Three Films About Race Relations in the USA
Blazing Saddles (1974) Dir. Mel Brooks.
Some movies are as important to watch as reading a book. I’m compelled to share my thoughts on race relations after listening to WBEZ Chicago’s 16 Shots: The Police Shooting of Laquan MacDonald and watching three films recently. It’s incredibly challenging and soul-wrenching nowadays to hear news about another young African American whose life was taken by a white cop as a result of abuse of power.
The history of slavery, persistent disenfranchisement and civic oppression of African Americans in this country stem from a deep tradition of White Supremacist thinking which infiltrates the very institutions one needs to thrive. It should be noted that the very teaching of America’s history in this regard is undergoing retooling. Notably, other scholars and authors such as Howard Zinn, James W. Loewen, and Donald Yacovone, to name a few, have taken this area of education to task. While our textbooks have been holding back information from us, some movies make it a point for us to pay closer attention.
First, Raoul Peck’s documentary, I Am Not Your Negro (2016) voices James Baldwin’s experience of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. He had lived in Paris for a while before deciding to return to New York, to his hometown of Harlem, to “pay his dues” as he put it. The film, through Baldwin’s writings, discusses the effect that three specific friends of his, who were also social pillars of the movement, had on that generation and critical piece of American History. They were Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers.
Although focused on the political developments of the 50s and 60s, the graphic images portrayed through this film brings the past to the doorstep of our present national situation of police brutality toward African Americans. Showing us the cruelties that have been committed to the African American community, which unearths the social and political inequalities we see today in the countless scenarios of young African Americans being shot and killed at the hands of white policemen. It’s hard to watch, both what’s happening now and what happened then. And, hard to teach.
The beauty of this documentary is that it focuses on James Baldwin’s point of view in the context of inhumane realities of his time, served on a platter of intellect and poignant truth which he expresses with his craft. It becomes a matter of revisiting the past, as tough as that may be to some, to uncover what’s been ignored for too long. A well of trauma in the American psyche, which is difficult to confront.
I Am Not Your Negro (2016) Dir. Raoul Peck
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
The relationship between Whites and African Americans in this country has been defined by the suppression of the African American individual’s right, as a human being and world citizen, to live without fear and hate. Historically, Whites have seen Blacks as not worthy, non-human. There is an underlying fear of the other — a creation of separation. The more this society sees African Americans as less than any other American, the more insidious the backlash of violence we see on our streets, the disproportionate representation of Blacks in the corrections system, the mounting anger from generations past due to the lack of accountability by those in “power.” Peck sprinkles clips of other films throughout Hollywood history where the negro is featured, adding dimension to the national dialogue of who created the negro and according to whose point of view?
Hint: It’s not Baldwin’s. And he’ll tell you that, as well as whose responsibility it is to dismantle this separation sham that continues today.
More recently, released in August, is Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman (2018). I was feeding on cast interviews and background material before finally watching it. It is brilliant, sublime and entertaining, which is what any feature film is expected to be. While it’s not a comedy, Lee’s more sophisticated sense of humor compared to the third film I’m recommending, helps to offset the harsh reality we are forced to stomach at the end of the film. Lee’s genius weaves something that happened in real life in the 1970s, an era that had its own challenges, with a recent event in America’s dark history of race relations: the Charlottesville White Supremacist march in 2017. The only difference is that the footage the audience sees at the end of BlacKkKlansman is real. No actors. No directors. It brings the audience to a state of sobriety, disbelief, and shock.
Other dimensions of this movie’s artistry can also be witnessed in its portrayal of the liveliness and beauty of African Americans almost as a contrast to the ugliness found in greater social dynamics of the times.
In particular, one scene stands out for me. It’s a dance scene right after Patrice Dumas, played by Laura Harrier, recounts to John David Washington’s character, Ron Stallworth, of her encounter with a White cop. It’s at a nightclub/bar where African Americans are welcome. It’s not the only scene that shows only Black people, but it’s the one scene where they are shown enjoying life in public with all the freedom they were born with. The music is a lively 70s soul. Skin tones are an array of warm browns, reds, and yellows which play well with the nightlife aura. There is a pride in true self-expression that can be seen and felt amidst the afros and electric dance moves. As if to say, this is how we should always be, and for a couple of minutes, you are allowed to forget the ugly truth about being Black in America.
John David Washington and Laura Harrier in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman (2018)
The last film is Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles (1974), which I heard about before and for some reason decided to watch only recently. I had no clue it was going to be hilarious and also about race. Blazing Saddles doesn’t want to be taken seriously, yet it tackles aspects of America’s failure to see itself as racist in its history of existence simply by making fun of it. With its low-brow humor, Brooks likes to keep the movie self-aware of its Made in Hollywood nature by arranging sets within sets in its satirical storytelling. However, this trick doesn’t make his references to racial stereotypes throughout the film any less true. Its ridiculous humor can only be paralleled to the ridiculousness of racism itself.
Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in
Blazing Saddles (1974)
In addition to the continued view of separation from one another, what’s most unsettling about the Black-White historical dynamic is an absence of justice. There’s that famous quote by MLK about the “arc of the moral universe”, which keeps us expecting spiritual justice in the end. I think that films like BlacKkKlansman, I Am Not Your Negro, and even Blazing Saddles, are cultural contributions to this greater sense of justice which is in lack elsewhere. A re-telling of truth until the truth is acknowledged and atoned. Alternatively, one can argue that the suppression of truth is an injustice in and of itself.
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
With the heightened level of violence on the streets in regards to African Americans right now, it helps to see things from the perspective of certain directors who have in their own platform shed light on a topic that affects us all. To an extent, the entertainment industry is in a unique place to produce much needed, truth-telling content. I think it’s important to be aware of artists, from James Baldwin to Spike Lee who’s had a long trail of work on this subject. We can collectively reach a greater level of understanding of current events, as well as one another when we are exposed to a wide array of information as experienced by different sectors and creators. Because after all, a movie, a podcast, a play is an experience too.
Films:
BlacKkKlansman (2018) — Spike Lee
I Am Not Your Negro (2016) — Raoul Peck
Blazing Saddles (1974) — Mel Brooks
Other media to tune into:
16 Shots: The Police Shooting of Laquan MacDonald — Produced by WBEZ Chicago
