Cabin in the Sky

Cabin in the Sky is a classic African American film. It came out back when we were still Negro’s and is a film about a man, Little Joe, who is killed while gambling. He is a borderline soul and is given a short amount of time to come back to Earth so that he can earn his way into either heaven or hell. An Angel and a devil both try and nudge his soul in their respective directon It’s a musical, that stars the likes of Lena Horne, and many other classic actors.

I watched this film quite often as a child, and never ceased to enjoy it. It shows the dedication and artistry of African American film makers during a time when their abilities were not respected. Besides being a great African American film, it is also a great American film.

I would recommend this as a buy for several reasons. It is well written, well filmed, and truly entertaining. It is a historical film that will allow you to see a glimpse of how the pre civil rights African Americans lived in their own communities and you’ll enjoy it.

Confederate States of America

I was going through the mountains of West Virginia when I first heard of this film. The premise intrigued me, what would the world be like if the South had won the Civil War? I finally got to see it a year later and was not disappointed. The film is set as a documentary of sorts tracking the history and modern life of the Confederate States of America. The South wins the war in the 1860’s spreading slavery through out the United States. It ends up conquering all of Latin America and instituting Jim Crow laws in Mexico.

The film is most interesting when it shows how closely related the United States of American and the Confederate States of America are. It follows a famous politician around as he pontificates about modern issues as they affect the CSA. He could easily be mistaken for a far right religious conservative in his assumptions and belief in his own righteousness. Commercials parodying COPS, shown instead as a show about slave catching, and highlighting brands that really existed in American history, such as Niggerhair cigarettes, the film shows us just close we resembled the CSA for during some portions of our history.

It was a good film, the film is low budget but well executed. It quite enjoyable, being interesting and informative at the same time. The Confederate States of America is worth purchasing and I would recommend that you do so. The director, Kevin Willmott, is a professor at Kansas University and is currently working on a film about a young Native American who escapes the Haskell internment camp.

Diary of a Tired Black Man

Diary of a Tired Black Man is high concept and low quality. It was written, shot, and produced by Tim Alexander. I don’t think it is because of any laziness on Tim Alexander’s part, I just simply think it’s hard to make a film. It’s a little bit documentary, a little bit feature film. It’s the story of a Black man who has divorced a Black woman and the personal and relationship issues that led to their separation.

The film has a good message; don’t carry your baggage from a former relationship into your present one. The issue of some Black women, and men to be honest, punishing their current partner for the mistakes of a past one is valid. Tim Alexander also focuses on how the problems between men and women while raising a child lead to generational problems in terms of relationships in the community. I was also very impressed by a portion of the film where the lead character, James, had to come to terms with his own role in choosing a woman with whom he was not a good match. I think that helped the film simply being a female bashing answer to men bashing films and books. For these reasons alone it’s worth giving a look. That’s the good.

The bad is abundant as well. The acting is not great throughout most of the film, although the lead actor Jimmy Jean-Louis does a good job. Tim, when interviewing people on the street came across as aggrieved at times. Sometimes messages in the film that could have been delivered with subtlety were delivered with way too much force. In other words he lays it on kind of thick. It also gets a little long near the end. However, over all the film had a worthwhile message and is worth watching. Despite some rough patches, the good moments are really excellent. I rate it a rent.

Unchained Memories

Who were our ancestors? We know they were slaves and that overcame a great number of difficult circumstances. We know they loved the idea of freedom and survived things that would have broken weaker people, but what about their personal stories? What about their day to day lives? HBO’s Unchained Memories is the recitation of slave narratives that were collected from former slaves during the Great Depression and has famous stars such as Samuel Jackson voicing the slave’s stories.

The actors do a brilliant job telling powerful stories from the slave perspective. The former slaves talk about their owners, losing relatives to the auction block, and their efforts to become free. I rank this a buy. It is worth owning, watching, and sharing if for no other reason than to hear the songs of our ancestors, the slave songs, and see the pictures of beaten down people, and learn about the people survived hardship so that we could be born.

I was sent a copy of Bill Cosby’s Come on People new book to review after my NPR appearance by what I believe to be some of his public relations people. I have to admit that I may have been a little harsh in my language on News & Notes but I still feelthe same way. A great deal of what Cosby and Poussaint say is dead on and useful but it has been presented in such a negative way that the people he wishes to reach won’t listen. Come on People is an excellent book that expresses what the problems are in the African American community and gives step by step instructions on how fix them.

The best thing about the book is how it has managed to divide itself into chapters and sections that address specific problems and how to solve them. The authors managed to find people throughout the country who can relate to the subject matter and who have gone through difficult situations and overcome them. Cosby and Poussaint, for the most part, manage to avoid coming across as condescending or negative as they examine problems such as teen pregnancy, mental illness, health, and education. It is very useful to those who are in a trouble spot in their lives or who know someone who is.

The cool thing about books that demand changes in behavior is that they allow you to give a relative or friend much needed advice without bruising their ego. If there is someone you know who over disciplines their child, or who is trying to figure out how to improve their own circumstances you can give them the book without being perceived as meddling. All in all, it is an excellent book and worth reading.

What saddens me is that the book is probably one of the best in terms of step by step instruction that I have seen in years and it is unlikely to reach the people who need it most, the African American underclass. I agreed with Cosby and thought that people were overreacting to his original comments when I heard the substance of what he said through third parties. When I actually recordings of his rants via radio I was taken aback by the disrespectful way he spoke of the African American lower class going as far as mocking their names. I was near the end of the book and was riding the Metro in D.C. when a sister struck up a conversation with me by asking me what I was reading. I told her it was Cosby’s book and she and a friend of hers began to discuss it with me. They said that “Cosby’s heart is in the right place but that mouth…ummm”. What they meant was that Cosby’s delivery is so stained with contempt that it made it next to impossible to listen to what he said.

I don’t pretend to know what type of situation these sisters were coming from, but I would hazard to guess that there were at least some portions that would have been useful to them. I learned a lot myself. But I have to admit that if it were not for the review copy I probably would not have read it. What this means to me is that the message, which is a phenomenal one, has been lost. I would recommend that anyone who cares about the African American community read this book, and I am sure that many in the frustrated middle class will do so. But those who need it most, those in the African American under class, will likely not do so because of Cosby’s failure to speak frankly out of concern rather than from frustration and anger.

In college I did a report on John McWhorter’s “Losing the Race”. I was reading slightly right of center African American authors in order to get a better understanding of people who thought differently than I did. Rather than being irritated by his arguments I was intrigued. His point of view actually expanded my horizons. “Losing the Race” is definitely worth reading.

In the book McWhorter explores some attitudes and worldviews that hold African Americans back. I was intrigued by his examples of pseudo-intellectual Black supremacists who were treated as rational among academics, and of a young African American linguist who studied foreign languages without bothering to learn them. They spoke to a problem in the African American community. There were times when I found him a bit naïve, such as an incident he referred to when he was stopped by the police. Also, some of his arguments are not up to snuff in terms of evidence from a political scientist’s perspective. However, it is a good book worth reading and I would recommend you do so.

Don't Blame it On Rio

There are very few books or media that focus on how African American men see the world. This is especially true when it comes to relationships. All too often a discussion of African American men in relationships focuses on trifling broke brother’s failure to be fathers or remain faithful to their mates. Well, this book follows this narrative to a certain degree but differs in that it explores the phenomenon of middle class African American men who take sex vacations in Brazil and truly attempts to understand their rationale and their beliefs about African American women.

Jewell Woods, the author, honestly made an attempt to understand how African American men view relationships with African American women and with Brazilian women. He also explored what motivated African American men to go to Brazil, moving beyond the obvious answer of sex and exploring some of the emotional and psychological factors involved. Rather than outright condemning the brothers, Jewell allowed them to have their say and then dissected their arguments, showing their hypocrisy, but also their humanity. Jewell manages to hold middle class African American men to account, without pandering to African American women who are likely to read his book.

Sexual tourism is a growing phenomenon in the African American community, and it is good that Jewell is holding middle class African American men, who normally get a pass on their sexism, accountable. One thing that I had a problem with in the book is that he opens with the question “Are Black Women Necessary” but does not really explain why they are. I love African American women, but considering what some of the complaints about them in the essay it felt like more of an effort to refute the arguments against sisters in the book would have been beneficial. Besides this, the book is an educational and a worthwhile read, especially considering the lack of literature that makes a real attempt to study African American outside of the prison and baby daddy categories.