro and con for many years.   Although Avatar is not a BN-W monitored film, it is a film that we had no expectations about so went into it unbiased and with an open mind yet found it to be the standard Hollywood fare – misleading and stereotypical in terms of that all powerful “imagery.”   Journalist Frederick Alexander Meade summarized it nicely:   “Regrettably, moviegoers often fail to recognize the incessant, inane, and divisive ideas promoted by such productions as Avatar and subsequently are subliminally compelled to accept false notions in regard to either the superiority or inferiority of various groups and their subsequent essential value.  Such has been the case far more often than the public is perhaps aware.”   Listen to and/or read the text of Meade’s very detailed, play-by-play critique on the making of Avatar:  

Video: Avatar - YouTube or Avatar - MySpace                                

Text:   Avatar Text - Black Star News or Avatar Text - Meade Blog

[5/31/10 UPDATE]   As of this writing, the Gaza conflict with Israel has once again escalated with Israeli soldiers killing at least nine activists who were traveling on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla to deliver humanitarian goods to the occupied territory.   Read about the Global BDS Movement, which is the Palestinian Unified Call for boycott, divestment, sanctions against Israel.   We’ve been following this Palestinian/Israeli conflict for years, see Blacks and Jews link at the end of this document for videos, articles, and more on the history of this occupation.

BN-W SUGGESTED READING

Blacks in Science:  Ancient and Modern edited by Ivan Van Sertima

“Anthropology has had a long love affair with the primitive and has preferred to set its tent down among the African bushmen, exploring the simplicities of tiny tribal communities rather than the complexities to be found in the primary centers of large African nations…. Five centuries of these falsehoods have been exploded in just five years.   These years have seen the discovery of African steel-smelting in Tanzania 1,500-2,000 years ago, an astronomical observatory in Kenya 300 years before Christ, the cultivation of cereals and other crops by Africans in the Nile Valley 7,000 years before any civilization, the domestication of cattle in Kenya 15,000 years ago, the domestic use of fire by Africans 1,400,000 years ago (one million years before its first known use in China), the use of tetracycline [antibiotic] by an ancient African population fourteen centuries ago, an African glider-plane 2,300 years old, a probe by microwave beams of an American radar satellite beneath the sands of the Sahara, revealing cultures 200,000 years old and the traces of ancient rivers running from this African center…. It is probable that the interest in medicine among young Blacks would increase if the contributions of Blacks to the history of medicine were more widely known and included in general education…. Students should come away from a study of it [this book] with a new eye, a different vision and perspective of the African past and the modern Black contribution.   They must walk through the labyrinth of these essays, using its authors as their lights and guides, until they emerge from the end of the long dark tunnel of Eurocentric myth.”

All God's Children:  The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence by Fox Butterfield

“Sure enough, Willie [Bosket] began walking at nine months, was potty trained at ten months, and started talking at just over a year, all very early.   The family thought he was intelligent, just like his father…. In her [Dr. Mahin Hassibi] view, Willie was not crazy.   He was too well-organized, too much in control…. What emerged was not just a portrait of the Boskets, but a new account of the origin and growth of violence in the United States…. [I]t grew out   of a proud culture that flourished in the antebellum rural South, a tradition shaped by Whites long before it was adopted and recast by some Blacks in reaction to their plight.   For its adherents, it served almost as a way of life.   And at its heart was a lethal impulse…. It was the code of the streets again, the code that descended from the old Southern notion of honor.   A man had to be ready to fight to prove himself in the eyes of others.   Southern Whites had called it honor; Willie’s great-grandfather Pud had talked about reputation; and his father, Butch, had spoken of respect.   Now on the streets of Harlem, the term was undergoing another metamorphosis – it was being referred to as disrespect…. He [New York Governor Hugh Carey] got the new law, the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978, passed in record time.   Under its terms, kids as young as thirteen could now be tried in adult criminal court for murder and would face the same penalties as adults.   This was not a small matter…. It was a watershed in American juvenile justice policy.   In New York, the press, the police, and prosecutors all took to calling it the Willie Bosket law.   Willie had made history.”

TRIVIA :   There’s a well-known defense attorney that represented Willie Bosket during one of his trials who is referenced in All God’s Children.   This lawyer also represented the lone acquittal of one of the Central Park jogger boys; the others were wrongly convicted and served years in prison for a rape that they didn’t commit.  Who is this defense attorney?   The first five people to answer will get a BN-W t-shirt.

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We highly encourage you to see these films for yourself and, if applicable, make your own judgment call on the N-word usage – appropriate/inappropriate? necessary/unnecessary? sensible/nonsensical? does it add to or take away from the film’s concept? does the N-word have to be used at all? is there a valid reason for doing so? is it mandatory for the scene(s) to be effective? what are the circumstances/situation that necessitate any use of the word? is it just thrown in for humor, fear, crime, insult? are other culturally insulting slang terms used as much – or at all – as the N-word in the film?   Lots of questions and a whole lot of reasons to wonder what’s the real purpose and thought process behind why these entertainers, writers, directors, producers, executive producers, distributors, and studios/studio heads and executives give the “greenlight” for these crews to liberally use (or allow to be used) the N-word.

FEATURE FILM(S) :

Just Wright

Starring Queen Latifah, Common, Paula Patton, James Pickens, Jr., Phylicia Rashad, Pam Grier; screenplay written by Michael Elliot; directed by Sanaa Hamri; produced by Debra Martin Chase, Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere; executive produced by [Not Listed]; studio – Fox Searchlight Pictures

This film is a pleasant and predictable romantic film that doesn’t particularly standout from the rest, but it does show a buildup of emotion that leads to a more organic type of love, which is positive in an age where “putting the rush on” is too common.   It’s a pretty safe bet for the entire family and, of course, there’s a neatly tied and knotted ending.   One big plus to the film is its many positive references to jazz music as well as the use of it as background music.   Indeed, a very nice touch.

Iron Man 2

Starring Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson; screenplay written by Justin Theroux; directed by Jon Favreau; produced by Kevin Feige; executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Denis L. Stewart, Louis D’Esposito, Jon Favreau, Susan Downey; studio – Paramount Pictures/Marvel Entertainment

This is a disappointing sequel with a script that drags.   Some of the actors (Rourke, Jackson, Johannson) try to give it some oxygen, but a weak script is a weak script.   Terrence Howard may have lost out on making a huge paycheck, but Don Cheadle certainly didn’t steal his thunder – Howard was a better fit.   Something parents can learn from this film is that they must begin teaching their children early about technology, the sciences, and mathematics as well as self-defense and being, at a minimum, bilingual because those will be vital as we move into the future.

The Losers

Starring Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Oscar Jaenada, Jason Patric; screenplay written by Peter Berg, James Vanderbilt; directed by Sylvain White; produced by Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman, Kerry Foster; executive produced by Andrew Rona, Steve Richards, Sarah Aubrey, Stuart Besser; studio – Warner Bros. Pictures

Nothing much in the way of originality with this fillm.   It is cliché filled (verbal and nonverbal) with sexist vibes throughout and in an effort at being innovative, there was a supposedly sexual-tension filled sexless sex scene with fire (a Mr. & Mrs. Smith takeoff on violence being a turn-on – yawn!).   Although overwhelmingly corny, it was comical at times.   Also, Idris Elba deserves better roles; he has a powerful presence and falling into the trap of always playing second and third fiddle is going to pigeonhole him if he’s not more selective.   And whoever decided to use boxed borders for the location identifiers – bad idea.

Death at a Funeral

Starring Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Zoe Saldana, Columbus Short, Tracy Morgan, Loretta Devine, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, James Marsden, Luke Wilson, Peter Dinklage; screenplay written by Dean Craig; directed by Neil LaBute; produced by Sidney Kimmel, William Horberg, Chris Rock, Share Stallings, Laurence Malkin; executive produced by Jim Tauber, Bruce Toll, Dean Craig, Glenn S. Gainor; studio – Screen Gems

With this cast of lead actors (Rock and Lawrence), to not use the N-word was a wonderful but nevertheless shocking surprise.   But we’ll take it.   The film was also funny in a silly kind of way, especially with the “incredibly endowed” comment regarding the size of a White guy’s penis.   Why oh why oh why did they have to go there?

Tyl er Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?
Starring Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott, Malik Yoba, Richard T. Jones, Michael Jai White, Tasha Smith, Sharon Leal, Lamman Rucker, Louis Gossett, Jr., Cicely Tyson; screenplay written by Tyler Perry; directed by Tyler Perry; produced by Tyler Perry; executive produced by Michael Paseornek; studio – Lionsgate

It really is great to see a film with Black couples loving one another, working together, staying together, working things out, solving issues, and moving on when necessary.   That’s life.   But Perry’s films are pretty much all the same – as are his plays.   It’s good he’s found a formula for success but he’s got to branch out.   We’ll continue supporting him because although he doesn’t stray from the safe path, he’s consistent and he’s building his brand.   But there is a wide opening for more balance in the film world for the images and lifestyles of people of African descent that other filmmakers can step up and into.   Perry also overuses “Negro” – sort of like Tavis Smiley.   They’re both bordering on what appears to almost be an attempt to use that word instead of the N-word.   Come on fellas, you’re not fooling anyone.   Lastly, the Angela character is starting to go into overkill with the know-it-all, loud mouth routine.   Tone it down, please.   And if there’s going to be a Married 3, we need to see a whole lot more of the love between Angela and her husband because after this distrust and screamfest of a follow-up, you wonder why are they even bothering to stay together.   And if Janet Jackson’s character is the nucleus of the film, can we see the real emotions without the connection to money?   The tears we saw were based on money – so that character story line is still unsolved regardless of the tearful performance.  [Read the Franz Jones  perspective on this film and Just Wright.]

Repo Men
Starring Forrest Whittaker, Jude Law, Liev Schreiber, ; screenplay written by Eric Garcia, Garrett Lerner; directed by Miguel Sapochnik; produced by Scott Stuber; executive produced by Miguel Sapochnik, Jonathan Mone, Mike Drake, Valerie Dean, Andrew Z. Davis; studio – Universal Pictures

This film has an interesting angle with the focus on repossessing body organs that become debt and labeled as overdue/past due when not paid on time and henchmen are sent out to retrieve the organs by any means necessary.   It’s a very violent and bloody film that while seemingly unrealistic may not be so farfetched at all especially in a time when organ donation is common and there are places where, for the right price, people do sell organs.

Our Family Wedding
Starring Forest Whitaker, Lance Gross, Regina King, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Diana-Maria Riva; screenplay written by Rick Famuyiwa, Malcolm Spellman, Wayne Conley; directed by Rick Famuyiwa; produced by Edward Saxon, Steven J. Wolfe; executive produced by [Not Listed]; studio – Fox Searchlight Pictures

It’s a little odd to see a film that acts as if it is so uncommon and crisis-laden to have people of African descent and people of Latino or Hispanic descent like and then love each other.   Well, it’s not uncommon, weird, odd, an abnormality or anything of that nature.   The grandmother passing out because her granddaughter is engaged to a Black man, particularly a doctor, is even more ridiculous.   Jokes like “I’ll be right black” and the question of “Is it true what they say about Black guys?” shooting from the mouths of people who themselves look no more than a generation away from their African roots, just makes no kinda sense.

Brooklyn’s Finest
Starring Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes, Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke, Lili Taylor, Ellen Barkin; screenplay written by Brad Caleb Kane, Michael C. Martin; directed by Antoine Fuqua; produced by Basil Iwanyk, Elie Cohn, John Langley, John Thompson; executive produced by Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Danny Dimbort, Jesse Kennedy, Marco Weber, Mary Viola, Robert Greenhut, Trevor Short; studio – Overture Films

Kudos to Wesley Snipes for not uttering the N-word.   Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Don Cheadle, who once touted the “sensibilities” of using this word on the Oprah Winfrey Show.   Fuqua directs another N-word blowout of a film (at least 28 times); his other N-word raid was Training Day.  The word is marketed through rap music; you have a White cop saying “my nigga”; and, once again, Whites are more offended (and will fight) when the word is used while mum’s the word for Blacks.   How did the tables get turned on that one?   The theme of law enforcement with a force of crooked cops, racism, police brutality, judicial corruption, blue wall of silence, and so much more is something that America has a long history of, therefore, it’s not foreign or an impossibility.   It is, in fact, very real.   The film did show that the drug game (project apartments, naked women cooking and cutting drugs, dealers getting high on their own supply, etc.) is nothing but a dead end ultimately and it’s just common sense to take a smarter trail.

Cop Out
Starring Tracy Morgan, Bruce Willis, Sean William Scott; screenplay written by Robb Cullen, Mark Cullen; directed by Kevin Smith; produced by Marc Platt, Polly Johnsen, Michael Tadross; executive produced by Adam Siegel, Robb Cullen, Mark Cullen; studio – Warner Bros. Pictures

This film wasn’t as bad as it seemed it was going to be even though Morgan is a drain and can wear you down and Willis is strictly in it for a paycheck.   For some reason, there’s a running theme of “enlightening” the audience on sex terms (oral, anal, double penetration [DP], ass to mouth [ATM], etc.).   What kind of inside pleasure the writer, director, producer, or whomever may get by this running theme is the real mystery.   This is not a film that’s worth a second trip, but it’s another one that’s funny in a silly kind of way.

Valentine’s Day
Starring Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Garner, George Lopez; screenplay written by Katherine Fugate; directed by Garry Marshall; produced by Mike Karz, Wayne Rice; executive produced by Toby Emmerich, Samuel J. Brown, Michael Disco, Diana Pokorny; studio – New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures

Weak script, too predictable, and way too long.   Out of all the couples that hooked up by the film’s end, could there not be just one Black couple?   Why are these films always pushing Blacks with everybody except other Blacks?   In this case, there are only two Black characters – the male ends up with a White gal; the angry female ends up alone and doing phone sex.    Talk about writing stereotypical scripts.   Meanwhile, for the most part, everyone else in the movie gets with folks who look like them.   Again, we ask – why oh why oh why?   Would it have been that difficult to hire two more Black folks, even if it meant replacing two other cast members (e.g., Patrick Dempsey and Jessica Biel)?   This is why Tyler Perry’s monotonous films continue to do well – because he gets it.   Well, at least the soundtrack is nice.

The Book of Eli
Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals, Mila Kunis; screenplay written by Gary Whitta; directed by The Hughes Brothers; produced by Joel Silver, Denzel Washington, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, David Valdes; executive produced by Steve Richards, Susan Downey, Erik Olsen; studio – Alcon Entertainment/Warner Bros. Pictures

This film has the potential to bring both sides to the table – believers and non-believers (whatever that means, so as not to expose any potential spoiler).   It doesn’t totally coddle to either side.   Those who have “faith” will walk away feeling vindicated about their belief.   While those who don’t believe or partially believe will take comfort in words such as “the ‘book’ is a weapon aimed at the hearts and minds of the weak and the desperate.”   From another angle, some may take issue with how the ‘book’ is written – can it really be based on a person’s memory or ideology.   Although there is a lot of violence, there’s a strong concept of a spiritual power that overrides the chaos.

BN-W Monitor Coming Soon :  The Karate Kid [Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson]; Grown Ups [Chris Rock]; Predators [Laurence Fishburne]; Salt [Chiwetel Ejiofor, Angelina Jolie]; The Lottery Ticket [Bow Wow]; Takers [Idris Elba]; and more…

Also Coming :   Part II:   Black-Jewish Relations (read the BN-W links on this issue:   Blacks and Jews); Music Monitors