The same man that said the infamous line, “Stop giving juice to the Raiders…cause Al Davis ain’t never paid us” on “Wrong Nigga To Fuck With” is doing just that.

Ice Cube is giving juice to the Raiders and directing a one hour long ESPN documentary on his former foes. As previously reported by Hip-Hop Wired, Compton’s finest was given the reins on a new project for ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series to commemorate the network’s 30th anniversary.

Cube is putting the finishing touches on the documentary highlighting the Raiders’ influence on California culture and their paramount move from Oakland to L.A. in the 80s titled, “Straight Outta L.A.”

Cube reflected on how the success of his solo career and success with legendary gangster rap group, N.W.A., brought the Raiders to the forefront of popularity in a statement from ESPN saying:

“The music, lyrics and images that I created with N.W.A, as a solo artist and as an actor helped turn the Raiders into something more than a football team. It’s been 21 years since we released Straight Outta Compton, but to this day, kids all over the world buy Raiders gear, imitate the “Gangster Rap” style and try to connect with the South Central L.A. vibe that we brought to the masses.”

There is no set date for the premiere of “Straight Outta of L.A.” as of yet. Other directors chosen for the series include Peter Berg, Reggie Rock Blythewood, John Singleton, Morgan Freeman and Steve James.

As someone who is only weeks away from leaving the country for a few years, I have to say that seeing the refreshed Qantas epic TVC stirred some patriotic emotions.

Seriously, if the Peter Allen tune doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you are not Australian.

Maybe that should be the new citizenship test?

The Inspiration Room has a great post on the history of the Qantas brand campaign, up until its latest iteration.

My favourite part is how the choir execution came about in 1997. Then Marketing Manager Geoff Dixon saw the National Boys Choir perform, called iconic adman John Singleton suggesting they flying them all around the world to sing “I Still Call Australia Home”, and then put $3 million behind making it.

This is great proof that ideas can come from anywhere, even the client!

The latest launch was preceded by a one hour long Seven documentary covering how the ad was made. As per my review of the Barclaycard Waterslide epic, this is a great way to build engagement.

But for all intents and purposes, the ad is pretty much the same as it always has been. The only major difference is the spot kicks off with an Indigenous boy singing “I still call Australia Home” in his native tongue before reverting to the English version.

Now I wouldn’t be surprised if this idea came off the back of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which most large Australian corporates are now adopting.

Having done some work on one of these recently myself, I believe that when done properly, appropriate marketing and communications can be a great step in bridging the gap with Indigenous Australia.

Now to satisfy those patriotic emotions….Southern Cross tattoo anyone?

Por Luis Pérez

Cuando era pequeño tenía una pandilla. Éramos cuatro chicos que habíamos crecido juntos en el mismo barrio. Nos gustaba escuchar rap, patinar en el parque y andar por las vías del tren pintando muros con spray. Íbamos de raperillos para expresar la incipiente energía adolescente que nos corría por el cuerpo. Estaba el BEYK (el que rapeaba y pintaba de verdad), el SACE (ideólogo de las grandes aventuras y el que nos enseñaba la mejor música), el MIKE (siempre dispueto a todo y el más sanote) y yo, el KEY.  En mi caso, no rapeaba bien, pintaba más o menos, y me cargué el monopatín intentando saltar por encima de un banco. Además era el más canijo, apenas levantaba un metro y medio del suelo, pero era el de las bromas que hacían reir a los demás. Era mi pandilla y éramos inseparables.

Un día de verano BEYK dijo: ¿Vamos al Bronx o qué? (llamábamos así al suburbio al lado del nuestro, donde estaban gran parte de los malotes con los que coincidíamos en el colegio que estaba en medio de ambos barrios). Yo dije: No tíos, yo paso. Algunos de estos chungos me puteaban contínuamente, sólo porque mi padre era profesor del colegio y les daba clase. Tenía miedo, mis padres no sabían nada de esto y mis amigos siempre me decían que me ayudarían si había bronca, pero una vez más dije: No. Llevaba 6 meses sin pisar el Bronx. Finalmente me fui a casa, le pedí dinero a mi madre para ir al cine y me fuí a ver una peli. A veces el universo es generoso y encontré una que me llamó la atención. Se llamaba Los chicos del barrio. ¡Ja! compré la entrada y entré en la sala. Era 1991 y tenía 13 años.

La película está ambientada en el barrio negro de South Central-Los Ángeles en el año 1984. Un sitio donde los niños al salir del colegio se encuentran con precintos de la policía en las calles, sangre en las aceras y a otros niños jugando a los dados en lugar de a las canicas. Una madre, Reva Styles (Angela Basset) no se hace con su hijo True (Cuba Googing Jr. cuando se haga mayor) que tiene problemas en el colegio. La madre decide llevarlo con su padre Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne) para que haga de él un hombre. El barrio no mejora demasiado, puedes encontrarte a un muerto si pasas por un descampado, el padre duerme con una pistola en un cajón por si entra a robar de noche el vecino de tres casas más allá, y al salir a la calle se ve a los vendedores de crack a todas horas, desayunando litros de cerveza y con los niños de 2 años por las aceras. El padre no hace honor a su nombre (es inteligente, guapo y reflexivo) pero sí a su apellido, tiene un estilazo tremendo e intenta educar a su hijo de la mejor manera que sabe, haciéndole ser responsable y dándole valiosos consejos (las tres reglas: 1- mirar a la gente a los ojos, así te respetarán más; 2- no tener miedo de pedir lo que necesites, no hace falta robar; 3- no respetar a nadie que no te respete a ti). En esta primera parte además, nuestro Furious le suelta una de las mejores frases de la peli a su príncipe al decirle: Cualquier imbécil puede hacer un hijo, pero sólo un hombre puede educarlo. True se junta con otros tres chicos, Ricky (Morris Chestnut) y Doughboy (Ice Cube), que son hermanos,  y Chris (Regi Green). Los cuatro viviendo en el mismo barrio, cada uno con sus sueños intactos… ¿De qué me suena esto?

Pasa el tiempo y los chicos se hacen mayores. True trabaja y quiere ir a la universidad, Ricky tiene un hijo y es bueno jugando al fútbol, asi que si pasa el examen de acceso le darán una beca para ir también. Doughboy (recién salido de la cárcel) y Chris venden droga y enseñan la pipa a la menor ocasión. Además está Brandi (Nia Long), la novia de True, que también quiere ir a la universidad si consigue concentrarse y estudiar mientras suenan los disparos y los helicópteros afuera de la casa. Siendo un barrio de negros pobre como es, toda la peli está hablada en jerga y con infinidad de fucks, niggers y motherfuckers. La peor parte se la llevan las chicas, en ocasiones se refieren a ellas con expresiones bastante machistas, pero a mi en aquella época apenas me importó. También tiene un aspecto racial muy marcado, explicado perfectamente en una escena en la que Furious se lleva a True y Ricky al barrio más peligroso de Los Ángeles (Compton) y les suelta una charla (a ellos y a los que se acercan a escuchar). Empieza diciéndoles: Chicos, estamos en los 90, no podemos permitirnos tener miedo de nuestra gente. Luego les explica la manipulación que existe sobre la propiedad (la infravaloran, la compran a bajo precio, sacan a la gente y suben el precio) y la solución que propone: mantener el barrio en sus manos (propiedad negra con dinero negro). Los negros de los barrios pobres no tienen dinero, aviones o barcos para traer el crack y las armas con las que se matan entre ellos, pero lo que sale en televisión es gente negra vendiendo droga y disparándose unos a otros. Los jóvenes negros acaban haciendo lo que otros quieren, que es destruirse entre ellos. ¿Por qué sino hay una licorería y una armería en cada esquina de estos barrios? (¿alguien imagina algo así en Wall Street o DC?).  Incluso entonces me di cuenta de que donde yo vivía no tenía nada que ver con aquello. Nuestros cuatro chicos lo tienen bien jodido y van a tener que tomar decisiones muy importantes para su futuro. Allí sobrevivir era duro de verdad…porque los sueños se pueden esfumar al doblar una esquina y desaparecer cuando se aprieta un gatillo.

Al día siguiente de ver la peli, después del colegio, cogí mi bici y me fui sólo al Bronx. Volví después de una hora con una buena paliza encima, con las marcas de una bota Martins en mi cara incluidas. Pero estaba feliz porque les había ganado. Les perdí el respeto y a su vez me gané el suyo. Y más importante todavía, había recuperado el respeto por mí mismo. Desde entonces dejaron de tocarme las pelotas. Mi pandilla me preguntó por qué ya no tenía miedo de ir al Bronx y yo les contesté: El respeto tios, el respeto. Cuatro o cinco años más tarde, acabando el instituto, me encontré en un bar al tipo que me dejo la marca de su suela en mi cara. Qué gracioso, ahora era yo el que le sacaba una cabeza. Se me acerca y me dice algo así como: Eh colega, ¿que tal?. Yo le miré fijamente a los ojos, le hice una mueca y le dije: Yo no soy tu colega, capullo. El tipo me pidió perdón, se dio la vuelta y se marchó del bar. Y a mí me dio igual… Hablamos con palabras y escuchamos palabras. Nos comunicamos y nos expresamos con ellas. Escribimos con ellas. Las decimos, las gritamos, las susurramos…Pero con algunas palabras no basta con todo esto. Algunas palabras hay que usarlas. Hasta que no las usas de verdad, no te sirven del todo. Esta película me enseño a usar una de esas palabras: el respeto ti@s, el respeto.

La película se tituló originalmente Boyz In The Hood, fue dirigida por John Singleton y la banda sonora es de Stanley Clarke. Cuando la rodó, el director tenía tan sólo 22 años y era su opera prima. Aun así fue nominada a los Oscar en la categoría de mejor director y mejor guión original.

The NOS is back.

In 2001, a little film nobody had heard of blasted into multiplexes and made car-enthusiasts cheer. The film popped the hood on the whole underground world of street-racing and rocketed bouncer-turned-actor Vin Diesel into the stratosphere. The film was “The Fast & the Furious” and a lot of the movies success had to do with the keen direction of director Rob Cohen and the charisma of the muscle-bound Diesel. When the sequel to the film was green-lit, the key ingredients fell off the well-oiled machine and left co-star Paul Walker
to steer the sequel.

Now in 2003, the sequel minus Diesel and Cohen scurries into theatres. Paul Walker returns as his cop-with-a-conscience Brian O’Connor who this time teams with his childhood friend Roman Pierce (Tyrese) to clear their cluttered pasts and takedown a vicious druglord, Carter Verone (Cole Hauser).

“2 Fast 2 Furious” had a brilliant beginning and a fresh-start in which to build something new and insane at the same time. It could have been a great action film if they would have remembered some of the things that made the original work.

Basically all the screenwriters would have had to do was find a new angle in which to explore the world of “street racing”. Instead the screenwriters seem to have watched endless re-runs of “Miami Vice” and “Knight Rider”.

The film’s opening does bring the audience back to original film and you once more feel the adrenaline rush as O’Connor squares off on the line. But when the opening sequence ends, it is almost like that’s where the whole franchise stops. There is very little street-racing in this film and that is one of the major problems. That is what the audience was sold on in the first film.

The second mistake is the film collides into a sort of “cop-buddy” formula that is formed between Tyrese and Walker. Are we making a “48 Hours” or “Lethal Weapon” sequel here or a “Fast & the Furious” one? One of the great things about the original film was the tension and dynamic between Diesel and Walker. Sure they respected each other but they were never really close until probably the end.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some things to like in this film. Tyrese is hilarious and great to watch in this film. I really liked the chemistry between Tyrese and Walker but felt a huge kick of déjà vu. I also liked Paul Walker in the leading man role; it is just too bad that the film doesn’t support his ability. Walker has great potential to be a great action star but he needs to find a project that will jettison him into the Hollywood stratosphere.

I was also boggled by how much Cole Hauser reminded me so much of his father, actor Wings Hauser. His look and voice brought forth so many memories. I remember his father from so many of the B-movies I watched when I was in college. Like his son in this film, Wings was a great villain in those films.

I can’t say I was bowled over or overly thrilled with “2 Fast 2 Furious” but I was entertained for most of the film. The thing that made me most shake my head at the film was the film’s conclusion. What an utter-lack-luster finish! I so felt the audience deserved something more action-filled. I do have one question; did anyone die in this action movie?

Keeping those two points in mind, you do have to wonder if we were watching the pilot to a proposed TV series of a hit filmor a sequel to one of the most original action films in recent years.

(2.5 out of 5) So Says The Soothsayer.

Det er liten tvil om at vi kommer til å høre mye om Michael Jackson i tiden som kommer. Selv har jeg mest tro på boken The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, redigert av Mark Fischer (også kjent som k-punk), som kommer ut i desember.

Men enn så lenge har vi her en nyhet av det mer kuriøse slaget. Fans strømmer nå til The Field Museum i Chicago for å se en MJ-lookalike:

Statuen er egyptisk, og er laget mellom ca 1550 og 1050 før vår tidsregning. Og, som både The Telegraph og Politiken gjør oppmerksom på, musikkvideoen til Jacksons “Remember the Time” (fra Dangerous, 1992, videoen regissert av John Singleton) var lagt til Egypt, og med Eddie Murphy og Iman i viktige rolle.

Og igjen altså, til min store glede, ser vi en egyptisk gjenkomst.

2Fast 2Furious
d. John Singleton / 2003 / USA / 107 mins
Viewed on: ITV2 (UK) 

Hells yeah!

You know you love it. Boys (and some girls) race fast cars as double agents for the police, overhead cams, sub-woofers, whatever. I don’t know anything about cars, really. The hero is a white guy, but he gets a black sidekick. But the white guy is the hero. Remember that. It mostly looks like a video game that you can’t control, and there are lots of rappers and rap music, sorry ‘urban’ music. And plenty of shiny Japanese cars.

Since the turn of the millenium, director John Singleton – he of Boyz N the Hood, Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, etc – has been quite busy living up to the expectations of early haterz by finding his niche between bad-boy glorifying violence and/or misogyny and blockbluster fluffery. In 2000 he directed that dire, unnecessary remake of Shaft (starring everyones favourite big-budget B-movie go-to guy, Samuel L. Jackson), and 2Fast 2Furious was followed by Four Brothers (2005), which captured its fair share of ‘unwanted’ attention for its ultraviolent glorification of vigilantism, which obviously sent DVD sales skyrocketing.

As for 2Fast 2Furious, just imagine what I wrote about National Treasure, and adjust it in light of the fact that I totally love old stuff, and am only mildly interested in cars. Oh, and it didn’t really make me want to race out and see Tokyo Drift. Actually, it would be unfair to compare it to National Treasure. It doesn’t have Nicholas Cage for starters.

There are plenty of people that made films, people have made great and sub-par films, but out of all of the filmmakers is Spike Lee the best? He is definitely a legend and a pioneer for other black filmmakers.

The fact that Lee has worked off of a small budget for most of his early films and the fact that they were such box office and critical successes says a lot about his skills. In recent years, we have had Tyler Perry lighting up the box office every six months, but it seems as if his work does not catch on with too many critics.

Of all of Spike Lee’s films, there is not one that was not a critical darling. He showed the true struggle of black America in a way that Hollywood would not and in a way that other black filmmakers would not. If it were not for Spike Lee, there would have not been a Boyz n the Hood.

Had Spike Lee not have come along first, pushing the envelope, John Singleton would have never had the guts to produce such a film. Many other controversial films that were created depicting life of under-privileged black Americans during this era would have not gotten the light of day if Lee did not open the tunnel.

If not for Spike Lee, awareness would have not been raised on the injustices of race that still go on in this modern era. He provided more than the “shuckin’ and jivin’.” What Spike Lee did was far from “blaxploitation.” Lee pulled the sheets off of many issues that needed to be raised.

Is Spike Lee the best filmmaker ever?

The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. Six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed during what was characterized as a race riot. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings in the years before the massacre, including well-publicized incident in December 1922. Rosewood was a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Spurred by unsupported accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident. When black citizens defended themselves against further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood. Survivors hid for several days in nearby swamps, and were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, they made no arrests for the activities in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by black residents during the attacks. As of 2009, none have returned. Although the rioting was widely reported around the country, few official records documented the event. The massacre was the subject of a 1997 film directed by John Singleton. In 2004 the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark.

Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre Read more

Also see The Real Rosewood, (Rosewood official site) http://rosewoodflorida.com/

Ice Cube is directing an ESPN documentary about the Los Angeles Raiders. He was just added to a lineup of 30 special-edition directors for the “30 for 30” ESPN documentary series. The project features 30 one-hour films that shine light on a topic covered by ESPN in its 30 years of programming. Ice Cube’s documentary is called “Straight Outta L.A.” and connects the Raiders to himself, NWA and their influence on his hometown. How ironic that the same man that said, “Stop giving juice to the Raiders…cause Al Davis ain’t never paid us” in “Wrong Nigga To Fuck Wit” is directing their documentary.

Previously announced directors for the series include Peter Berg, Reggie Rock Blythewood, John Singleton, Morgan Freeman and director of the cult classic documentary, “Hoop Dreams,” Steve James. The other stories will include Singleton’s documentary on Marion Jones’ fall from glory, a story on the South African rugby team and Olympic Speed Skater Johann Olav Koss.

Cube also recently made sports headlines lending his hit “Today Was A Good Day” to a Nike SB commercial. In the commercial skater Paul “P Rod” Rodriguez is shown skating through L.A. on a skateboard with Cube’s song playing in the background. Cube makes a cameo at the end of the commercial running over Rodriguez’s skateboard in his low-rider.

Summer 2010 is shaping up to be one for the ages. Traditionally the most important time of the year for Hollywood, movie buffs and comic book aficionados are finding themselves impatiently waiting on the silver screen gifts that have been promised to them by movie studios. Marvel, the premier name in graphic novels, is looking to make good on their end of the bargain by promising a groundbreaking superhero flick based on little known but celebrated and revered hero, “The Black Panther.”

Set to be directed by John Singleton, a man known more for his gritty urban semi-biopics than exploring the intricacies of modern folklore and action tales, the sure fire action flick will offer movie goers an opportunity to see a hero that had been a major part of Marvel’s comic universe but a minor player in the collective psyche of the mainstream. To say that expectations are high would be a gross understatement; even so, one man feels that he has what it takes to meet and exceed all benchmarks set for the film. That man is none other than for Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

Better know to the masses as the infamous Simon Adebisi of “Oz” lore, Akinnuoye-Agbaje seeks to bring one of Marvel’s most realistic characters to life by playing “T’Challa,” the man behind the Panther’s mask. Created by the legendary Stan Lee, “The Black Panther” ventured to New York City from the fictional nation of Wakanda, which is well over 1,000 miles from San Diego, the city that most recently played host the national comic book convention know as Comic-Con.

Speaking to press, the versatile actor spoke of excitement about the role. “He’s from a fictional village in Africa and the timing is so right for that kind of character to come through,” he told. “And while I’m in my prime, this is the time. We’ve got Obama, now we need something on screen to represent, so… ‘Panther,’ man.”

Before capturing a spot in what is sure to be next Summer’s biggest hit, Adewale can be seen in one of this Summer’s most anticipated big screen offerings. Stepehn Sommer’s “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” is sure to portray the veteran actor in a light that he has yet to be shown, a testosterone laden butt-kicker. Set to play Joe favorite “Heavy Duty” in the 2009 blockbuster, Akinnuoye-Agbaje is poised to change the game by challenging the long running stigma that is associated with Black superheroes, one movie role at a time.

(Let me open this chapter by saying I almost certainly do more name dropping in the next few paragraphs than you will ever hear me do in a five minute conversation in real life.  Nature of the beast…)

Like any film geek worth his salt, I knew the names of the filmmakers who either graduated or were otherwise connected to the ‘USC Mafia’: Lucas, Spielberg, Singleton right off the top of my head.  My bootleg experiences had given me a rudimentary knowledge of how to make films; I honestly felt in undergrad I picked the basic knowledge of how to do that.  But I definitely didn’t know Hollywood: didn’t know how it worked, didn’t know how to get a project through the system, didn’t know anyone who could help me do these things. 

If I was forced to choose just one skill I picked up in grad school, it was relationship building, a.k.a. networking.  No one ever says it out loud, but my industry is not a meritocracy.  Don’t get me wrong, if it comes down to a Julliard trained cat with Broadway experience and some underwear model with no acting experience…um…bad example.  I don’t want to discourage the cat who was in my shoes many years ago; if you stay on your grind, push yourself to your limits, and constantly get your name out there, you will eventually create an opportunity of some type.  Even in Hollywood, persistence is rewarded (and somewhat mandatory).  My point though is the more people you connect to, the better off you are.  It was stressed to us very early to get to know the people to your left and right, because they will help shape your career.

USC is a great film school, and it’s unfair to say I didn’t pick up any new filmmaking tricks sitting in the classroom.  My craft absolutely picked up in my time spent in those halls.  But to come from the background I came from, what I was really paying for was ‘fraternity dues’ for lack of a better term…

Insider A: “Hey you ever heard of a Malik Aziz?”

Made Friend: “Yeah, I know Malik, he’s a friend of ours.”

You think I’m exaggerating?

My first mentor is now one of the hottest female screenwriters in town. (I won’t name her here, but for my non-Hollywood readers, I have a strong feeling you’ll start to become more familiar with her name in the next couple of years, if it takes that long).  Some of those guys ‘to my left and right’ have written top selling videogames and directed movies that have opened at the top of the box office.  Some have produced films that are already cult classics.  When I was 23 years old, I had my own office on a major studio lot, and was giving my script coverage every week directly to the head of the studio. (Another woman by the way; if I really did have any misogyny in me, it evaporated quickly simply by the constant support and interest shown in me by the numerous professional relationships I was finding myself in.)  Anyway, the studio job was cutting too much into my school time, so I had to find a new part time job.  And I did find one.  At the Playboy Mansion.  Catered lunches with the Bunnies, working on my thesis at night.  ‘Hollywood’, as my boys call me mockingly, was born.  If at that point I was becoming as smug and arrogant as I had ever been, could you really blame me?  I would never call myself ghetto, but in five years I had come a long way from Wyandotte County.  In two years, I had come a long, long way from Lawrence, Kansas. 

While I definitely feel I earned every opportunity that came to me, I was still nearly a year short of my 25th birthday when I got my Master’s degree.  It was, in retrospect, a little too much too fast.  I still had a lot of life experience to get under my belt.  I was fairly mature for my age, but I wasn’t remotely mature yet.  God works in mysterious ways of course. A strike shut down the industry the summer I graduated.  My student budget fell all the way back into the red.  With no money and limited options, I put my tail between my legs and headed back to Kansas. 

Higher Learning (1995)

Higher Learning is a 1995 drama film, directed and composed by John Singleton. It starred an ensemble cast including Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Connelly, Ice Cube, and Laurence Fishburne. The movie also featured supermodel Tyra Banks, whose appearance became her first performance in a theatrical movie. The University of California, Los Angeles, otherwise known as UCLA, filled in for the fictional Columbus University, the setting in which the story took place. The soundtrack to the movie included performances by Ice Cube, Tori Amos, and OutKast.

This Columbia Pictures film examines the personal, political, and racial issues of freshman students as they begin their first semester at Columbus University. Malik Williams (Omar Epps) is an African-American student who starts his post-secondary studies believing that his athletic abilities would compensate for his lack of interest towards academics. He soon begins to lose his self-confidence when he experiences financial problems in regards to his track scholarship. Malik eventually forms a relationship with Deja (Tyra Banks), who would also become his school tutor. In addition to his worries about schoolwork, finances, and his new girlfriend, Fudge (Ice Cube), who has been attending Columbus for several years, befriends Malik and challenges his views on systematic racism in America. As tension rises within the multicultural atmosphere of the campus, Maurice Phipps (Laurence Fishburne), Malik’s political science professor, informs Malik that he will not be graded on a different standard simply because of his ability to run quickly or the fact that they are both African-American. When Malik realizes that his success at university does not lie solely on his individual talents and cultural background, he ventures on a journey of self-examination in which he battles the prejudice, bigotry, and racism in the world.

Meanwhile, Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson), a somewhat naïve, young woman from an upper-middle class family in California, enters Columbus University with education as her top priority. However, as Kristen gets more engaged in the social happenings at campus, she becomes influenced to think and act in ways that differ from her personal ideals and values. She then meets a boy named Billy (Jay R. Ferguson) after drinking too much at a party and becomes a victim of sexual abuse. To help her overcome the distressing incident, Kristen joins an organization called “Students for a Non-Sexist Society” which Taryn (Jennifer Connelly), a junior, invited her to become a member of when she first met Kristen. As Kristen gets to know more about Taryn, she discovers that she is a lesbian and finds herself becoming attracted to her. Kristen then expresses the importance of embracing the genders, sexual orientations, social backgrounds, races, and cultures of all people by hosting a Columbus Peace Festival.

Furthermore, Remy (Michael Rapaport) is a quiet, young man from the Midwest who feels out of place in the highly populated campus of the university. He is approached by Scott Moss (Cole Hauser), a member of a movement that believes in white superiority, and persuades him to carry out his group’s violent plans to dehumanize ethnic minorities. Remy inevitably stirs up racial tensions among the staff and students at Columbus, causing a ripple effect throughout the community.

John Singleton’s Higher Learning is an insightful and thought-provoking story about university students who face intolerance, harassment, and peer pressure, among the many, common issues that individuals undergo throughout their lifetimes. It is a realistic portrayal of members in society who have experienced and are still experiencing discrimination and exploitation, including ethnic minorities, women, and homosexuals. This being said, the movie does have a few shortcomings, including the lack of portrayal of Native people, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Singleton should have incorporated more major characters of these racial backgrounds in order to produce a complex and captivating plot that is more universal. Because the movie has several elements of alcohol and drugs, sex and nudity, violence and gore, profanity, and frightening and intense scenes, some young viewers may not be emotionally stable enough to handle its mature themes. Thus, some audiences may not appreciate Higher Learning and describe it as inappropriate and unsuitable for viewers. Nonetheless, I strongly recommend this 1995 motion picture to those who are willing to see true to life examples of the destruction and confusion that can result from such ignorance and narrow-mindedness. With its captivating storyline and breathtaking performances, it proves to be not only a movie, but a glimpse of the real world beyond our doorsteps. Therefore, Higher Learning is an invitation to the deeper human emotions, influencing audience members to develop a forward-thinking perspective on themselves and society.

Image Source: http://www.bookrags.com/Higher_Learning

My earliest memories of the movies were from the summers in Salina.  The local theatre would play these Sinbad serials as matinees, and we’d all ride our bikes home afterward and play out in the street.  Pirates, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, what have you.  E.T. was the first ‘Hollywood’ movie I remember seeing at the theatre; the Goonies was the first film I remember trying to imitate with my friends.

Fast forward to 1989 was the number, another summer.  Even in Kansas City, you couldn’t escape hearing about it.  One of the best movies of the year was a story about black people, written and directed by a young black guy…

I remember the first time I saw a picture of him: he was a little guy, he wore glasses.  I was a little guy who wore glasses; he didn’t look much different than me.  As much as I enjoyed movies, never in my wildest dreams, had I thought, “I can do that.”  Until now.

A few times in my life, I’ve found myself in the middle of a perfect storm.  This would be the first time for me a series of things all seemed to happen at just the right time.  First, my generation was the first to grow up with VCRs in our home.  (These preceded DVRs and DVD players for any young people who might be reading this.)  So if we missed a movie in the theater, we now had the ability to wait a few months and watch it at home.  This is how I came to see She’s Gotta Have It, and School Daze.

The other great blessing that fell in my lap was home video cameras becoming increasingly cheap.  My father always gave me more than I deserved, but his greatest gift to me was giving me the chance to fail.  As I’ve gotten older, I understand that for alot of people, when they’re told “You can’t do this,” “You’re not good enough for that,” that’s it.  End of story.  They don’t even try to do whatever it is they want to do.  I idolized Michael Jackson first, so he hooked me up with the cassette, the poster, the glitter gloves and the socks.  Yes, the socks.  I’ve always loved dancing, but tragically I wasn’t even passable as a singer until my mid 20s.  My first sports hero was Magic.  When I was two feet tall, I had a toy hoop in the basement.  When he moved up to having a home with a garage, we put a regulation hoop up, and the guys in the neighborhood would come play.  I had the most hideous, purple and gold, half varsity letter jacket, half turtleneck, Magic Johnson sweater ever made.

But outside of my historic triple single against Northwest for my 7th grade team (2 pts, 1 assist, 1 steal, I still remember), genetics killed my hoop dreams.  When I first showed interest in filmmaking, my father decided to buy ‘the family’ a video camera.  I think he used that thing 10 times.  Seriously, to this day, I have no idea what my father’s favorite movie is.  I know he likes westerns, that’s about it.  But somewhere down the line, he decided he was going to encourage me until I figured out what I was good at.  And I’m eternally grateful.

The first videos were me, my sister and cousins singing and dancing in front of our grandfather’s house.  There’s a pretty good one of me, baseball cap cocked to the side, dancing to ‘2 Legit 2 Quit.’  (That video will never see the light of day by the way).  I did a little rapping when hip hop started taking off nationally; I started shooting the basketball games when the guys came over.  Best Buy sold a little mixer, so I learned how to edit by putting the VCR and camera together and making music videos.  I was getting better at it.

And could there have been a better time to be a fan of black cinema?  Hollywood had jumped on the bandwagon and I was along for the ride.  The main mall in Kansas City Kansas was Indian Springs; I was down there for three reasons: to get an Orange Julius, to see what dimepiece they had working in Harold Pener, and to go downstairs to catch a show.  House Party, New Jack City, Juice: I saw all these on the big screen.  And it was usually kids like us running the ticket counter so normally I didn’t have a problem getting in.  There was one time though: my father had to take me to go see Boyz N Da Hood, which was written and directed by another little brother in glasses, who came from some school in California…

Like I said, it was a perfect storm for me personally.  I found something I was passionate about and good at.  I loved every minute of it.

And I still do.

MINISTER OF DEFENSE, HUEY P. NEWTON- HE WON THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE PEOPLE

HUEY P. NEWTON: HIS REPUTATION HAD PRECEDED HIM

 

When I graduated from high school, I had been pretty much colonialized. I was a Manchild caught in a dilemma between being a street hustler, thug or a factory worker. My high school experience at a predominately white school had only reaffirmed and reinforced my interiority complex. Being Black, I truly believed that I had no other options.

I wasn’t a hustler. I truly loved my sisters. To me, my sisters were truly beautiful and fascinating. I didn’t have the heart or desire to live a life taking advantage of them.  I loved to read and write poetry rhymes. I was completely satisfied to find a dark counter at the public library with a stack of books and read my life away.

I couldn’t be a thug. I had gained a decent reputation as an accomplished street fighter, but I didn’t have the heart or desire to harm anyone. I was a good athlete too, but I didn’t have the money or resources to pay for a physical or the equipment to play high school sports.

I wasn’t a factory worker. Most of my in-laws made a pretty good living at the Chevrolet Plant in Fremont or other factories. I loved the outdoors. My favorite past time was being in the open air and basting in the sun at a local city park like Lincoln Square Recreation Center in Downtown Oakland. I loved exploring the shores of Jack London Square where I spent vast hours alone walking along the shores of the coastal waters. Growing up to be a self realizing Blackman wasn’t an option.  

After graduating from high school, I didn’t know what to do with my life. My dream was to be a railroad Pullman porter and melt away into a life of invisibility and interiority. I was hopelessly confused.

One day, I followed a couple of sisters that graduated with my class to a local college. They were twins, Brenda and Glenda. My cousin had married Glenda as a high school sweetheart joined the military and left for the Vietnam conflict in Southeast Asia. I had a puppy dog crush on Brenda. I had dreams of marrying Brenda and joining my cousin in Southeast Asia and returning home a decorated war hero. I had no idea what war was other than a stage show on a Hollywood set. I was in a fantasy and extremely naïve.

When I broke through the glass double doors of Merritt Jr. College at 59^th and Grove, my life changed. I had never been on a college campus in my life. There were girls of every description everywhere. It was another playground for a Manchild. I decided then that I wanted to be a college student.

I had absolutely no idea how to read a college schedule. I picked my classes regardless of the times, days, units or prerequisites. I picked my classes by looking at the titles, “hum-hum-this sounds good, this looks good, and this sounds good.” I had no idea what a prerequisite was. I had no idea what a class conflict was. One day, a couple of older sisters noticed that filling out a class schedule was beyond my understanding, and sat down with me and showed me how to fill it out properly. A white college counselor had signed my class schedule conflicts and all, like 25 class credit units. He didn’t care. He assumed that I wouldn’t be there long.

At Merritt, Brenda had found another brother as a suitor. I was somewhat broken hearted that I couldn’t join my cousin in matrimony and in Vietnam. My heart and attention then went to a beautiful young lady from Richmond named Johnnie. The word in the grapevine was that she was hard as rocks. She had come up hard, very hard actually fighting grown men off her. The amazing thing was she had been successful. Nobody got close to her. Johnnie was tough as nails, but we had a lot of laughs and good times.

A relationship with Johnnie was difficult if not impossible. She had been claimed by one of the most notorious thugs in Richmond. It was suicide to be caught anyplace near her. I found Johnnie regardless of her background, sweet, gentle, quiet and kind. Our affection was mutual. Our moments together were confined to campus. I wished that I could grow wings and fly her away from her troubles. I was a Manchild full of innocent fantasy and dreams and barely able to take care of himself.

It wasn’t long before Brenda, Glenda, and Johnnie dropped out. I found myself getting high, hanging out on campus and flirting with all sorts of young ladies of all races. The Manchild had found a new playground. I became a campus playboy, a campus clown.

One day, I had spent the day drinking and getting high with the brothers. That evening I was hanging out in the hallway in front of the campus cafeteria cutting it up with a couple of brothers.  One brother was giving me the campus lowdown.

That’s “Michael the Pimp.” Michael was a local fixture. Michael was a light skinned brother with a process hairdo. Michael was always good to stop, talk, laugh and for a conversation. He was a hapless heroin addict that hung around campus. I don’t think anyone took him seriously even the women found him harmless and most irrelevant.

“That’s Marcellus, he is a professional boxer.” Marcellus was a bully and a self centered individual with a head full of greasy Gerri-curls, God’s gift to women. He made a beeline straight to cafeteria to impress the young ladies without looking around.  

“That’s Huey.” Huey was a rather ordinary sized brother with an arm full of books. He was modestly dressed. I noticed that he buttoned his shirt all the way up to the neck. The brother suddenly straightened his back and became alert. He respectfully nodded, and the rest of us got the clue and straightened up real quick and nodded our heads in unison. In passing, Huey acknowledged us and nodded respectfully in return, and entered the cafeteria. “That’s Huey. Don’t mess with him!” 

Huey’s reputation had preceded him. From that day on, when Huey passed me in the hallway it always the same, straighten up and straighten up quick no matter how high you was. Huey didn’t talk much. He talked with his eyes. Huey’s girlfriend was a tall beautiful sister with long black hair named Laverne Williams. She was an opera singer and a serious music major. Huey was prelaw.

One day, Huey and Laverne passed me in the hall. As usual, I was holding up the wall in the hallway high. Laverne looked at me and whispered something to Huey about me. I wanted to blend into the woodwork to avoid his attention. Huey glanced at me for a moment and continued down the hallway. Here it was, one of the most bad-assed brothers on campus and his significant one didn’t like me. I wanted to disappear into the walls.

One evening, I rolled around to the brothers in the hallway in front of the cafeteria. One brother told me, “man, you just missed it. Huey and Marcellus just got in it.” My heart sunk to my stomach, Huey got beat down by a professional middle weigh boxer, I thought. The brother continued in utter amazement, “man, Huey cleaned out Marcellus.”  My mouth dropped wide open. I said to myself, “this Huey P. Newton cat is for real!”

From then on each time Laverne passed me, she continued to whisper something to Huey about me. It made me feel so little, miserable, and a failure not to be able to live up to her and now Huey’s expectations. I wasn’t serious about my education. I was at Merritt to get high, play and clown around with the young ladies. She could see right through me. 

One day she passed me in the hallway with Huey, she said something about me again. Huey talked with his eyes. He never looked at me in a despairingly manner. On his day he sort of nodded and with reassuring look in his eye said, “He will be all right.” I knew that I had to get serious about education, and straighten my life out from then on.

 Laverne didn’t know it, but I had decided that I wanted to be like Huey, manly, quiet, respected, and a serious student. I would ultimately win her respect and friendship. That really meant a lot to me.   

THE BEGINNING: SOUL STUDENTS ADVISORY COUNCIL   

It was 1966. A new awareness was breaking out all over campus, each day there were spontaneous groups of black and white students engaging in vigorous political debates about Civil Rights, and the Vietnam War. One of several Black students that stood out in the debates in regards to having an incredible cyclopedia-like recall of references and historical details was Bobby Seale. I had never seen Black men stand up to debate whites regarding any subject, whether history, psychology, philosophy, it didn’t matter. There didn’t seem to be subject that the brothers weren’t aware of. The heated debates lasted into the evenings, and I tried not to miss a moment.

There was Isaac Moore, Ken Freemen, Leo Bazile, Ernie Allen, and others. They were brilliant and beautiful in debate. Isaac Moore and Ken Freeman became my wise, faithful and patient mentors and teachers. Bobby, Ken and particularly Isaac Moore, took time to school and mentor me through the draft. I wouldn’t have made it without them. I subsequently discovered that Bobby Seale was Huey’s closest confidents. They were a prefect match. Bobby was charismatic, outgoing, boisterous, and an extremely fluent public speaker. Bobby had once been a comedian. Huey was intellectual, modest, and extremely reserved.    

The brothers and sisters on campus began to find a common cause among them, and agreed that there was a need to organize on campus around their causes, issues and needs. Some of brothers reasoned that there were numerous student groups with a common union funded by student fees, but none of them addressed the needs and issues of Black people. Why not organize a student group that would meet on campus around a common cause and union to regularly discuss and address issues important to Black students and people of color. It was Bobby Seale that always constantly emphasized the significance and uniqueness of the “soul” of people of color; soul music and soul food. It carried the day. The brothers and sisters formed Soul Students Advisory Council of the Associated Students of Merritt Jr. College. I believe that Leo Bazile became the first president of the new student union. I was in another world. It was a beautiful educational experience for me. I was like a fly on the wall. I tried not to miss anything.   

One issue was common and pressing to most the brothers and sisters on campus was the unjust Vietnam War, and the draft. Ernie Allen called a press conference on campus, and publicly declared his opposition to the war and became one of the first to refuse to be drafted into a war against his conscious and the Yellow brothers and sisters of Southeast Asia fighting the same enemy that people of color were facing in this country. I was absolutely in wonder of these brilliant, courageous, and worldly brothers. 

Huey and Bobby wanted to take the group further beyond intellectualizing to take concrete and direct actions to help organize the community around issues that affected them. They wanted to expand the scope of the union to address police brutality, but most of the other brothers and sisters didn’t want to go that far. Unfortunately, some of the brothers began to assume that Huey and Bobby were too far out and militant for a campus organization.

Things came to a boil when Huey and Bobby used some of the union’s funds as bail money in regards to arrests that occurred protesting a police shooting in Richmond. It wasn’t that they pilfered the money it was that the brothers and sisters of the union demanded a democratic process before using the council’s money. They demanded the right to vote on it. Huey and Bobby argued that it was a time of the essence emergency and a paramount and revolutionary right existed to use the money to come to the aid of the Black community. It was Huey and Bobby on one side and the intellectuals like my mentors, Moore and Freeman and other brothers and sisters of the council, on the other side.

My heart was for unity with all of them. We needed the intellectuals and revolutionaries united for one cause, the liberation of our people. It was like a dark cloud had formed over my head. I was torn between them. I truly loved all of them, but for pragmatic reasons my soul had to go with Huey and Bobby. I was a young mis-educated and poor Manchild. I felt I had little to contribute to further the movement among the brilliant intellectuals. I had nothing to give the movement to liberate our people, but my love, body and soul.       

THE SPLIT: THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY FOR SELF DEFENSE       

Huey and Bobby branched out of the Soul Students Advisory Council and formed an off campus organization, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPPSD) in October of 1966. Huey, Minister of Defense,  and Bobby, the  Chairman, developed the 10 Point Plan as the party’s platform to rally the people around. [1] The intellectual criticism was that the man could meet all the demands of the 10 Point Plan and we still wouldn’t be free. However, I thought it was a brilliant idea. Bobby and Huey targeted population were the ordinary brothers and sisters of the Black Community that Bobby called the “Lumpen.” The party’s platform was straightforward, comprehendible, and easy to universally embrace.

I was a fly on the wall. Huey and Bobby was right. That 10-Point Plan platform drew into the ranks of BPPSD some of the baldest, fiercest street thugs, gang members, and ex-servicemen of color on earth under one cause, the liberation of our people. 

The other criticism was that Bobby Seale was weak. In my world, Bobby was one of the boldest brothers on the planet. I didn’t quite understand that point. A couple of years later, I would have learned exactly what they had meant.  

I was unable to participate in the early activities of party like the police patrols. The internal policy was that brothers had to equip themselves with their own personal guns. During this time, most of the community thugs and serious hustlers had the need for guns. I, the Manchild, never had the need or desire for a gun. For a time, I didn’t have the resources to obtain a gun.

I missed Huey’s infamous February 21, 1967 confrontation with the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) while escorting Betty Shabazz, the late wife of Malcolm X, from San Francisco Airport to the Ramparts office for an interview with Eldridge Cleaver. One of the young brothers of the escort told me that a SFPD contingent confronted Huey and brothers outside the Rampart’s office. One of the officers demanded the surrender of the escort’s weapons. An officer stepped forward as if to take Huey’s shotgun; and all that was heard was “click-click.” Huey locked and loaded a shell in his shotgun. Huey meant business and that just wasn’t going to happen. The SFPD backed down. On that day, I lot of people besides the police found out that Huey P. Newton was for real.

I also missed the infamous May 2, 1967 march on Sacramento that put the Black Panther Party for Self Defense on the international map in infinity. I learned a great deal about my life as a Manchild from Huey. Naturally at first, I didn’t have the courage that Huey and some of the other brothers had. I thought we needed more brothers. I thought that there might be safety in numbers if only for myself.

Once on campus, I was trying to convince a high school associate, Danny Crockett, to join the party. The grapevine was humming that Danny had ended a notorious thug’s, John Singleton, reign of terror with a bullet. It didn’t kill him, but from John’s own mouth it had slowed him down, and changed his life from random acts of senseless violence and hurting others needlessly.

While I was talking to Danny, Huey passed. I called Huey over and told him I was trying to recruit Danny. You couldn’t coach Huey to waste any words. Huey looked at Danny and asked if he had a gun. Danny said, “Yes.” Huey asked Danny if he was willing to protect his family with that gun. Danny said, “Yes.” Huey told Danny, “You’re a Panther,” and walked away.  

Huey was right. We didn’t need a lot of brothers in the party. We needed only the few dedicated brothers and sisters that we had to be examples of un-selfness, undying and supreme love, sacrifice and courage for our people. We will ultimately win the hearts and minds of the people. Huey had been the perfect example. I wasn’t wrong to want to be just like Huey P. Newton. Slowly, the de-colonialization process of my mind and spirit was jellying.  The BPPSD was molding into a fearless and internationally respected Black Liberation Warrior Clan. 

HUEY P. NEWTON & Chinese Thought Reform

On October 28, 1967, at about 4:51 a.m., Oakland Police Officer John Frey allegedly at random spotted an automobile moving along his assigned beat in West Oakland. Frey ran a check on the vehicle, and within a minute it was identified as a “known Black Panther vehicle.” [2] Frey decided to the stop the car at Seventh and Willow Street. Officer Herbert Heanes heard the transmission and joined Frey to provide cover.

After the stop, Frey found the vehicle driven for Newton by a passenger, Gene McKinney. Frey attempted to arrest Newton for two parking ticket violations belonging to the car’s owner, Huey’s significant one, Laverne Williams. During the arrest, there was an altercation. Frey was fatally shot and Heanes was wounded in a brief exchange of gunfire. 

That night, I had accompanied brothers to Hunter’s Point for a memorial celebration of its rebellion of September 28 to October 1, 1966 after the SFPD shooting of an unarmed Black youth. We got the word that Huey had gone down.

He was being held at Highland Hospital in Oakland. The word came down that we were going in. I had lost the fear of a Manchild. I was prepared. Sometime later, word came down that the entire hospital had been surrounded by what seemed to have been an army. It would have been suicide to go in. The brothers called the mission off.

By July 1969, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense had become the primary focus of the FBI’s COINTELPRO and the CIA’s OPERATION CHAOS covert programs, and was ultimately the target of 233 of the total 295 authorized “Black Nationalist” COINTELPRO actions. The October 28, 1967 assault on Huey was part of the government’s secret coordinated counterintelligence operations to neutralize Huey and the BPPSD.

At a meeting of Federal prison administrators in 1962, MIT Dr. Edgar Schein, social psychologist, suggested using Chinese Thought Reform on prisoners as a policy. James V. Bennett, then Chief of the Bureau of Prisons thought it was a good idea. Dr. Schein:

This [thought reform] “model” of behavior and attitude change is a general one which can encompass phenomena as widely separated as brainwashing and rehabilitation in a prison or a mental hospital. I would like to have you think of brainwashing not in terms of politics, ethics and morals, but in terms of deliberate changing of behavior and attitudes by a group of men who have relatively complete control over the environment in which the captive population lives. [These changes can be induced by] isolation, sensory deprivation, segregation of leaders, spying, tricking men into signing written statements which are then shown to others, placing individuals whose will power has been severely weakened into a living situation with others more advanced in thought reform, character invalidation, humiliations, sleeplessness, rewarding subservience, and fear [emphasis added]. [3]

In 1945, James Van Benschoten Bennett , President of the American Prison Association, was in Nazi Germany visiting concentration camps and setting up American Military Government German prisons that at that time was involved in the illusionary “denazification” thought reform.[4] It’s ironic that Bennett’s thought reform program was too drastic for the BEAST, The World’s Greatest Racial Mass Murderers, but good enough for thousands of Black and Brown inmates who were guilty of struggling for freedom, and mostly economic and drug related crimes.

Dr. Schein was an S factor (Stanford University) fiend. He earned his masters at Stanford, and Ph.D at Harvard University in 1952 in social psychology. Dr. Schein is yet another scientist that migrated to the United States from Nazi-dominated countries to set national policy more consistent with Nazi Germany racial policies than American values of freedom and justice for all. He was born in Switzerland and moved into the United States in 1938, when the German General Staff and Reichsfurhrer SS Heinrich Himmler were moving in Nazi agents, the Fifth Column, into the Americas.

Dr. Schein was a disciple of German Psychologist, Dr. Kurt Lewin, head of the Tavistock Institute. Tavistock was the center of trauma-based-mind control research and engineering human behavior for the military-industrial complexes.

Dr. Schein was also an important CIA/MK ULTRA military intelligence asset that worked with clandestine neutralization teams along with Dr. Fred Williams of the Air Force Psychological Warfare Division, Nazi Doctor Expert, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, Albert Bideman, and Psi specialist Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Monroe. [5]

Dr. Schein’s Los Angeles and Bay Area military intelligence and CIA/MK ULTRA mind control colleagues were Dr. Louis Jolyon West and Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer. They all had worked on top secret and classified programs involving Korean and Chinese “brainwashing, “mind control” and “thought reform” techniques for the government. [6] 

Dr. Schein suggested that physical, psychological, and chemical techniques could be used on prisoners to deliberately alter behavior and attitude. Schein also proposed isolation, sensory deprivation, to destroy socialization among prisoners as well as to sever the links prisoners had to the outside world. Because humans validate their existence, their personality, through contact with others, isolation has a significant impact on the human psyche. This form of psychological disorientation, the removal of others for validation of self, came to be known as the “Muttnik Principle” (so named by psychologist Nathaniel Braden) and was also called the “Psychology of Invisibility.” [7]

In 1968, Huey P. Newton was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter for the death of Officer Frey, and acquitted of assault on officer Herbert Heanes. After the 1968 conviction, Newton was committed to the California Corrections Department to carry out his sentence. Newton was placed at the San Luis Obispo Men’s Colony on the isolated central coast of California between Oakland and Los Angeles. It was hundreds of miles from Huey’s comrades and supporters in the Bay Area. Under the Dr. Schein’s “Muttnik Principle,” it was an idea location.

During his incarceration at San Luis Obispo Men’s Colony, which was a department of corrections medical facility, he was subjected to experimental behavior modification techniques that the brothers called “Chinese Brainwashing Procedures.” It was Schein’s classified Chinese Though Reform Program.

The word came down that brothers and sisters had to make regular visits to San Luis Obispo to keep Huey’s mind together. At that time, I don’t believe very many brothers and sisters knew exactly what “Chinese Brainwashing Procedures” or ”Chinese Though Reform” really meant; and the state of art of behavior modification and mind control programs; and the government’s active covert involvement. I know I didn’t truly understand what it had meant.

By January 1969, I along with most of the original panthers and the national and internationally respected revolutionary-intellectual controversial rank of brothers like Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and James Forman from SNCC were purged from the BPPSD, and harnessed by “goon squads” and ex-prison zombies with a governmental “License to Kill” us.  

HUEY P. NEWTON & Clockwork Orange

I, among others, eagerly awaited the release of Huey. We expected Huey would be able to sort out the COINTELPRO, OPERATION CHAOS, OPERATION GEMSTONE, HUSTON PLAN and MK-ULTRA penetrations of the BPPSD that had caused the deaths, imprisonment, assassination attempts, and polarization of so many brothers and sisters.  

On May 29, 1970, the California Court of Appeals reversed Newton’s manslaughter conviction. [8]  Shortly after August 5, 1970, Huey P. Newton was released from prison. I was there along with thousands when Huey was freed at the Alameda County Superior Courthouse. The man that I once knew bolted from the courthouse jumped up and onto a top of a car. He snatched off his shirt and flexed his muscles. I knew instantly that it wasn’t the quiet and modest and quiet warrior that I once had idolized.

I wasn’t the only one that noticed. In 1973, Kathleen Cleaver was traveling throughout Europe, after Eldridge Cleaver’s California parole was revoked and escaped. During a cocktail party in Switzerland, a reporter for the magazine ‘The Christian Century’ interviewed her about Newton. [9] She reported told the reporter, “Everyone who knew Huey before he went to prison, knows that he is not the same man any more. No one changes his views so radically as he apparently has after such a short term in prison. In fact, prison life has historically tended to make political prisoners more militant, not less so.”  [10]

Cleaver characterized Newton’s recent about-face in regard to establishment institutions, drug use, drug dealing, pimping and pandering as result of the “Clockwork Orange” treatment to which he was subjected to in prison.

“A Clockwork Orange” refers to a movie in which a young man serving a long prison sentence for violent and sadistic criminal activity was offered an early release in exchange for his consent to undergo experimental behavior modification, aversion therapy. The treatment was so effective that the young man was unable to function to normal human reactions and impulses to sex, violence, and self-protection.

In an interview with the reporter, Newton denied undergoing aversion therapy or behavior modification. However, Newton claimed to have witnessed the effects of shock treatment, and stress therapy during his imprisonment. He said, “They were like vegetables.” [11]  The article also noted that the Urban-Black Center of the Graduate Theological Union of Berkeley directed a prison ministry program. Julius Thomas, director, said that he had observed several formerly strong-willed criminals come out of prison “acting like pussycats.” [12] The graduate union is linked to Dr. Schein’s military intelligence protégé, Dr. Margaret Singer.

PRISON STRESS THERAPY & THE CIA

There is little information exposed about the “stress therapy” at San Luis Obispo Men’s Medical Facility, but “Stress Therapy” is a code word for the CIA in other California prison medical facilities, particularly Vacaville.

Clifford Jefferson (Death Row Jeff) was confined with Donald Defreeze (Cinque) of the Symbionese Liberation Army at Vacaville. In a sworn declaration to Patty Hearst’s first lawyer, Terrence Harahan, he declared, “In the early part of 1971, Defreeze stated to me that the CIA was conducting tests to try out certain drugs…Defreeze stated to me that he gone through the tests and also knew of stress tests that were given to prisoners, in which they were kept in solitary, harassed and annoyed until they would do anything asked of them to get out; then they were given these drugs and would become like robots.” [13]

Columnist Jack Anderson further revealed the CIA’s “Stress Therapy” in the California men’s medical facilities, “CIA files confirm that this spy agency did indeed conduct drug experiments on Vacaville inmates. The experiments were designed to study the effects of stress and drugs on military prisoners of war, to determine the point which they would crack. Vacaville Superintendent T. Lawrence Clanon said that the CIA did not conduct any experiments after 1968. However, Superintendent Clanon acknowledged that Defreeze had volunteered for medical research in July 1970 and it is uncertain just when the agency ended its testing there.” [14]

The CIA Station Chief at Vacaville was Dr. James A. Hamilton, another S Factor (Stanford University) psychiatrist. Dr. Hamilton’s chief consultant at the Vacaville’s stress cohort group (Black Cultural Association) experiment was Dr. Schein’s military intelligence protégé, Dr. Louis Jolyon West of UCLA, the Maestro of Mind Control. 

INHUMANE TREATMENT & California’s Expermental Medical Psychiatric Diagnostic Units (MPDU)

At the time of Huey’s incarceration at San Luis Obispo, Raymond K. Procunier was head of the California Department of Corrections. Procunier was one of Governor Ronald Reagan’s fascist department disciples that turned the California prison system into little Auschwitzes to experiment on Black and Brown inmates by every imaginable scientific experimental method with mind altering bending drugs; psychosurgery and lobotomy; and electroconvulsive treatments to modify and engineer human behavior.

On November 19, 1971, the California Department of Corrections invited a group of psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers and prison officials to meet at the University of California at Davis to discuss prison violence and a possible new psychiatric unit at Vacaville. Dr. Edward Opton, senior research psychologist at the Wright Institute, attended the sessions.

At the meeting, corrections officials were vague about what treatments they had in vision for inmates confined at the new MPDU. The corrections research director was Dr. Lawrence Bennett, who refused to discuss moral or ethical questions in regards to MPDU. The head of MPDU was Dr. Stephen Sheppard.

After the Davis meeting, the press picked up the story that corrections officials were planning to carry out experimental brain surgery on inmates at the new MPDU. When this information was exposed, the corrections officials maintained that that it was considering only electrocauterization (by inserting needles into the brain).  However, inmate support groups obtained a copy of a letter, dated September 8, 1971, from Procunier, to the California Council on Criminal Justice, which would arrange the financing of the project. Procunier’s letter spoke of brain surgery for “aggressive”, destructive” inmates. The proposal was submitted on November 11, 1971, a week before the Davis meeting. Procunier proposal referred to “serious management problem inmates” as one of its main reasons for setting up the MPDU at Vacaville:

“The control and management of these segregated inmates have become a serious problem, as shown by the recent episodes of violence and disturbance in different prisons where Adjustment Centers had been inadequate and the problem remains unsolved. New ways and perceptions are now urgently needed to provide a better approach for handling of these cases.” [15]

Under Reagan and Procunier, the electric shock and aversion therapies that Huey witnessed at San Luis Obispo was common in California prisons. Electrical shock therapy was administered at Vacaville approximately 500 times in 1971; Prolixin was injected 1, 093 times in 1970. Drugs like Prolixin are described by users as “sheer torture” and “becoming a zombie”.

Shock treatment, a form of aversion therapy, is also torture. Bear in mind that one electrical shock therapy session may include up to 40 electrical shock charges per therapy session. Reports out of the California State Hospital for the Criminally Insane at Atascadero repeatedly mentioned that genital electroshock was used on sexual offenders as aversion therapy.  It was reported that inmates were shown movies of explicit sexual content. If they began to display sexual arousal, their genitals were shocked. The program was entitled, “Errorless Extinction of Penile Responses.”[16] 

The late Attorney Faye Stender, and the late prison activist Popeye Jackson and others viewed the MPDU as a laboratory of behavior “torture”, which in practice was designed to be performed primarily upon militant Black and Chicano organizers in prison populations.

Dr. George Bach-y-Rita, an electrocauterization specialist, was one of the research psychiatrist heavily involved in developing the MPDU. Dr. Bach-y-Rita said that the MPDU treatment would involve little more than intensive diagnosis through electroencephalogram and traditional doctor-patient and group therapy discussions; also perhaps training in Alpha-wave meditation.[17]

Dr. Bach-y-Rita was a Harvard trained psychiatrist who was a member of the American Psychiatric Task force on Violence. Dr. Bach-Rita was a Spaniard educated in Mexico. Dr. Bach-y-Rita had been slyly slipped into the department of corrections through the backdoor along with Dr. Frank Ervin to secretly advance CIA-MK ULTRA involved electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research.  

Dr. Bach-y-Rita and Ervin were part of the medical team of Dr. Vernon Mark, Dr. William Sweet of Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston General Hospital; and the notorious mind controller Spaniard, Dr. Jose Manuel Rodriguez Delgado. These doctors invasively implanted electrodes in the brain (ESB) to experimentally control and engineer behavior for the CIA and the military-industrial complex.  

In 1967, psychiatrist Frank Ervin and neurosurgeon Vernon Mark proposed to prevent (Black) urban riots by brain implants. The movie, The Terminal Man, was based on one of Dr. Mark’s psychosurgery victims. Their theory was that Blacks engaging in civil disobedience were suffering from damaged brain cells.

These doctors were also to be involved in Dr. Louis Jolyon West’s UCLA Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence funded by the Federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Bureau of Prisons, and the CIA that was to target children and inmates of color for secret eugenic based hideous and inhuman mind control and behavior modification medical experiments.

Dr. Bach-y-Rita sent a letter to his correction department superiors that exposed the shocking truth that the California Departments of Corrections under Reagan and Procunier were not only involved in psychosurgery, electroshock, Prolixin and Anectine therapy experimental research, but they were involved in torturing inmates with sex hormone injections, brain cauterization, sound-wave control techniques, and lithium carbonate. [18]

Dr. Joseph Tupin was alleged to have used lithium carbonate treatments on Vacaville inmates for years. Dr. Arthur Nugent administered Anectine (terror drug: a sensation “worse than dying”) to prisoners at Vacaville. The MPDU funding proposal read: “There has been, for example, a study in the California Medical Facility to determine the usefulness of lithium carbonate in treating hyperaggressive, acting-out patient. Further follow-up in this area would make a significant contribution.” [19]

They, the group of fascist men, like Reagan, Procunier, Doctors Schein, West, Bach-y-Rita, Delgado, Ervin, Mark, Turbin, Bennett, Sheppard and others had relatively complete control over Huey’s prison’s environment. They could have by electrical shock, aversion, sleep deprivation, etc., so radically in a short term, transform Huey P. Newton, the modest warrior, into flamboyant drug abuse, drug dealing, pimping, murder and pandering. They had the technology, means, opportunity, and COINTELPRO motive.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE OF HUEY P. NEWTON: A Crime Against Humanity   

DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Article 5:

No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treating or punishment.

In 1948, The United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights was created following World War II. The horrific atrocities committed by Germany through the Nazi’s racial mass murder campaigns caused the world to cry out and demand for justice. The Nazis discredited and made a mockery of notions of absolute state sovereignty which the Hitler state asserted and used to commit mass genocide as a matter of sovereign state right. The Nazis and their allies’ massive inhuman transgressions and crimes against humanity changed the worldview on human rights.  

The Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture goes the farthest of any human rights instrument in directly prohibiting the use of techniques aimed at the disintegration of the personality or reduction of physical or mental capacities, which would include psychotropic drugs and brain-damaging procedures like electroshock and psychosurgery. [20]

Pursuant to Operation Paperclip, 10,000 or more Nazis and SS (Knights of the Black Sun) fiends were brought to the United States to continue their campaign of racial mass murder and genocide, and pass on their hideous and baseless pseudo- racial medical theories and practices. The neophytes, apprentices, and apostles of the BEAST were Dr. Edgar Schein, Dr. Louis J. West, Dr. Jose Delgado, Dr. Bach-y-Rita, Dr. Frank Ervin and Dr. Vernon Mark. All of these doctors had direct and secret access to the American prison-inmate population at their disposal for crimes against humanity hideous pseudo-racial medical experiments.  

Even if Huey being the subject of psychological terror and a secret behavior modification/mind control program is discounted, then one must concede that while at San Luis Obispo, he had witnessed the effects of shock treatment and stress therapy during his imprisonment that turned inmates into “vegetables.” Who were the staff psychiatrists at the prison? Who was doing the shock treatment and CIA stress therapies? Who were torturing the men into vegetative states and for what reason and means?  What happened to these inmates? The behavior modification and mind control operations at San Luis Obispo’s Men Medial Facility has not been disclosed or been open to public scrutiny.

The California Department of Corrections’ torture, cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment of Huey P. Newton and inmates of color has to be exposed, disclosed and confronted. As with other human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by a sovereign state, justice dictates prosecuting those responsible for the psychological rape and torture of inmates through the reinterpretation of existing laws and the establishment of peoples’ tribunals, and “truth commissions.”

Oakland has an ugly history and dark secret regarding the persecution of the BPPSD; and the setup, prosecution, transformation and assassination of Huey P. Newton. It has an ugly history and dark secret regarding the clandestine activities of the CIA and the military-intelligence complexes in assassinating and neutralizing prominent and independent men and women of color like Charles Alex Gregory, Dr. Marcus Foster, and Dorothy King that also has be to driven to the “Light of Day.”     

By the way, with Huey P. Newton and Laverne Williams as an inspiration to a Manchild Lost in the Promised Land, I graduated from Merritt Jr. College and two other colleges to earn a doctorate.

[2] People v. Newton (May 1970) 8 CA3d 359; 87 Cal Rptr 394, 367

[3] Schein, Man Against Man: Brainwashing, 8 Corrective Psychiatry & J. Social Therapy 90 (1962).

[4] http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Archives+and+Manuscripts/fa_bennett.htm

[5] http://www.xs4all.nl/~sm4csi/nwo/MindControl/Search.for.the.Manchurian.Candidate.htm#_ftnref23

[6] http://www.freedomofmind.com/stevehassan/refuting/

[7] http://www.1union1.com/shucontrolunits.html

[8] Supra at Footnote 2

[9] Rogers, Cornish, ‘Clockwork Orange’ in California: Fact or Fancy?, The Christian Century, August 1, 1973

[10] Supra

[11] Supra.

[12] Supra.

[13] Jack Anderson, Strange CIA Tale, Oakland Tribune, October 1978

[14] Supra, footnote 9.

[15] Weiner, Bernard, The Clockwork Cure, The Nation, April 3, 1972, page 433

[16] Supra, page 434-435

[17] Supra, page 435

[18] Id.

[19] Id.

[20] See Organization of American States, Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, Sept. 12, 1985, O.A.S.T.S. No. 67, 25 I.L.M. 519.

Torture shall also be understood to be the use of methods upon a person intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to diminish his physical or mental capacities, even if they do not cause physical pain or mental anguish.

The concept of torture shall not include physical or mental pain or suffering that is inherent in or solely the consequence of lawful measures, provided that they do not include the performance of the acts or use of the methods referred to in this article.

This post is not intended to join the long and ever growing list of critics of Tyler Perry.  However, it is time to weigh in on the issue of the character he has made a part of the sub-culture. While, I have never seen a Madea movie, I continue to support and thoroughly enjoy his movies like Why Did I Get Married and The Family That Preys.  I could never get past long held beliefs that there was no need for us as a people to continue along the path that others have carved for us.

Nearly 40 years ago, the great Flip Wilson, gave the world Geraldine, a character for which he dressed up as a loud mouth, tell it like it is, black woman. Since that time, we have seen Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx all play the role of women.  Now enters Madea. 

It is important to point out that while much of the criticism of Tyler Perry appears to be motivated by jealousy and even some envy. There must be room in our community for lawful and constructive debate surrounding topics that affect the entire community, without the vitriol and self-loathing that seems to permeate much of our discussions.

Image via cocoalounge.blogspot.com

The question we ask is what of the power of images, especially in a community already lacking in good male role models? Charles Barkley once famously remarked, “I am not a role model,” all the while modeling his Nike shoes.  The lack of strong black males has our community in crisis!  We appear on Maury Povich denying our parental responsibilities and look to be more interested in the latest styles, rather than that, which will last. The nightly news depicts us as gun toting, self-shooting, dog killing, ear biting, white women killing, and now mass murdering.

Young black men continue to wonder about absent fathers and try to help with overworked mothers.  Anger has replaced hope; faith that was never nurtured is all but gone. In addition, for recreation, we go to the movies and see our talented tenth, not using the awesome power at their disposal to lift, but to keep us laughing at our men not being men.  Playing the role that is the only one that has been kept up in our lives, the strong black woman.

Some have said that it’s only a movie.  Recently I had a discussion with another brother about this very topic.  He was of the mind that it’s harmless fun.  My question to him is, as a father of a young black male, what if you came home and your son was dressed in his mother’s clothes, just for fun, that is? Of course, he would not like that.

The fact that Tyler Perry, at this stage in his career, is now able to finance his own projects puts more of a challenge on him to bring out not the old stereotypical images of us as a people, but he must lift his end of this burden by charting a new course, as we are headed for higher ground.

Even though they may not be able to state it themselves, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and yes President Obama are all black men, whose stories are only indicative of the many stories, which exist about successful, young and old black men.  Rapper Jadakiss asked the question,

“Why did Denzel have to be crooked before he took it?”  

Why do we have to be the cross dressing loud mouth? Why in 2009, when our best and brightest have the opportunities we have so longed for, do we seem to be part of the conspiracy to continue in the destruction of young black males? The dictionary defines the word image as-mental representation, idea or concept.  Is Geraldine, Madea, Sheneneh, or Wanda the image we, as black people, want as our representation across the globe?  Is that the idea?

And what about the church going fan base that makes up the large percentage of Madea supporters? What are their ideas, and concepts of black men, and how does this fit into the larger issue of men not being in church?  Tyler Perry said he continues the Madea series for them. Well it’s time he demand more of them and they of themselves. Madea got him this fan base, and if they are true fans, not of Madea, but her creator, then they will appreciate the growth. As a solution to these problems, we would recommend that Spike Lee, John Singleton, Tyler Perry and other black filmmakers, sit to discuss projects that will uplift, not just us as a people, but the human family.  Let’s stop talking at each other and talk to one another.

To those who would say, it’s their job, my simple reply is from the old black church and the warnings of our grandparents, “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul.”

Brother Richard

Boyz N The Hood was the debut film by writer/director John Singleton.  The semi-autobiographical tale revolves around three young black men, Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy, and their daily lives growing up in South Central Los Angeles.

On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance:  While the phrase ‘black film’ can take on many different meanings (as this countdown hopefully illustrates), Boyz N The Hood is the type of film that is universally agreed to represent the ultimate prototype.  Black director, black writer, black cast, black soundtrack, black setting, black story.  Spike had already proven there was a modern audience for black film; in mimicking the rise of West Coast hip hop, John opened America’s eyes to a very real ’street’ sensibility that was getting louder and prouder.

Legacy:     So many careers and trends can be traced to this film.  John Singleton obviously, but also Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, and Cuba Gooding Jr. started their rise with this film.  The good and bad ‘hood’ films (Menace II Society, and countless others) wouldn’t have gotten made without Boyz.  While Spike was the clear pioneer, John’s success told both Hollywood and future filmmakers that there was room for more than one black storyteller at a time.  That might be the greatest legacy.

Craft:  Rewatching it years later, there are points where the film is undeniably ‘preachy’.  (And the Wayans absolutely slaughtered this point to death in their parody, Don’t Be a Menace).  That aside, the film’s structure is fairly classical.  Three brothers, one undeniably good (Tre), one undeniably bad (Doughboy), and one good who has some ties to the bad (Ricky).  The presence of the father figure (Furious) is somewhat on the nose, but no one can take away from the great performance of Laurence Fishburne.

Crossover:  Without a doubt.  Boyz N The Hood was on its own regard a crossover phenomenon.  John Singleton became the first African-American, and the youngest person of any color to be nominated for Best Director.  As referenced in the Legacy section, Ice Cube has gone from Doughboy to the star of Are We There Yet?  Anyone who saw that coming is a bold faced liar.

Apollo:  Ricky’s slow motion demise is still incredibly powerful.  If I may, I’d like to use this space for something more personal.  I was still a kid when this film came out.  Spike’s films had already planted the seed in my head, and I heard about all this new black kid out of USC doing it, so of course I wanted to see the film.  Now I might be slightly off with this number, but the number of times I personally remember my father going out to the movie theater has to be around…5?  He has movies he likes now, but they’re not his thing, they’re my thing.  So there we were one Saturday afternoon (in Oak Park Mall for you Kansas City people) watching Boyz.  My Pops taking me to something I was interested in wasn’t a big deal to me; it’s what I’ve always known.  So when Furious made his speech to Tre about listening to him (and watching what happens to Ricky and Doughboy who didn’t have that male influence), it was just part of the movie to me. 

Anyway, now that I’m on the other side of the table, I have so much appreciation for what I had.  Obviously having a man in the house doesn’t mean automatically mean a boy grows up into a good brotha, not having a man doesn’t mean a boy won’t turn out well.  But it’s a conversation I’ve had over and over again with some of my closest friends: having a good man involved in the life of a boy can go a long, long way in creating a good man.  (I’m deliberately avoiding the father-daughter influence; go listen to some old John Mayer for that.)  As a wrap I’ll say for its various flaws, Boyz N The Hood is one of the better, three-dimensional black films ever made.

The countdown will continue with another landmark film.  Until next time…

HUSTLE AND FLOW PT2

Actor Terrance Howard has reportedly signed on to appear in a sequel to “Hustle & Flow,” a hit movie about a Memphis pimp/rapper going through a mid-life crisis. The movie was written and directed by Craig Brewer and produced by John Singleton. Since its premiere in July, the acclaimed film raked in over $22 million at the box office. According to published reports, the cast will remain the same with actors like Anthony Anderson, Paula Jai Parker, Taryn Manning, singer Isaac Hayes and Ludacris as rival rapper Shinny Black.

Nunca había visto este video completo. Hasta el día en que murió Michael Jackson. Hoy, a tres meses de eso, lo recuerdo: Iman y Eddie Murphy. En un Egipto alternativo.

¿Quién —¿y en qué estado?— habrá hecho el pitch de este video? Mis comentarios abajo, a ver qué te parece.

Posible pitch: “OK, entonces un mago avienta un polvo mágico que hace figuras sobre el mármol (antes de concentrarse en un círculo perfecto), y por ahí se crea una especia de hoyo negro (quizá un aleph) donde el mago desaparece dejando atrás la bata como cuando muere Obi Wan… and then it gets crazy.”

Entonces, ¿Michael ya conocía a la princesa egipcia? O sea, ¿la amaba desde niño y se retiró a estudiar magia y baile para venir a salvarla?

John Singleton o alguien en su equipo investigó el periodo que se iba a utilizar o fue más de: “y quiero a Magic Johnson de guarura”.

Remember the Time está bueno. Me gusta la canción. Me molesta un poco que el video no se resuelve. Se hace polvo y se va. Sin explicaciones.

I am FULL! Had so much bbq today. Breakfast lunch and now an early dinner. I go to finish a lot of reading last night. They showed this movie on MTV called “HIGHER LEARNING” directed by John Singleton. I enjoyed it a lot. I”m actually thinking of buying the DVD. Ohh i still haven’t wrote my story yet. I do have it in my head though. I am actually visualizing it right now. I was writing it in my head when I was with my sister and we were taking video clips of Guam. Went half way around. We would have took more footage but the SD card was nearly full. My dad still hasn’t uploaded the pictures and videos to the main computer.  I just remembered that I left my bowl on the table..oh snaps..the rice is probably hard by now. Ok well I’m going to start working on my story and then I’m going to post it. GOOD NIGHT!

Species Name: Transexualus Crappymoviemakerus

Does anyone else notice that every time this guy farts a movie out, it immediately is a box office smash? Please, I’m begging you, black people, stop going to see this man’s movies. Tyler Perry is a baffoon. His movies are bad, unoriginal, and purport stereotypes of the black community. Not to mention that Martin Lawrence should sue his ass for stealing his Big Momma’s House character. Seriously speaking, what do people find so funny about a black man dressing up as an old black woman? Sure, I laughed when Eddie Murphy did it in The Nutty Professor, but that doesn’t mean I’d want to see it again in another movie. This fucking guy has made a franchise out of dressing up like a sassy, black woman. Maybe, since I’m not black, I can’t fully grasp what the black community finds so utterly fascinating about Tyler Perry, but you don’t see every white person rushing out to the nearest cineplex to support every goofy white guy movie. When we see a trailer for Good Luck Chuck, we know its gonna be a piece of shit. We avoided The Love Guru like the plague. And I’d rather have ninja stars thrown into my eyeballs then endure the waste of celluloid that is What Happens in Vegas.

I simply don’t understand the allure of Tyler Perry…but you know what? I’m sick and fucking tired of seeing his name on every movie, like he’s god’s gift to film making. Tyler Perry Presents, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, yeah we realize you suck, I’m glad you’re finally starting to as well. Nevertheless, the amount of directors/producers putting their names before the titles of their films has gotten out of hand. If you’re Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorcese, you’ve earned that right. However, if you’re Tyler Perry, you have not. Lets imagine a world free of this:

In a world where Tyler Perry would’ve had a couple of “caps busted in his ass” by his own Madea character:

• Big Momma’s House 7 would become the highest grossing movie of all time.
• The black community will turn to good filmmakers like Spike Lee and John Singleton to hand over their hard earned dollars to.
• Mike Myers will reinvent his career by playing a sassy, old white woman named Marge. His movies will take the world by storm. Sad but true.
• Lionsgate Entertainment will still have plenty of other crappy franchises to make their millions off of, like Saw and Crank.
• Wouldn’t have to listen to comments like these where Tyler Perry wishes he didn’t have to play Madea anymore, the single thing that has made him richer than God!

• Bigoted rednecks would have one less thing to complain about.
• With all the Tyler Perry movies gone, it would open up 15-20 movie slots a year for ORIGINAL ideas. What an insane concept!

Here’s the real problem with Tyler Perry…people may think he’s got some important message to relay regarding the black community, but instead he is exploiting the them and laughing all the way to the bank at their expense. Some people may think, I’m generalizing when I say that blacks are the only ones who go to see Tyler Perry movies, but let’s be real, a white person at a Tyler Perry movie sticks out more than a black person at a Nickelback concert. Tyler Perry deserves to be thinned from the herd, but alas, he will continue making “groundbreaking,” “innovative,” and “hilarious” movies for the rest of eternity.

But one has to have dreams right?

Coincidence?