Race, Religion, and the Presidential Campaign

Obama is in the hot seat. The subject is race and religion. His former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity Baptist Church in Chicago apparently said some harsh things about our beloved country [the words were spoken years ago and the context is slippery]. This reminds me of a another black preacher who expressed his patriotism by challenging America's presumed moral dominance in the world. As a nation, we are in powerful position which calls for moral leadership--a more passionate, inclusive global leadership.

I've posted excerpts from Dr. King's Vietnam speech on this site before. Below are specific quotes that sound similar to Rev. Wright's comments about "God damning" America.

Should we now go back and renounce Dr. King?

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KING ON VIETNAM

"Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as His divine messianic force to be -- a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America: 'You are too arrogant! If you don't change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power"

"I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government.... There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward Jim Clark," but will curse and damn you when you say, "Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children!" There is something wrong with that press...."

"I'm convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values....When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered...." -

ESPN's Black Magic: More Than A Game

For two straight nights I watched Black Magic. Ben Jobe, Earl Monroe, John McClendon, Spencer Haywood, Clarence "Big House" Gaines, Bob Love, Cleo Hill, John Chaney, Earl Lloyd, Pee Wee Kirkland, Willis Reed, and Al Attles. If you know basketball, you'll recognize some of these names. The others may not be in your information bank.

The one thing they have in common is the Historically Black College and University(HBCU). The second is that they struggled to get recognition beyond the color line that made black athletes and black coaches invisible. ESPN's Black Magic, which aired commercial-free on March 17-18, tried to set the record straight. Produced by filmaker Dan Klores, Black Magic explores the depths of racism and its impact on several generations of black basketball artisans. As I watched, I could not help but to think of today's dirty rich ballers who often have no sense of this history. Had the Lebrons, Jordans, Shaqs, Carmelo Anthonys, Iversons, etc. emerged a mere 40 years earlier, they would have toiled in obscurity. White colleges offered no scholarships to black athletes during that period. That's where the black college stepped in.

I knew that Earl "The Pearl" Monroe went to Winston Salem in North Carolina. As a kid watching him play for the Bullets and Knicks, I heard announcers say it all the time. I would later learn some of the history of how black colleges were the only option for early NBA greats. Monroe was coached by "Big House" Gaines, a huge man who coached at Winston Salem for forty-plus years and earned 828 victories. On the playgrounds of Philadelphia, the Monroe "Black Magic" and "Black Jesus" because of his miracle like handling of the ball.

Bob Love had one of the sweetest jump shots in the NBA. He played at Southern University in Louisiana. After retiring in the late 1970s following a leg injury, his life-long struggle as a stutterer became very public. He was penniless and could not find work. Through perseverance and faith, he became a public speaker and now gives motivational speeches across the country. He tells his own story in Black Magic (as do others)in eye-wiping narratives. The pain of his personal struggles jumps off the screen. You can feel the impact of racism in his voice. He was judged by both his speech impediment and his color.

The beauty of Black Magic is how Klores and co-producer Earl Monroe weaves the Civil Rights Movement into the individual stories--a history that is tragic but liberating. Earl Lloyld, one of the featured former athletes, reflects and wonders how could one group suffer so much discrimination and pay such a price. Current black NBA stars should ask the same question. They owe a large debt to these warriors.

Raisin in the Sun: The Original Stands

A new television version of Raisin in the Sun aired a few weeks ago, starring Phyllica Rashad, Puffy Combs and Sanaa Lathan. I passed on watching it. But a few months ago I bought the DVD of the original. I watch it periodically and couldn't imagine anyone playing those roles better.

I've often wondered why Raisin in the Sun is on my A-list. First of all, Sidney Poitier is a great actor. You also can't miss Claudia McNeil, a young Ruby Dee and even Lou Gossett. Made for film by Columbia in 1961 after first appearing on Broadway(1959), Raisin in the Sun is the ultimate struggle movie that invokes family, black identity, and a yearning for the American dream. Watching the movie many years ago, I only saw the charismatic Poitier, his savvy portrayal of an ambitious son who is frustrated and bursting with anger at the system that chokes his dreams. He cheuffers wealthy businesmen while watching them make big deals. He wants to do the same. "Sometimes, when I'm downtown driving that man around," he tells his mother. "We pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants. I look in. I see these white boys. They're sitting, talking about deals worth millions of dollars and they look no older than me." Such passion drives Poitier's character, Walter Lee, to pursue his dreams by unwisely investing a portion his father's $10,000 insurance payment into a dubious liquor store scheme hatched by untrustworthy associates.

Lorraine Hansberry's classic has lasted through time. Among other things, Raisin in the Sun is a treatise on the black struggle. She situates Walter Lee in the middle of a story about black dreams and is careful to dot the landscape with other themes of that time. Beneatha, the younger sister, carries the feminist and black nationalist banner. She is defiant and intent on becoming a doctor against the sexist pollution of that time Mother is the strength and link to her husband's legacy and generations of black families who struggled through Jim Crow and northern racism. When she questions Walter about his misguided dream, he tries to explain that life has always been about money and black people just didn't know it. "Something's changed. You're something new, boy," she explains. "In my time, we was worried about not being lynched and getting North and staying alive and still have dignity too. Now you and Beneatha talk about things we ain't never thought about. You ain't satisfied or proud of nothing we done. I mean, that you had a home and that we kept you out of trouble and that you don't have to ride on the back of nobody's streetcar. You're my children, but how different we've become."
One might say she is old-fashioned, yet she seeks a foundation on something stronger--more lasting than money.

In another classic scene, Walter Lee's ability to lead the family is challenged. A realtor comes to offer them a buy-out to not move into the white neighborhood against the association's objection. Walter has been tempted to take the deal, ever the capitalist that he yearns to be. She looks him in the eye and tells him to be the man that his father was and teach his son Travis the way he was taught. Pulling Travis close to him, Walter Lee tells the nervous realtor how he comes from five generations of strong, plain people. He motions to his sister and says that she is going to be a doctor. "This is my son, my son" he continues. "And he makes the sixth generation of my family in this country." And we have all thought about your offer and we've decided to move into our house because my father, he earned it..... brick by brick."

Hansberry does a lot with her script. She allows Walter Lee to be masculine in his quest for the American dream. She champions feminist ideals into the character, Beneatha. She opens a door for black nationalist thinking through images of Africa while allowing the mother to hold onto traditional values. It's one of the best movies I've seen. In time, maybe I'll watch the newer TV version. For now I'll keep watching the original on DVD.