Month: February 2021

The good news is that this film although “dramatized” actually does an excellent job of portraying Black Panther Party members like never before..Many people who were in the movement both “Panther” and SNCC people are still reeling over the insulting cartoon like way 60s Black militants were portrayed in the film “Black Klansman”…And it’s barely worth it to mention the horrible Mario Van Pebbles film “Panther”..a true insulting cinema joke. AS a person who was there, and worked at Panther chapters in several cities ..”Judas and the Black Messiah” take on the people and lifestyle of Panthers in many cities like Chicago was very familiar. The real story though is about the “Judas”…the FBI plant in the chapter. There were many of these people ..Usually people who were criminals targeted by FBI agents who agreed to join the BPP in order to get a reduced sentence or sometimes just for pay. It was complex. And they found many ways to disrupt or even destroy some Panther chapters. It helped the film that William “Bill” O’Neal the real life “informant” portrayed in the film sat down for the documentary “Eyes on the Prize II” and told his story in detail…Liberties are taken with O’neal’s role..but the film pretty much nailed it..I could not watch the film in one sitting I literally had moments of PTSD ..when the informant suggested they “bomb” a building ..showing up with military explosive. This kind of thing actually happened a lot…We were young…the average age for a Panther member in those days was about 21…Many times ..the person who showed up with M-16s or high explosives ..or in my case a way to get into and rob an armory…almost always turned out to be informants. It took getting “burned” or having a friend killed or arrested to learn this painful lesson..We even had Party members accused of being informants ..who were punished and or killed by people who were themselves the real informants. All of that came back while I watched this film It was painful…The story gave a fairly accurate picture of Hampton..writers got him perfectly ..Particularly his efforts to unite poor Whites , Black people and Hispanics into a single movement….this is what made Fred Hampton so dangerous…..why he had to go. His “Rainbow Coalition” scared the FBI to death…But the movie was really about the informant and the sick relationship he had with his FBI “handler” I had to watch the second half of the film late last night ..alone at about 4 am. The gun battles…the detailed descriptions of cruelty done to suspected informants it all came back to me….But on the other hand I wish they had shown more of the day to day life..the communal living, the comradery …which we only see bits and pieces of..But for the most part better than anyone else has ever done…this film captures a time in my life.. a time in American history with respect to the people who lived it…warts and all …”Judas and the Black Messiah,” SEE IT

Some of you will know of what I speak…..most of you won’t …You have skin of the darkest hue. You have been conditioned to believe that there are no people on the planet as ignorant and ugly as you. You live in a part of the world built on the blood and corpses and the muscle of your people. You are taught from the cradle to the grave that people who look and think like the people who used to own you are the rightful kings and queens of the earth. You learn to hate the darkness of your skin….despise the kind of hair you have.. Every where you look there are signs telling you you can’t come in …or you are not wanted…People are free to murder you and easily get away with it. You develop a culture where the worst insult a person can say is “YOU BLACK”. You even come to think maybe this is normal. Then one day you become aware of a person with what could very well be the most beautiful face you have ever or maybe will ever see. The society you live in uses her to sell clothing …a stunning beautiful clothes hanger. But she is the darkest of Black..and although totally African her beauty simply can not be denied . Soon she begins to wear her hair in it’s natural state. Little dark girls slowly begin to take on this “natural” hair style. “She is beautiful , Black and her hair is natural….I can be too”..Cicely Tyson let a “Jeannie Out of the Bottle” that could not be put back in ..She taught a whole generation that not only was our skin beautiful …but our hair…the hair of a great people was a wonderful thing..She left modeling and dared to take on the theater , film and television..blazing a trail each and every time, and she was not just good looking she brought excellence.. It was like God put her here during the civil rights movement ..just to show us what we could be…And she was not a “Diva” …sucking the air out of every room she is in and jealous of any other performer NO..She put out her hand and encouraged more than one generation of little black girls …little brown girls and young performers of every persuasion to be proud ..to work hard…and make a way for the people coming next. She didn’t just let them name a school after her…she made sure she was a part of the lives of all the students and supported them when they went out into the world ..Cicely was bigger than just a movie star…she was a People Builder…who came into our lives just when we needed her..There are so many people talking about her that I don’t need to number her works…I think it’s what she meant to us that is more important..Rest Cicely Tyson….job well done