There’s been a lot of chatter these days about Red Tails, the movie featuring the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. There have been complaints about the lack of Black women in the movie as well as the fact that because George Lucas made it and a Black filmmaker like Tyler Perry didn’t, that the movie which finished #2 in the box office last week, isn’t worth watching. Add to the fact this movie which from a Black filmmaker has not received the publicity that Red Tails has.

I’d like to confess something and it deals with the color issue. I have to confess that a book I read back in junior high school (or middle school in those days) was Durango Street by Frank Bonham. I think I chose the book to read as a project in my eighth grade English class because of the subject matter. The novel reflected on the struggles of one Rufus Henry who was released from work camp because of a grand theft auto charge, fitting his way back into the streets. He is pressured to join this gang called The Moors when a rival gang The Gassers threatened him. Throughout the novel, Rufus has to make hard, tough choices including getting out of the gang and staying on the straight side. Years before Urban Lit took hold of the market, this was the one book that spoke to me. Living in South Los Angeles in the late 1970's, I was all too familiar of gangs such as the red and blue, the rough conditions as Rufus faced in his neighborhood, and did I fail to mention, the author Frank Bonham was white?

Yes, the author of the classic, hard hitting Durango Street, one of the books that help inspire me as a young writer…..was a white man. Think that’s shocking? Wait until you find out the identity of who the author of the successful Virgil Tibbs novels was. Yes, the same Virgil Tibbs in the Heat of the Night. The author of Shaft (the books, not the movie where the book was based) is also a surprise to some.

By no means does it diminish the impact that other Black authors and poets have had on me over the years, absolutely not. When I cracked open those pages to Durango Street, I had no idea of Mr. Bonham's ethnicity. All I knew was the book grabbed my attention as I read the first several chapters. I wanted to know how Rufus would fare against the Gassers, how his fellow members in the Moors treated him. As I was reading about Rufus‘s challenges throughout, I imagine I was reading about me too. That’s all I imagine most Blacks or African Americans want from a writer who is different than they are. Virgil Tibbs was written as a highly intelligent police detective. Shaft was written as a hard nosed detective in Harlem. I can also imagine James Patterson’s Alex Cross is presented in a humane manner as well.

Humane. Human.

Speaking for myself, I prefer Black characters be written in the same dignity that Bonham, Black and Tidyman showed in their works. I don’t care much for the stereotypical, slang talking, jive walking pimp or drug dealer. Blaxploitation was prime example of this, at least the later films past 1973 with the exception of Claudine. Hence, this is the reason why I’m satisfied with Red Tails and hope in the planned sequel and perhaps prequel, there will be a more diverse cast (meaning Black women shown on the screen - smile) and will give a comprehensive story of the full experience of what the Airmen had to go through - though the movie does a good job of that on its own.

As a side note, I do hope one day we’ll see the Virgil Tibbs and Shafts on screen again, because we need more diverse characters in our films. If I’m waiting for Hollywood to agree, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Saw the movie Red Tails on Friday, great movie despite the controversies surrounding it. For a family movie, if I had kids, I’d take them to see it again. Better to reinforce what real men do other than the shucking, jiving, and let’s just say other ‘mannerisms’ that is forced down our throats by Hollywood. However, while reading up on the film and watching videos from former Tuskegee Airmen who served, perhaps this is what caught my ear the most:

“Excellence will help you to overcome obstacles.”

“It’s cool to be smart.”

These are the words of Dr. Roscoe Brown, who served as a squadron commander of the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. I had heard Dr. Brown also mention to the effect on MSNBC’s Politics Nation to the effect that Black people desired excellence among ourselves. Truer words were never spoken, and this is always the objective we should aspire to. The challenge is, how many of us believe it?

The wife and I were had just finished teaching a writers workshop when we stopped inside Barnes and Noble to do some reading and to get warm from the cold outside. We had been there a while when we heard a lot of noise around the café area. Security escorted a bunch of young people out, which we were told had shown up a week earlier with two youngsters involving in a fight, police were called in. I write this not to put a downer on this opening weekend, but showing the reality of how much more needs to be done.

Incidents like this are partly the reason why we need to demand excellence among ourselves. I agree with Dr. Brown on this, having taught young people and how easily their minds can become distracted to the point where destructive acts both internally and externally effect everyone around them. The movie isn’t perfect, which movie is? The central point is that our young people need to know that being cool doesn’t mean serving time or spreading your legs to earn respect, it’s using the one organ that needs to be exercised more; the brain. Because as the movie showed, that was a weapon the airmen used to their advantage from their enemies and prejudiced allies alike. 

Another thing too, the experiences of the airmen show what happens when you work together as a cohesive unit, watching each other’s back to ensure the other’s success. In short, the airmen worked as a TEAM, not adopting the ‘me first’ mindset of this latest generation. If that mindset was the norm in the airmen’s days in World War II, chances are the 1925 study at the beginning of the film would have been woefully accurate.

Perhaps the same excellence Dr. Brown speaks of is the same excellence that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, and even our President to move ahead despite those obstacles in front of them. Not only should the mantra be ‘it’s cool to be smart’ as Dr. Brown hopes will be from the movie, but we should expect the very best of ourselves as individuals and a collective. One movie, despite the flaws critics point out, will never change the vast challenges we face, but if it helps to remind us why we are enjoying the legacy of a group of men who would have been forgotten by the majority, then that’s cool too.

(Side note: here’s hoping for a Harlem Renaissance movie in the future, but I know someone will be unhappy about that film too (smile))

But don’t read it from me, see and hear it from Dr. Brown’s own lips……..

This is Part Four in a series of South Central articles posted here on the blog. Parts One, Two, and Three can be found here.

I begin this entry by making a small confession: in my poem, ‘The Fire Still Burns’, I wrote the following ‘have you heard from Rebuild L.A.?’. Now the poem expresses frustration at the entire Unrest, including the hypocrisy from certain prominent individuals vowing to help rebuild the community and never did, but that line was aimed at the organization that began shortly after the fires had subsided and the National Guard left South Central. In a past entry, The Rebuilding of L.A. - Just Not What We Thought!, I share my feelings of the real Rebuild L.A. as it relates to the downtown sector and L.A. Live, built in a different area than the Southside.

To put the blame squarely at Rebuild L.A. would be erroneous. I have to admit upon doing research, the organization though short in their own goals, achieved a bit of success as Peter Uberroth, the chairman of Rebuild L.A. at the time hired businessman Bernard Kinsley who was a well respected Xerox executive and major fundraiser for the United Negro College Fund as a day to day operations chief. Along with other key hires, Rebuild L.A. secured almost 500 million in corporate commitments. It seemed as if the organization would hold to its commitment of rebuilding. If you lived in the Southside, you saw the signs; a new Albertson’s grocery store in the Baldwin Hills - Crenshaw Plaza, a reconstructed Shell gas station that also served as a training center for younger residents in the community, little by little, it seemed the organizers and politicians did good on their promise.

However, a year later as described in the article written by Robert Reinhold for the New York Times in 1993, that promise was stalled. Rebuilding was being done, but the areas in which it occurred, will surprise you. [bold mine]

The hardest hit neighborhoods in need of rebuilding - in South Central - were not addressed. From my personal experience, I saw empty lots that used to have buildings sitting on top just sitting there, not used, deserted in contrast to the grocery stores, training centers that were rapidly being created. There are two major factors listed in the article which should catch everyone’s attention but I will post them here. [bold mine]

Although I assume this is the case in any major inner-city, the owners of the properties that were burned down or damaged in South Central, did not belong to the residents themselves. Sad but true, South Central was a neighborhood that I and others like me could live in, but could not take advantage of owning most of its land or storefronts. This happened over years and years before the present day, and don’t be surprised if it continues a year for now. The system of fleecing off the pocketbooks of the poor is profitable and won’t end anytime soon. As a side note, Mr. Sasson’s story is very interesting as this L.A. Times article reveals. The pictures on this page were taken on or next to his property from this article.

The history of Rebuild L.A. and its unraveling can be found on this link, and I want to add that President Clinton had a hand in the rebuilding through the ‘Empowerment Zones’ that I heard quite a bit in that time. I have posted a link here and here and even here  plus here to help us all understand how they work. All I know from living there is the fact South Los Angeles is no different from when it used to be called South Central Los Angeles. The only thing that’s changed is the name, but not much else.

You see, from the author’s standpoint, unless the private sector which means businesses, banks, etc, is interested or enticed to rebuild an area, they’re not going to come in and revitalize the neighborhood. Local politicians can keep rolling out a bus through the neighborhood over and over again with the Urban League or any other organization that caters to the community, it won’t matter if a lack of money and commitment thereof doesn’t result in having the nice restaurants or movie theatres like L.A. Live or The Grove at Farmer’s Market. It just won’t happen and residents who have moved on from the Southside have long realized that. It is pretty ‘messed up’, but that is what it is. 

The only true enclave for Black people to congregate in the city proper (and not in the Inland Empire) and hang out is the Leimert Park neighborhood bordered by View Park and Baldwin Hills, mostly upper middle class to mid middle class (from my estimation) and the Baldwin Hills - Crenshaw Plaza has been a mainstay for years. One can only assume now that Marlton Square is finally on the way to restoration, perhaps more shops and stores benefiting the African American community will be included. In the meantime, for the rest of the South Central Los Angeles I grew up in, Rebuild L.A. has been partly vindicated since the effort was made. Still, I can’t help but wonder if it was doomed from the start. It sounded good in principle, born of fire and fury, but like any other flame, it had lost its intensity. It had lost its spark. Rebuild L.A. in its original incarnation lasted five years, quietly fading into the back pages of the news.

But wait, you may ask, what happened to the stores that were ‘Black Owned’? You know, the ones with the signs with the afrocentric black, red, green and white text? Glad you asked, because while Rebuild L.A did their part to stay true to their name, the fire and rage of the residents who lived in the community also played a pivotal part - one that resonates as a sad chapter on not only the city’s history, but the Southside’s history as well.

More on that next time.

P.S. The irony to all this? Rebuild L.A. has a Twitter account. (Though I don't think it's actually them.....)

P.P.S.

Quite a shame I can't find any videos related to the subject here, but on the next one......tons.......

Years ago in the university I attended, (after transferring from a community college) I was enrolled in one of those medical sociology classes needed to fulfill the general requirements of my curriculum. During a in-class conversation with the instructor, I responded to a question they asked of where I lived. I replied I lived in South Central Los Angeles (as it was called at the time). The next question from this person’s lips took me aback a little bit as I’m sure caused some curiosity in the minds of my fellow students.

I was asked, “are you a gang kid?”

Now anyone who has grown up with me or has even known me over the years realizes I’m anything but, still I answered with a resounding ‘no I’m not’ in front of the class thereby answering the instructor’s question. I admit it was a bit ignorant on their part, especially if they took time to notice the clean cut attire I wore for that day, clean cut by college standards anyway.  The irony is, in the same quarter I wrote a column for the school newspaper entitled, “Life Goes On In South Central L.A.”  ( found on my website and in my book, The Voices of South Central ) explaining to the reading audience that there’s more to life and the people in the neighborhood than what the media portrays. I would imagine the educated professional who asked me that question didn’t read the article…and didn’t know I was the one who wrote it.

My college days were filled with always having to prove myself. Let me explain; in a few of my English classes, I was the only Black person there. It’s true. It would be an elective class on a subject like Provocative Lit (made this up) and although the class was small, I stood out. Very hard to fit in when get the stares from most of your fellow students. However, this was something I had been accustomed to in high school, but at least the classes were mixed and when I wrote my interpretation of a classic poem, I was shown respect. Not saying I ever received any disrespect verbally or physically, the silent looks and rolled eyes are just as effectively intimidating.

 

I carried the burden; I represented the community, or at least I felt like it. Most of the Black students either chose business or engineering. Here I was, sticking out like a sore thumb in my English sessions. I wasn’t the only Black person who chose that major, but the percentage of us was low. Although I took subjects that I needed to pass in general, I also accepted electives based on this idea that I wanted to master the English language and wanted to know more about the world in general. I had also did the same thing in the community college, taking electives in English which I feel to this day, kept me in school much longer than I have anticipated. How else would I learn about Shakespeare, Matthew Arnold, the Romantic Period, Walden and his pond (he can keep it for all I care), Thoreau, Wright, Hughes, Baldwin, Keats, Wordsworth……..

As you can tell, that’s a lot of creative talent my eyes have seen, hours read (or cramming) learning from these literary greats, understanding their views of the world and how it operates according to them……..from the eyes of not so “gang kid” from the hood. You know, if I had the chance, I would have told this same instructor there have been many of us who live or have lived in the community of South Central who attended the best schools ( even Ivy League colleges), gone on to careers in entertainment, become doctors and lawyers, have become either police or firemen, preach in churches, serve in public office and are very proud to come from a place the media (and recently an internet heiress and a newsletter publisher, allegedly) still cling to their Boyz N The Hood Colors Menace 2 Society South Central memories of so long ago when the media blitz was on, live and showing a whole lot of color.

Hey, I’m still happy to come from South Central Los Angeles, uh, South Los Angeles. Even a slight alteration of the name won’t ever deter that pride. I’m glad those of us who came from the neighborhood and are enjoying positive lives proves you don’t have to be a ‘gang kid’ to make it.