The Archetype

As racial lines blur and a new generation rises, the stereotypes of African Americans remain so deep that they are both overt and covert within American culture. But when is this archetype of ignorance satire or art, versus when it's just old fashioned stereotyping.

The What About Our Daughters blog highlighted an image that popped up on Daily Kos a few weeks back by a regular contributor called ONECITIZEN. It was the classic "What on earth were they thinking" moment.

A drawing of Michelle Obama in a red dress being branded with the words "Uppity Liberal" by Ku Klux Klansmen. A burning cross is in the background and it is labeled as a part of "Our New Hi-Tech Strategy to Burn the Middle Class."

I get the point they were trying to make, Michelle Obama is being criticized by the GOP for numerous things, but really what was going to your mind when you imagined Michelle Obama being tortured by the Klan? SECURITY CALLING SECURITY! To be clear, REPUBLICANS did not create this,a liberal "progressive" blogger created this foolishness.

The picture, her face superimposed on what appears to be a pulp fiction novel book cover, exposes Michelle's back while her wrists are strung up a tree. It's meant to be an indictment of the Republicans, but quickly became and indictment of the alleged Obama supporter who created the image. (He quickly took down before criticism came to a boiling point.)

When I saw this I wondered why anyone would think this was appropriate satire. Up until the 1970s, the Klan was the tour de force in the south. Judges, lawmen, politicians and business owners were in the Klan. Not these fat bellied nobodies who pop up on Jerry Springer, drunkenly sloshing their way through "mud people" insults. These were men of power and stature running around in the middle of the night, burning crosses, burning houses, and murdering black men, women and children. It's simply not, if ever, funny.

On top of that there was Michelle, being victimized and abused in the same manner black women throughout history and continue to be abused as deviant sexual objects deserving of whatever horrible fate that falls upon us. The red dress symbolizing the loose morality white men labeled black and mulatto slaves with, forcing them into prostitution or forcing themselves upon them without conscious. We were sex starved, insatiable beasts who needed white men to rape us.

I wondered if anyone would have created an image of Jewish politician's spouse being tortured by the Nazis. Even if it was satire. Even it if was supposed to be anti-bigotry. Couldn't they see that the image they created, this propaganda was so obtuse it could misfire and endorse the behavior it was supposed to condone?

Then I wondered how could an image, so obvious in its racist roots blow right past the conscious of the individual who created it, clinging to their so-called Liberalism like a blanket when people pointed out the image's its racist implications.

People claim that things have changed, that we have advanced, but the same stereotypes, black woman as whore, black man as beast, soldier on. Whites our age have grown up in a more integrated society where they listen to hip hop and R&B and love the Chappelle Show, but without context many don't know what any of it means. Then they create art that is a dead ringer for our racist past, but feign ignorance when confronted with the evidence. They were just being provocative, edgy or funny. They don't know the past, this archetype of ignorance is so strong it is subvert, imprinted on the subconscious of our primal brains, routinely taking us back to our roots.

From the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia:

The English colonists accepted the Elizabethan image of "the lusty Moor," and used this and similar stereotypes to justify enslaving Blacks. In part, this was accomplished by arguing that Blacks were subhumans: intellectually inferior, culturally stunted, morally underdeveloped, and animal-like sexually. Whites used racist and sexist ideologies to argue that they alone were civilized and rational, whereas Blacks, and other people of color, were barbaric and deserved to be subjugated.

The follow are some examples, including the Michelle Obama branding, that straddle the area being art and archetype of black bucks and whores. I'm going to describe some of the items to provide some context, then give my opinion below. Please share your interpretation as well of where you see art, where you see ignorance and where you see overt racism.

Exhibit A: Lynching Michelle Obama

Exhibit B: LeBron = King Kong?

Exhibit C: The Assassination of Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton Exhibit

Exhibit D: Robert Downy Jr. in "blackface" for the comedy "Tropic Thunder"

Some of these pictures are very offensive to me. Mainly the first one with Michelle Obama and some of the imagery from the Assassination exhibit. If you want to see the full exhibit for both click here and here. While I found the Michelle Obama image to be inexcusable, the more and more I read and saw of the Assassination exhibit it became apparent this was more about attention seeking and provocation than art.

The artist, Yazmany Arboleda, was questioned by the police and secret service in New York when he tried to put up his exhibit. He called it a criticism of the media and its coverage of the Democratic race. The one that stung the most for me was the "Nappy Headed Hoes" statement above a picture of Sasha and Malia Obama. But as I grew more and more offended I wondered if I would have viewed the artwork differently if it was done by Kara Walker or some other edgy black shock artist. This was artwork using long-held stereotypes about African Americans to explicitly illustrate that these media "criticisms" against Obama were further examples of the racist archetype. But does that criticism get lost in the art when you blur "character" assassination with the threat of actual, deadly assassination?

And the more I read about Arboleda the more I thought he was an enterprising provocateur, an opportunist. Not necessarily racist, but fame seeking through the utilization of these archetypes of black sexuality, racism and demagoguery.

The LeBron Vogue cover, which I've highlighted before is more about LeBron not being conscious of his image. The picture is garish and ugly, and one can question photographer Annie Lebowitz's intent, but the blame falls on those who participate in such foolishness.

As for "Tropic Thunder," that's a little more hazy. I realize some are apoplectic about Robert Downey Jr. playing an award winning actor who undergoes surgery to become "black" for a role originally written for a black man. This sounds like pure satire to me, but I'd have to see how the finished product is executed. No one has really touched blackface for comedic fodder since 1986's "Soul Man," where C. Thomas Howell, which Downey himself noted when explaining why he took the role.

From Michael Vass' Black Entertainment USA blog:

Can this be funny? Maybe. Some audiences so far have seen portions of the film and it is testing well, they say. Given the commitment of Downey, I can see the satire in it. But I don’t trust Stiller’s ability to direct or act. I’m not confident in the writing.

Most of all, I’m not sure how I feel about it.

This could be like the absurdity of Gene Wilder in Silver Streak. Or it could be Al Jolson ... Already Robert Downey Jr. has said:

“At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character," he says. "I dove in with both feet. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell in [Soul Man], I would've stayed home."

A film depiction of a white, self-important method actor who would try to make themselves "black" is almost a coincidental response of the new film "Stuck" where Mena Suvari plays a biracial actress (or Angelina Jolie's foray as Marianne Pearl in "A Mighty Heart.") Does it cross a line? Does it go too far? Does the parody turn into an endorsement? I don't know. I'd have to see the movie. But that's the point of these examples. When do these works go bad? What is the turning point where they go from social commentary to disrespect? Where does someone redraw these lines and begin a reeducation of black stereotypes in America?

Assassination photos from The New York Times and SandraRose.com.

Kung Fu Panda Express

I'm sure it's a very cute movie, but Hollywood? What the hell?

As you all know, I am not an Asian American, but after being married to a man with an Asian fetish I became highly aware that some people did not see Asian Americans as people but as stereotypes left over from "Enter the Dragon" meets "Flower Drum Song" meets "Miss Saigon" meets Long Duk Dong from "Sixteen Candles."

Most times America must seem like a black or white world where if you're not a black person or white person no one really gives a crap about whether your thousands-of-years-old culture is being portrayed by a cartoon panda doing martial arts voiced by Jack Black. Just suck on it Chinese Americans. Why are you all so uptight? It's just a movie, they say. Don't you have Fu Manchu mustaches and stick around confusing your Rs and Ls? And I think Dragonball Z is a documentary on Japanese mythology. What? That's isn't real? Don't you all worship Goku?

When I see Kung Fu Panda I think--Is this the equivalent of Hollywood making a movie about a jive-talking Chicken from the country whose dream is to become a famous rapper, moves to the ghetto but is constantly being pursued by greasy black fry cook from Church's--World's Greasiest Chicken Chain? The chicken would be voiced by Eddie Murphy, or worse, Michael Rappaport. And Nelly would write and produce the soundtrack? And there would be all these hip hop references and the pimps and drug dealers would do a song and dance number with Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King Jr.'s ghost?

While I'm sure it's a "cute" movie, considering that Asian people are pretty much invisible in Hollywood save for the occasional Karate flick and such rarities as Harold and Kumar, it has to be annoying to see out the usual three paltry movies related to Asian culture that may come out this year one of them has to be a kid's flick about a talking panda who learns Kung Fu.

We have Madea, but that's for us, by us. We only have ourselves to blame.

The Sell-Out: An Addendum On "The Coon"

The idea to write about "sell-outs" came from my correspondence from a reader, bklynbam. He offered this rumination on the emasculation of black males in film and the fascination with "the exotic other" some whites have, specifically in the role of "the coon," always worth mocking.

On a cold day in the late 1990's, at one of the finer engineering schools in the Northeast, a group of mostly white students gathered at the movie-showing place on campus for a screening of the modern classic L.A. Confidential. For those unfamiliar with the film, it is set in the 1950's and, in a scene entitled "Interrogation," three bumbling, ignorant young Black men, accused in a multiple homicide case, are questioned by sharp, highly intelligent and shrewd, yet fiercely tough white police officers. So outclassed, outwitted, and out-toughed were the trio of Negro miscreants, that one of them actually began to soil himself visibly.

At this, a murmur of chuckling and laughter began to form over the mostly white audience at that fine institute of higher learning. The crescendo of chuckles builds to a quiet roar upon seeing the pathetic whimpering face of the piss-puddle's provider juxtaposed with the cool, cunning, intelligent white detective.

At the scene's climax, a different white detective suddenly shoves a revolver into the mouth of one the suspects.

It is at this point that the movie-watching crowd broke into a loud round of guffaws. Though the laughter had built up slowly, it was brought to a screeching halt with just six loud and passionately expressed words (i.e., "what the **** you laughin' at?!!") in the curiously strong Brooklyn accent of one of the university's outstanding bright, young, Black engineering students ...

It's not too much of a stretch to say that America's oldest and longest-surviving entertainment form is laughing at Black people. We all know about minstrel shows, and we should also know that these were Black-tie affairs. People used to put on tuxedos (TUXEDOS, man!!!!!) to watch tar-faced performers engage in what was considered to be the most ludicrous buffoonery, i.e., imitating Black people. As time when on, the minstrel show died, but many believe it lives on in today's entertainment media: television, film, Internet, you-name-it.

I've spent a long time trying to get at the root of (1) what constitutes coon'ing, (2) why it is wrong and (3) when is it cooning?

From Amos N' Andy, to the Wayans Brothers Show, to J.J. from Good Times, to Flavor of Love and O.D.B. (r.i.p.) the argument on who's a coon and what makes a coon is a heated one and it never seems to end. Some say it has to do with poor English and enunciation. Some say it's too much damn dancing! Some say it's a lazy and loud-mouthed manner of behavior. Nobody ever really defines it, and it's hard to get everybody to agree.

I learned a couple of things during that movie screening so long ago: First, that intimidating a very large room full of people is f-r-r-reakin' sweet! More importantly though, I finally understood that the "Coon" is the characteristically Black object of *condescending* White laughter (*). No more; no less. Every coon who ever coon'ed, did so by this principle (note that there are Brutal Black Bucks, Mammies, Pickaninnies, Jezebels and other classically re-occurring, degrading Black stereotypes in American entertainment, but the coon is the funny one). This, I believe, is what distinguishes genuinely original and creative Black comedy from coon'ing: i.e., it's the condescending laughter of on-looking white audiences.

You can begin to answer the questions of (1) "what it is" and (2) "why it's wrong" with this idea, but (3) "when is one coon'ing?" is the tough one because the line between great Black comedy and coon'ing can be blurred and sometimes it's the same damn thing.

(*) - Even though the three young men in that scene are not coons, the revelation was all the same.

Indecision 2008 Stumbles Along

I think it would have been more fun if the primaries hadn't been front-loaded onto Super Tuesday. Because then the battle for Hoosier Country and the Tarheel State would mean more. It wouldn't be a political war by attrition where pundits via the Clintons do their best to convince me Tuesday means something.

But wasn't this Tuesday decided on Super Tuesday? Hillary Clinton has been playing a catch up game where she can't statistically catch up. Barack Obama had to endure the umpteenth question about Rev. Wright on "Meet the Press" last Sunday. And everyone is just tired. Capital "T" that ends with "d," tired.

It would be different if we were talking about the issues, but instead we're talking about who is going to beat the spread, what poll can you trust and is Rush Limbaugh impacting the race. And why is everyone behaving like Limbaugh is legitimate all of a sudden? Last time I checked people weren't miking up DL Hughley and asking him about Nancy Pelosi. What gives? Is there some rule that if you show footage of Rush getting all red and blustery over John McCain you have to show him squealing like a pig in slop over the Democratic race? Because he's not legitimate in either case.

That said, I might use Tuesday's evening of non-importance to read a book or watch something out of my neglected DVD collection that probably thinks I must hate it as I haven't watched a DVD in almost six months. I used to watch more often when I had a larger television. Now that I have a tiny, grainy, blurry TV it's pointless. How can I enjoy the original RoboCop on that? And I own the Criterion Collection DVD of RoboCop. They don't even make that anymore. I had to order a used copy for $40 from Amazon. That's how serious I take my movies. I might even watch RoboCop tomorrow, or finally watch movies I bought last year, but never opened, like my copy of the anime suspense-thriller "Perfect Blue" and the last Bret Easton Ellis novel adapted for film, "The Rules of Attraction."

But I'm not spending another evening with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, both of whom have a bad case of Democratic Primary Night Stigmata. I'm surprised they aren't wearing black lace veils and acting out the stations of the cross.

And unless CNN adds my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of TV News, TJ Holmes, to their election night coverage I won't be watching Wolf Blitzer and Soledad O'Brien either.

I'm just going to keep watching RoboCop, the Terminator Trilogy, Brazil and all the other dystopian sci-fi films I own over and over until June. You'll let me know when they make Obama the nominee, right? Right?

And did anyone go see "Iron Man" this weekend because I did and Robert Downey Jr. was awesome.

Downey is also on The Great Wall of Sexy.

Vanity Fair: My Excuse to Show Pictures of Gorgeous Black People

Actor Lance Gross, model/actress Eva Pigford, director Tyler Perry, actress Angela Bassett at Thursday nights premiere of Tyler Perry's "Meet the Browns" (Wire Image)

In case you didn't know notice, The Snob really loves black people. Sure, I snark on them from time to time, but black people know I care. I once dragged my sister to see "White Chicks." It was summer and I was bored. I figured, hey, if was going to blow $6 on a movie, why not help the Wayans Bros. out. As I told her, crappy black movies pay for good black movies. They convince Hollywood that risking some millions on a "black" project is worth it.

"We have to see this so Angela Bassett will get a job again!" I cried.

I don't always make those sort of sacrifices. I hate almost all non-Denzel Washington vehicles on the big screen. Black comedies are often so lampoonish, borderline "coonish" that I just can't watch them. The Wayans are hard enough on the senses. So while I probably won't go see Tyler Perry's "Meet the Browns" because I have a moratorium on "Black men in a dresses" films, I don't hate Tyler Perry so much to not show pictures of really gorgeous black people attending the premiere of his film last night.

Shine, beautiful people! Shine!

Angela Bassett

It worked! My viewing of "White Chicks" didn't go in vain! Angela works! Angela lives! And damn, Angela does not age! That's ridiculous! In the last three pictures, Angela is with actor/ex-Laker Rick Fox and her husband, actor Courtney B. Vance.

Eva Pigford

I don't get the Eva the Diva love, but I don't get the hate either. She's pretty. She's harmless. If white Hollywood can have characters like Nikki Cox and Demi Moore who exist solely as gorgeous window dressing, why not Eva? That, and she's working the shit out of that dress. I do not recommend that other women try to pull this off, but she looks stunning. (The last picture is of Eva and Tyler Perry)

Click here to see larger image

Random Bits of Hotness

Jill Marie Jones
Someone please give Toni Childs a job. I miss her so.

Jennifer Lewis
I won't post the rest of your ugly-ass outfit out of respect of your face, which is sill very lovely.

Kenya Moore
Former Miss USA, I kind of lost a little respect for you after "Trois." (Seriously, I didn't get the hype about that movie, but considering Hollywood doesn't do intriguing black sexual thrillers I guess it was filling a vacuum.)

Vanessa Williams
I'm a fan through and through. If there was a black Vanity Fair, she'd live on the cover twice a year. Of course if I did have a black version of Vanity Fair, I'd have to share some of those covers with Halle Berry and Beyonce, but it would be worth it.

Click here to see larger image

Terry Crews
Wow. I didn't know Terry Crews was dating Jane Child! Is Terry's love like a knife? Does he make the knife feel good? Are you scaring her to death now, baby? (I keed. I keed. Unless that is Jane Child. That would HILARIOUS! She was like the punk Tina Marie meets Taylor Dane.)

Tasha Smith (above) Tasha and Sidra Smith (below)

Sidra is rocking that bald fade. Not many women could pull that off and still look fierce. They're both very beautiful women.

The Other Vanessa Williams, with Angela Bassett

She had the nerve to show up with Tasha Smith's spiral curls. The Other Vanessa looks pretty fab, although I'm not feeling that black and white, Hawaiian flower, black lace topped dress.

Things the Snob and Obama both have in common

Neither of us went to the State of the Black Union forum. Hell, I didn't even watch it. Does that make me a bad Negro? I've watched it before on C-SPAN. I don't know if it's because I was inundated with "blackness" as a child so I've become immune to these sort of things. How many times have we seen a bunch of elites in the African American community sit around a talk about what we should and should not do, then go home and get jack shit done.

Hillary went ... cause she had to. And there is all sorts of hell going on with Obama being a no show. (Seriously, people. Harassing Tavis's mom. Not cool.)

But Smiley's criticism has also prompted many people to come to Obama's defense. The talk show host told The Washington Post he has been inundated with angry e-mails and even death threats.

"I have family in Indianapolis. They are harassing my momma, harassing my brother. It's getting to be crazy," Smiley told the newspaper.

Despite some disappointment (because it would have been incredibly awesome if he was there), most were understanding and still willing to support him.

Several forum attendees seemed unfazed by Obama's absence Saturday.

"Personally, I don't think it's much of an issue," said Victor Reed. "I'm standing behind him 100 percent."

Clinton probably was at the event because "she needs it more than [Obama] right now," he added.

Another State of the Black Union attendee said many people at the forum wished Obama had come, but understood his reasons for declining the invitation.

"It's better for his campaign to be in Texas," said Tiffany Washington.

One thing about black folks, we are incredibly loyal if you do right by us. And in the case of R. Kelly, even wrong. I don't understand R. Kelly's support as he's a pederast. But whatever. Obama is deserving of the loyalty for his work as a civil rights attorney, his work in the predominately black south side of Chicago (where The Snob has some fam, holding it down), and he preemptively won black people over by simply exemplifying the idyllic black male: Smart, handsome, talented, successful and married to a black woman.

No one says it in public, but after he spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention Mama Snob was all jumping with glee because his wife was a black woman. Then she not-so-subtly tried to imply that "an Obama," that's the kind of man I needed to bring home to her. It was like when she saw Brian McKnight for the first time and tried to push the crooner off on me. But per "Barack and the black wife," I know my mother wasn't the only black person to squeal about this. For a lot of black people, interracial dating is still a devise issue. I know my parents don't like it, but my sisters and I are indifferent.

That said, with those qualities already in place all he had to do was vouch for programs that would best help the community (universal health care) and give people a chance to be part of history.

So yeah, Tavis. Black folks are giving him a pass on this one. They understand his stealth plan to not get too close to us, lest our "scary" blackness creeps out the white folks. I'm already getting emails about how Obama has Farrakhan on speed dial, which is strange. First, Obama is not a member of the Nation of Islam. Second, does the Final Call even endorse candidates?

I might try to watch some of "The Stat of the Black Union" tonight, but its competing against the Oscars and 60 Minutes for my attention. I don't miss my "60 Minutes." The Oscars I can take or leave. I don't I saw any of the nominated films this year (which is rare), but I might try to catch a seat to see either "There Will Be Blood" or "Sweeny Todd" today. I really like Paul Thomas Anderson. He's one of my favorite actors and Daniel Day-Lewis is the bomb. I did see "No Counter for Old Men." It was beautifully shot but lacked the undercurrent of wit and lyricism of their previous film. It was just meh to me. It was no "The Man Who Wasn't There." That thing was great.

When Ego Attacks: Wesley Snipes Edition

Actor Wesley Snipes talks to the media as he walks into the Golden-Collum Memorial Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2007. Closing arguments in Snipes' tax-fraud case were to begin this morning, with the case expected to go to a jury this afternoon. (AP) Hmm, which Civil Right's Era guy does he look like here?

Remember the 1990s when Wesley Snipes was gainfully employed? Riding high even off acclaim in films like Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" and "Mo' Betta Blues?" Remember the line, "Always bet on black," that he uttered in the cool-at-the-time action flick "Passenger 57?"

Remember when he was relevant? Credited with making dark skinned brothers hip and sexy in Hollywood? Gosh, that seems so long ago. I forgot what a big action star he was ("US Marshals," "Demolition Man," "The Art of War") and how great he was in "White Men Can't Jump." Remember him Scarfacing it up in "New Jack City" and how NOT believable it was when Ice-T managed to beat up Nino Brown? Wesley was big! Then Wesley pissed off half his fan base, black women, in an Ebony Magazine article. Then Wesley's star power wained. Then Wesley got a great boost starring in the "Blade" trilogy (and he was pretty awesome in the first two films). Then Wesley went bat-shit insane.

Now he's getting prosecuted for scamming the IRS because he fell into some bogus scheme where he didn't give the government their cut for his 90s paydays. IRS prosecutors claim that Snipes and his cohorts fell into the whole "tax avoidance" movement which has thrived on the internet and leading to some other high profile cases, like a couple who barricaded themselves inside their home to avoid arrest by federal agents last year.

Wesley, obviously, did not learn from previous stars like Sammy "Jo-Jo Dancer Your Life Is Calling" Davis Jr., comedian Redd Foxx, Godfather of Soul James Brown, country icon Willie Nelson and Ron "Mr. Biggs" Isley, the IRS might not get you today, it might not get you tomorrow, but Uncle Sam is going to get his eventually.

But why should that stop Snipes' lawyers from arguing that this is not a fraud case, but merely a "disagreement" with the IRS over the $12 million he conned out of the government.

From the Associated Press:

Defense attorney Robert Barnes conceded Snipes' arguments may have been crazy, but insisted that didn't make them criminal.

"Disagreement with the IRS is not fraud of the IRS, is not deception," Barnes said. "It was an attempt to engage the IRS, to go through the IRS procedures and processes and see who's right."

Of course, the IRS is salivating at the prospect of prosecuting him, but not because of the money. They want to send a message to other people who use the whole "you don't have to pay taxes" mumbo jumbo to circumvent the government.

"People who do it openly and notoriously, you've got to go after them," said Sheldon Cohen, who was IRS commissioner and general counsel in the 1960s. "Not because he's that important or the amount of money is that important, but because there are others who may be foolish enough to follow."

I'm actually kind of sad because Wesley was always, for me, the more action oriented contemporary to Denzel Washington. (Heck, I'd gather he made more bank in the 90s than Denzel.) They were both equally good actors, with Wesley pulling off a style that was half-method acting, half-classically trained. The brother could do Shakespeare! I didn't necessarily find him all that attractive, but he had sex appeal, and with the 90 billion black and brown people crammed into the Matrix sequels it amazes me that no one could make room for martial arts star/action dynamo Wesley Snipes? No room in any of the X-Men films? I understood him being a little uppity over Hollywood, (See Isaiah Washington, who is essentially, Wesley Snipes-lite), but he should have known better than getting involved in that tax scheme.

Those angry black women from the 90s are going to seem like a dream compared to the 16 years he may be facing in prison.

Happy (actual) Birthday, Dr. King!

Don't you just love the father of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s? How could you not?

Unless you're a bigot, then I guess you could.

All the man did was put his life on the line and die for the black, the brown, the poor, the uneducated and everyone who wanted to be free. So, I love the man. Love the message. Glad he stepped up to the task when the bell tolled for him. I can't say if I would have had the guts to take on a job that I knew would eventually get me slaughtered, if I knew I wouldn't see my children grow up.

And don't you love how at King Day programs in Black communities they always say his whole name? The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior? They always say it with such pride. Just gets me all hoarse in the throat a little.

The Black Snob put a moratorium on watching movies about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and various crises in Africa a few years ago because she literally could not take the emotional toll of watching black people struggle to be free with a foot on their necks. It's not that they aren't good movies -- they're often AMAZING, Award-winning foot-on-neck-movies (with the exceptions of "Queen" and "Mandingo" -- the only "camp" slavery film that still manages to be horribly depressing). But I just end up crying the whole time. Like with the 1978 "King" miniseries that incorporates actual footage from protesters being hosed and dogs being sicked on them. Last year on King holiday I was flipping through the free TV channels (as I had no cable back in Bakersfield, CA) and that miniseries was on and I knew I should turn the channel, but just like when I first saw the movie in the 1980s I could not turn away. So I just sat there an sobbed for two hours until King was dead in a hospital room.

Then there's "Glory" which I saw so many times in my youth I practically have PTSD over it. Want to see me curl up in a fetal position crying? I've usually already been sobbing since Denzel gets whipped after, you know, it's obvious he got beat enough as a slave. And I've cried through Morgan Freeman trying to talk some sense into Denzel's hard head. But I die, DIE every time the end rolls up (SPOILER ALERT!) , the men start marching across the beach to their doom and Matthew Broderick gets off the damn horse to march with them. And I'm pretty much inconsolable when Denzel picks up the flag from dead Matthew Broderick's hand and leads the men to charge over fort.

Why? Why did every history teacher, plus my parents, plus various cable networks show this film to me over and over? It's so good and so freakin' sad and wonderful all at the same time.

Hence the moratorium. Folks take moratoriums on Holocaust films. I'm still on my moratorium on black folks fighting for freedom films. I only lifted that moratorium briefly to see Dijmon Honsou and Leo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond." Also a good movie, but also a horrible movie. Nothing like people hacking people with machetes and child soldiers being doped up to massacre townsfolk.

My parents inundated me and my sister with black history from an early age. And we got the good, the bad and the "Rosewood." She wanted us to know our history, be proud and not be sad. We watched every documentary, every film on black life she could find. We read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" when we were 13. When I was that little, it didn't upset me. I liked history, so it was just history to me. I didn't feel any more strongly about MLK that I did about George Washington leading the Continental Army.

In high school I was riveted by the documentary "Eyes on the Prize" which was being replayed on PBS for a week. My father, who always managed to disappear whenever my mother turned the TV or VCR to black folks catching Hell, looked at me around day four of the documentary and say, "You're still watching this? You're going to turn into a militant."

Later, my father would tell me that he knew I needed to watch it but he couldn't watch it because he lived it. He couldn't stand to watch black people get beat in the head. It wasn't until I matured and became an adult and actually understood the seriousness and the gravity of the black experience that I realized that as strongly as I feel about black people and black history, I just can't, can't watch black people getting hit in the head right now. I'll probably force my kids to watch the same things I watched and read the same things I read, but it'll be hard for me to muster up the detachment to teach it as well as my mother taught it to me.

After all, I'm a bit of a crier.

That said, I hope The Clintons and The Obamas can cut out the who's-a-racist, who's-a-liar, who started the pettiest fight in political history garbage. It's King's birthday for the love of Jesus. Last I checked, all politicians are liars to a greater/lesser extent and The Clintons are a lot of things, like entitled and manipulative, but I'm pretty sure they're not racist, at least in the sense that they really, really, really need black folks to vote for them in South Carolina. I'm almost positive the fight will be over come the debate tonight for that reason alone, as the whole thing is making The Clintons look awful, irregardless of how the situation over their largely pathetic statements has become over-blown.