4 posts tagged “film”
They killed the father,
Murdered the son.
Where there once stood three
-
There now stands one.
Some
were hung for trying to assimilate the ideas and principles of America
with the life inherited from the African Diaspora. Others allowed
the bullet of homogenized existence to ricochet through their bodies
… leaving them an empty shell, void of any substance believing their
condition as a black man to be a human stain.
This is for my brothers
who wanted retaliation when the acculturation, assimilation, and annihilation
of their medial shadow became too much. This is for my brothers huddled in
masques, kneeling at alters, reading in temples, meditating at home,
being miseducated in schools and in streets -- waiting, praying, hoping,
learning, and drowning in despair. This is for my brothers, my brothers
everywhere.
This
is for my brothers scared to be reflected in another brother's essence,
shadowboxing invisible ghosts embroiled in fears of social construction
- disowned property eloping with noose, devouring assimilation's golden
fruit grown from rotten roots, embracing the blood-stained grain as
truth. The danger my brother is only to you.
This is for my brothers
who have acknowledged their shadow, watching it grow on the way to the
sun … the natural political economist, socio-anthropologist, and philosopher
that's grasped the visible relation of double consciousness steeped
in a heap of deception and pseudo events fed to those seeking life and
bread, brothers who screamed “give me liberty…” and ended up dead,
my brothers willing to activate their mind state, unwilling to acculturate
- endangered are you.
This is for my brothers convinced the only option
is to run a ball or minstrel as stars to feel whole. This is for my
brothers incarcerated for stealing their due piece of the pie and for
younger brothers who now view time spent in correctional facilities as first rights. This is for my brothers who
have misused and abused our women because all the beautiful images of them have
been destroyed. This is for my brothers purposely denied of tangible
fruit - for my brother, how well Danger has made you aware of its plan to
annihilate you.
This is for my brothers everywhere.
-Sincerely Genius
The film, an adaptation of the 1944 Jean-Paul Sartre play No Exit, is set in a barbershop in purgatory. “You know how it seems like the people you see at the barbershop always have the same thing on, and there’s always people coming and going…” Darius said as he was explaining the film and his choices in Direction to the audience of young men.
Mr. Enfante, the activities director at the juvenile, probably saw the correlation between the film and the situation the juveniles are currently in when he requested that Darius screen “Midway” at the detention center after viewing it a few weeks ago. He sees a lot of faces shuffled thru the detention center. Mr. Enfante keeps a scrapbook, a sort of juvenile family album, of photos, articles, Wanted posters, and even obituaries in his office.
When the young men took their seat Mr. Enfante instructed them to look around at each other. “Who do you see in here? You see all Black and Brown faces with the exception of two Caucasian faces. All of your faces look alike. You can’t hate something in him without hate something about yourself.” He then asked them if they felt a certain way about the disproportionate demographics. They were unfazed. “Well you should! The prisons look just like this.” Mr. Enfante should know because he used to work at prison prior to working at the juvenile.
Enfante knows purgatory well, and like one of the characters in the film he assists the young men coming into his institution bide their time before they decide whether they’re going to leave the detention center and take their place in heaven or hell.
We’ve all been is some sort of Midway before. Find a way to see the film and think about it...
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