Monday, July 23, 2007

I forgot to mention that on Friday, I went to see the movie, Talk To Me, featuring Don Cheadle. Going into the film, I had read mixed reviews on this film, but rarely do I let that deter me, so I went to see it regardless(or irregardless, they are interchangeable in this blog). The movie was good, Don Cheadle put on yet another virtuoso performance, but the thing that stuck out the most was the way the death of Dr. Martin Luther King was handled. Now my parents grew up in that era, and they spoke of the sadness and devastation surrounding the deaths of not only Dr. King, but Malcolm X, the 4 Birmingham Girls, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, and countless others who were probably publicized much less. I also watched numerous Civil Rights documentaries including Eyes On the Prize, and they too do an excellent job of recapturing the atmosphere during the Civil Rights movement. But to actually see how the scene was recaptured in the movie was very emotional. Not to give away anything, but Petey Greene was given the note about Dr. King's death right after it happened, and he had to get on the radio and announce. To see the emotion of both he and the other radio station djs, and then to see the ripple effect of that was pretty moving. That's something that was never re-created for me before, so I found it very interesting. Above all of the other leaders during that movement, Dr. King was considered to be head and shoulders above everyone else, and he definitely was the most influential. And although he spoke of death often, and his followers knew it could be coming, when it actually happened it was a big deal.

So that got me to thinking about who could die, or what could happen to invoke that kind of emotion in the black community first, and the country overall. All of the deaths I could think about were of celebrities, and MAYBE Obama since he's considered to be a viable presidential candidate. But I think people are greatly desensitized to celebrity deaths right about now, and Obama, as good as a candidate as he is shaping up to be, is definitely still in the embryonic stages of not only his candidacy but of leadership overall. I guess the closest thing in MY lifetime that brought this country to its knees was Sept. 11th, and the memory of that is still relatively fresh. But my elusive point here is that there isn't ONE leader to lead "us" anymore. I don't even think that's a bad thing to be honest, I think that speaks to growth, which means from that standpoint that movement was successful. I've had this discussion with other people, and they vehemently disagree, but they can't touch me here.

Young Girl(remix) - Pharrell featuring Jay-Z

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I support this Rashad!!!

maxwellsmusze said...

sorry i didn't comment earlier. shame on all the people who didn't comment...