Nation of Cowards or Nation of Heroes

I have to agree with Attorney General Eric Holder. In a recent statement from the Attorney General(http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6905255&page=1) , he states that America is a nation of cowards in regards to the race issue. It's sad that on the same day, a political cartoon featured in the New York Post reiterated the idea of America still not being able to come to grips with race (view the cartoon at the Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/new-york-post-chimp-carto_n_167841.html ). The cartoon shows two police officers, one pointing a smoking gun toward a a dead chimpanzee, who is riddled with bullet holes, while the other police officer stands with a caption over him stating "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill".

As a Black man, I often live in a world of either anger or self-doubt. The anger comes from the thought of being treated as less than worthy because of the ignorance of racism. While the self-doubt comes from a fear of being unqualified or just not good enough. What we see within the media either compounds or conflicts with the experiences of our realities. Being Black, you're always on guard, hoping not to be harassed by police or treated as if you are an outcast. While I cannot speak for Whites, I do not believe that they walk around with that same apprehension.

After having struggled, and continue to struggle to break into the animation industry, I have lived with the confounded dichotomy of anger and self-doubt which questions my abilities, talent, and education. Ever since graduating from the School of Visual Arts, It has been an uphill battle to get work as an animator, while at the same time receiving praise for what I can do. I have not been alone in this kind of story. I have heard from colleagues and former classmates whom are of African decent who have told similar tales. So maybe it's not paranoia, but barrier of discomfort and fear that has kept us out.

It may have been much easier for this nation to elect a Black President than for a company to hire a Black animator, engineer, lawyer, accountant, associate professor, and etc. I know that there are successful African Americans in the fields I just mentioned, but not many. And I would guarantee that the road they had to travel to reach such goals gave them much pain.In order for Barack Obama to become President, he had to use more money and media time than any other candidate in history, to get elected. He had to persuade America that he was non-threatening, and trustworthy. He had to work to make America comfortable with him, not as a person, but as a African American. Without the money and media coverage(along with his education, charisma, and experience), there would not be a President Obama today.

For everyday African Americans, we have to work hard just to be lucky. Meaning, we HAVE to have to be high school honor students, we HAVE to have a college education, or we HAVE to be the best athletes in whatever sport, just to wait and hope a White employer or team owner to pick us. Until then, the many hard working African Americans wait in fear that either we are not good enough or that our race will hinder us from our success. This is not a delusion, but a reality where as the longer we wait, the more susceptible we are to giving up on our dreams, and accept lives that are far beneath our abilities and talents. African American people still have to prove their worth in this country in order for Whites(who own and control the vast majority of businesses and job opportunities) to feel comfortable enough to give us a chance. I do not mean to offend anyone by this post, but the pain and hardships people of African Decent experience everyday, should never have to be burdened upon anyone. We shouldn't have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and constantly be on TV before we can be "judged by the content of our character" as Dr. Martin Luther King once said.

We as Americans must confront our pain and fear of one another in order to survive. Lets make sure that we give ALL people a fair chance to succeed and thrive.

What is it about THE MIST.......

That makes humanity come to life?

After viewing the film The Mist, I had a revelation about the true mentality of humanity. This film dwells upon the premise of a fog coming into a small town in Maine, after a vicious storm the previous night. The story centers upon a number of townspeople shopping in a local supermarket to replenish supplies as the fog bank moves in. As the fog descends on the general area of the store, a bloody man runs frantically toward the store's entrance, in a desperate need for refuge.

As time continues, the mystery becomes solved as to what terror awaits the townspeople in the fog. Creatures of unimaginable magnitude set prey to them as to satiate their hunger. But the fear of the beasts does not compare to the true horror that arises from the psyche of the people within the supermarket.

I begun this post with the question, what is it about The Mist, that makes humanity come to life? It's not the mist itself that awakes the subconscious of the townspeople, but a combination of fear, ignorance, hate and a number of other weaknesses of which free thought sits in the backseat. Not many people can say that they have feared for their lives, or been in such desperation that reason becomes irrelevant.

This film questions our religious and spiritual beliefs, the importance of class, racial predjudice, and our overall human power struggle. As I watched this film, I had to ask, are we born virtuous and good or morally deficient and evil? The answer that I have personally come to is, neither. I believe that when we are born, we are a clean slate for thoughts and ideas, for which our environments will write upon. We grow to feel the pain of having something taken away, but that same pain could become pleasure, when we are the ones who are doing the taking. Once we begin to think and reason, we understand that taking something from someone causes pain for which we would not want to experience, if something was taken from us.

When power, fear, and ignorance become our life's guide, war, discrimination, greed, degredation, and death then become the pillars of our society. But if there are those who believe differently, I would hope that this could be a forum for free thought. And I hope that The Mist doesn't bring out the worst in real world of our humanity.

"Nappy Headed Hos", The continuing Black image in the media

"Nappy Headed Hos" refers to the statement made by radio personality Don Imus about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball team. Without going into further detail, this comment reiterates the constant image of Black people being ugly, uneducated, undignified, and just basically primitive.

White people have degraded the image of people of African decent since slavery times. First as a means to condone the international institution of slavery, then after the American Civil War to help keep blacks subservient and whites continually afraid of Blacks, and finally up until the present to continually present us as being unable to succeed in modern society.

Today we have a situation where entertainers of African decent, which also include latinos, create music and visual works which either degrade or present us as ignorant and narrow minded. Is it so surprising that with rap videos as well as films glorifying thug life and hypersexual women, we have radio personalities feeling comfortable enough to call us "Nappy Headed Hos"?

What should we do as artists, musicians, filmmakers, and individual citizens to change OUR view in mainstream society? This is the question of the new millenium!