How they converge and diverge?

Lady in the Lake (Miniseries)
Season 1, Episodes 1-7.

An intriguing miniseries set at a time when Black Americans had an understanding with Jewish Americans. Even though Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to declare all slaves to be free, in reality, the Blacks still received the short of the stick. In so many instances, they were discriminated against. The law was not in their favour either. The Blacks had to prosper by themselves despite the restrictions. Some beat the systems and joined the mainstream, while others prospered through an alternative economic system. The evidence of their successes includes the Harlem Cultural Renaissance in the 1920s and the numerous legislative gains through the efforts of the NAACP (North America Association of Colored People).

Many of the African-American associations worked in tandem with many Jewish bodies. The Jews also felt the discriminatory vibes of the predominantly Anglo-Saxon majority of America. The earlier interactions between Jews and Blacks were not cordial. Many Jews became land owners and were ruthless businessmen who earned the wrath of the poor Blacks. Things changed later. 

During the Civil Rights Movement, many of the laws of the day, including the Jim Crow laws, were challenged by the movement with Jewish lawyers. Jewish leaders participated in numerous marches organised by Rev King and others. The 1955 to 1966 era is sometimes called the Golden Age of Black-Jewish relationships.

After 1966, the cooperation turned cold as the Jewish community moved higher in the economic class whilst the majority remained poor. Another possible explanation for this rift is the popularity of Islamic-based groups like the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and the Panthers. The 1967 Six-Day War in the Middle East made many Black leaders and personalities, including Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, express solidarity behind the Palestinians and condemn Israel and the Zionists.

Set in the 1960s USA, this miniseries is mainly the story of two ladies trying to prove to themselves that they make something out of their lives. A 40-year-old Jewish lady who had to give up her writing ambition to get married and raise a child in a conservative, suffocating Jewish household gets an epiphany of sorts to break free from all this bondage. This happened after the much-published murder of an 11-year-old Jewish girl. She itches to investigate the case on her own accord. Through the episodes, we see the challenges she has to face to break from the mould of what is expected of a mother and a lady of the era.

In another parallel story, a young, ambitious black lady of about 30 tries to break from the clutches of poverty and the mob to make something out of her singing and provide a promising future for her kids. She needs to extricate herself from the crime-inducing society and the lure of the gangsters and their promise of a good future.

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Sticking to the same narrative?

American Fiction (2023)

Screenplay & Direction: Cord Jefferson

It seems that we have not changed much since our days as cavemen. Imagine living exposed in a world so hostile we would have tried to understand the unusual things around us. We continued compartmentalising the living and non-living things amongst us even when we became hunter-gatherers, farmers or city dwellers. By compartmentalising everyone in boxes, we thought we had our defences up to remind us which one of them was friends and which were potentially harmful. Gone are club-carrying or sabre-rattling days, but these classifications helped somewhat.

The Chinese viewed anyone non-Huns as barbaric. So did the Greeks, Persians and Arabs. During the mercantile era, the dark-skinned were labelled as God-sanctioned slaves. 

In the USA, post-Civil War America assumed that the emancipated slaves were ill-prepared to fit into modern society. They expected them to remain the subservient ones. They were prevented from getting into mainstream business, education and even usage of common public amnesties. In their own stride, the Blacks did prosper. Records showed the presence of significant numbers of black entrepreneurs and millionaires all through the late 19th century. There were pockets of prosperous descendants of slaves. Such a vicinity was Tulsa in Oklahoma. Like the Osage Nation, there were abundant automobile-owning, well-suited professionals there. Tulsa was fondly called ‘The Black Wall Street’ because of the burgeoning business activity there. 

Resentment was building up there. They could not fathom a subjugated community doing well. So when a white shop assistant cried foul when a black man allegedly pulled her hand. There were many versions of what transpired there, from a lover’s quarrel to miscommunication. Before the due legal process could take its course, the mob decided that he should be lynched and the black residents needed to be torched. It resulted in much property damage and about 600 lives lost. 

It is a cognitive dissonance. The majority wants to continually stereotypically paint the marginalised as the downtrodden, irreparable group of people forever trapped in the loop of melancholy, tragedy and hopelessness. They assume the marginalised groups will be stuck in the muck forever without recourse for improvement. Well, there is news for them. Collectively, many have leapfrogged from their Sisyphus-like struggles and bootstrapped themselves to prosperity. 

But the world is stuck in its own ways. By adhering to their old narratives, the non-marginalised ones give a pat to themselves, thinking that they are serving the marginalised by bringing their plight to the fore. The truth is that that is a fiction, The American Fiction. The liberals believe that representation among minorities is only valid if the narrative follows a preset traditional stereotype. Any deviation from this would nullify the voice of the majority. The reality is that the world has changed, but not the thinking of some. 

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Preying on the past?

Descendants (Documentary; 2022)

Written and directed by: Margaret Brown

We often tell us to put the past behind us and use the past as lessons to propel us forward. Refrain from brooding over the past, but look at the future, which is within our means to write. The past is a done thing which cannot be rewritten. 

Is there any merit in prodding the past and trying to write the wrong that our ancestors did by omission or commission?

This documentary makes one thing of this very point. Can we blame all our misgivings on how our ancestors were treated? Is transgenerational PSTD justified enough to be the reason for the current generation to be dysfunctional, economically backward and in a quandary? Is validation of the deeds of our forefathers needed for us to prosper in life? Or is the mere lack of their recognition just an excuse to remain as sluggards?

It is good to put the facts straight. As history is written as dictated by the victors, their version is just one aspect of what really happened. A big chunk of what the losers experienced will inevitably be lost in the annals of times. It is good to know the other version, but are we duty-bound to correct the past, to right the wrong? 

Then there is the question of the descendants of the historical aggressors being penalised for the misdeeds of their ancestors. Are they culpable of their sins? Then, there is a question of reparation. Is a simple apology sufficient? Whenever there is money involved, the intention is always suspect. 

A poor part of the area around Mobile, Alabama, called Plateau, had a local tale. Local folks have been saying that they were descendants of more than 100 captive Africans who landed at the shores of the town on a particular slave ship, Clotilda, way back in 1860. The legend goes that, even though slavery was outlawed in the US in 1808, the clandestine international slave trade was very much alive. Slave ships would arrive on the shores of Mobile in the cover of darkness. Slaves would disembark off the shores and make a beeline to the overgrowth, leading to the slave traders' den. The ships would be burnt off so as not to leave any evidence. 

This trade ended after the Civil War ended, and the Emancipation Declaration was passed by Congress in 1865. 

The descendants of slaves and slaveowners carried on with their lives. Many of the affluent people of the area may have benefitted from the slave trade, whilst many of the slaves' downlines remain downtrodden and poor. Some would have left the nest as well. The family of Timothy Meaher, the owner of Clotilda, still possess their old estate and many parts of the town. They remain secretive about their ancestors and their activities. 

Word has it that some slaves who were freed from slavery lived in an area called Africatown and had plans to return to Africa but never really made it back. The present generation still lives in their memory and yearns to connect with them, perhaps via their belongings. As the African tradition dictates, people communicate through their personal belongings. 

Tracing the remains of Clotilda was a challenge as the site of their last whereabouts proved elusive for lack of documentation. They had some film footage and written interviews of the last living slave on the Clotilda, Cudjoe Lewis, by America's first Black female filmmaker, Zora Neale Hurston. Her book about Lewis, Barracoon, was published in 2018. It was used as a reference in this documentary.

Clotilda

A group of divers found a piece of Clotilda's wreckage and positively identified it as the 1860 ship. 

The excitement then began. The question of Africatown/ Plateau and Mobile being a tourist destination and how the vicinity would prosper came to the fore. In a town hall discussion, the question of reparation sneaked in, too. 

The point to remember is that whatever stimulus package or economic opportunities are handed out, the occupants of the lower rungs of the food chain rarely grab their chance. The high-heeled would grasp no matter how difficult the odds are stacked against them. 

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So much of a role model!

 King Richard (2021)

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

By now, everybody would have heard about the movie 'King Richard', not because the leading actor, Will Smith, won the Oscar but the slapping of the host, Chris Rock. Many are arguing whether the showdown was staged. Will Smith, walking up to the stage to smack Rock for cracking an off-colour joke about her alopecia, was really uncalled for. Behavioural specialists and body language experts have been working overtime to analyse, frame by frame, the demeanour of Smith, his wife Jeda and Rock to surmise that it was not staged. 

This movie is a biopic about the untiring efforts of Richard Williams to make world-class tennis stars out of Venus and Serena. Richard, a pushy father, steamrolled himself to get trainers for his daughter. A slave driver, he did not want his daughters another statistic in the sea of black children with social issues. He abhorred violence and was bullied by the local hoodlum.

It is ironic that Will Smith, who won his role as Richard, behaves in such a non-acceptable way. His action does not augur well with his status as an advocate of 'Black Lives Matter'. It just reinforces the stereotyping that blacks are violent people. Verbal abuse can be reflected with wit.

It is said that, in the early 1900s, Swami Vivekanda was in a canteen in the UK. He went to sit at a bench where his Professor, a white man, was seated. Seeing the Indian man about to share his bench, he rebuked, "You know a pig and a bird cannot sit together!". Almost instantaneously, Swami Vivekananda replied, "it is quite alright, I can fly away!" and went away before the Professor knew what hit him.

How people look at us is in how we make them look at us. This Singaporean driver used a jack to tilt the car so that it could fill more petrol, to stretch his Singapore dollar at a filling station across the border in Johore Bahru. This action just reinforces the public (non-Singaporeans) the perception that they (Singaporeans) are more like country bumpkins - thrifty, penny-wise and just uncouth. One cannot blame Johoreans if they form a poor opinion about their southern neighbours if this is what they see week over week.

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Strength in Unity!

The Falcon and Winter Soldier (Miniseries, E1-6; 2021)
Marvel Cinematic Universe

Just how long did it take for a person to stay in a country for him to be accepted by his fellow countrymen to be one of them? Human beings are innately racists. For a long time, they have generally felt safe being amongst their own kind who share the same sentiments and values. Perhaps it is something that they have not been able to shed off from their tenure as dwellers of the caves. In those days (even now, of course), Nature has been quite harsh for things to be left for granted. The vulnerability of exposure to the elements of Earth made us suspicious of everything. The last thing they want to be is to end up as a meal for others.

So, it is human nature to look upon the other who looks different from them and be wary of their intention. But we also have developed a sense of awareness that teaches good values and conducts. Are these mere decorative motifs to fill books and scriptures?

'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' takes off from 'The Avengers: End Game' when Captain America (Steve Rogers) handed his mantle to Sam Wilson after 'The Blip'. Sam, feeling inadequate, donates Captain America's shield to the Museum. The real reason for his non-acceptance is that he thinks that America is not ready for a Black Captain America. He leads a life as The Falcon. When trouble starts with a group of serum enhanced anti-patriotism soldiers, Captain America's shield is gifted to an ill-prepared John Walker. 

The rest of the story tells how The Falcon teams up with The Winter Soldier to overpower the anti-patriotism group, taking the shield from John Walker to become the new Captain America, puts the names of former black soldiers who sacrificed for the USA in the annals of military hero list. The whole show is basically a social commentary that reminds us that America is neither white nor black, but it comprises a potpourri of colours and shades.

That brings us to our country, Malaysia. Modern Malaya skyrocketed to international fame in the early and mid 20th century in trade, commerce and sports. This happened primarily because of the hard work of various ethnic groups who landed here by choice or by fate. The euphoria of Independence and self-rule propelled them to even greater heights. We were labelled as the emerging 'Tiger of Asia'. The tiger, however, had its developmental milestones stunted by the works of bigoted zealots who were hellbent on purging the country of its people who were not of their selected ethnicity and religion. 

They know we grow in unity but in their blinkered eyes, but it seems that blind faith blinded them. In the meantime, we are spiralling down the ladder of hopelessness and ponder upon the possibility of becoming a 'basket case'. The pandemic is our wake up call.

Going back to the story of a black being Captain America, my friends and I had invested in hours of discussion on the above subject. On the one hand, the great divide is attributed to repetitive restrictive laws and social constructs that segregate and suppress a race the already had a checked start from the starting line. They were enslaved and systematically oppressed over generations leaving scars that left a trans-generational dent in their psyche. Opposition to this type of argument is that 150 years after their emancipation in 1865 is a long time for the oppressed to pull themselves up by the bootstrap. American history has its fair share of black success stories as well. Many black millionaires, entrepreneurs, and many musicians of the Harlem renaissance re-engineered songwriting and music appreciation. One or two success stories are here for perusal...

Harry Pace (1884-1943)
Founder of Black Swans Records and Northeastern Life Assurance Company.

Georgia born, orphaned and passed out as a white to live in a white-dominated housing area under the Jim Crow laws. In his later years obtained a law degree to have a legal practice.

Roland Hayes (1887-1977)

Started singing in his early teenage years in church choirs. After singing in troops, he finally picked the courage to have his own musical recital of classical European music at a time when black music was limited to minstrelsy and getting a sponsor was impossible. Using his good office at the church and kind sponsors, he rented a whole hall for this purpose. His popularity soared. He soon performed in many major US cities. He later performed in London for the British royalty. His magnum opus must be performing Schubert's piece in Berlin in 1924 in front of a jeering German crowd. This was after WW1 when the Germans were unhappy with placing black American soldiers in Germany. There was pin-drop silence once he started singing.

Roland Hayes' 'Were you there.'

(narrating the biblical moment when Christ was on the Cross.)

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"I am a revolutionary!"

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

It is not easy to change society. The people of the top of the perch want to continue having their nice view undisturbed. Those in the middle rung wish to have continued access to the top and maintain their gateway to positions whilst asserting dominance upon the plebians under their feet. The plebians, well, they are a pathetic lot. They bicker amongst themselves to be king, imagining the changes in their lives upon springboarding to the top. 

The minions' blinded voracious appetite is not the only impeding factor that prevents them from reaching the top. The kingmakers also send in their instigators and moles to derail any flicker of progress.

The Civil War was not started by the Northerners because of altruistic intentions, because they could not stomach seeing black slaves being treated worse than animals. It was economics, stupid. The Union just wanted to liberate the slaves and pack them off to Africa, specifically Liberia, not treat them as an equal inhabitant of the USA. The slaves were emancipated, but nobody wanted to go anywhere. So they stayed back but were harassed of their liberties by the Klan members and bound by the Jim Crow laws.

Rainbow Coalition logo

Despite the restrictive living conditions that they were exposed to, some sociologists saw marked improvement in their living standards. As slavery was outlawed the world over, fellow African formers from the Carribeans and South Americans looked up to their American counterparts as role models. This era also saw intellectuals like Booker T Washington (1856-1915), born into slavery, who rose to become an intellectual and advisor to President Theodore Roosevelt. He established Tuskegee Institute (later University) in Alabama. Washington believed that the way to advance is to be pally with the ruling establishment, concentrate on education, learn valuable trades, and investing in their own businesses. This, he believed, would eventually lead to equal political and civil rights.

However, his nemesis, W E D Du Bois (1868-1963), a Ph D in history scholar, disagreed. He abhorred segregation and demanded equal rights for all blacks. Du Bois believed that racism is an inevitable effect of capitalism. He became a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, but his work spearheaded the subsequent black civil rights movement. 

The 1920s America also saw the Harlem Renaissance when African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance, and art, became mainstream.

Despite Washington and Du Bois' efforts, lynching and inequality continued.  

In the mid-20th century, other black leaders came to the fore with different strategies. Dr Martin Luther King advocated his passive, non-violent movement. Some took a militant stance. Elijah Muhammad and his 'Nation of Islam' united blacks under the Islamic religion were asking for a separate nation. Malcolm-X broke away from the 'Nation of Islam' and concentrated on social improvement efforts. The 'Black Panther Party' screamed for a revolution.

Fred Hampton (1948-1969)

In 1968, the Illinois Chapter of the 'Black Panther Party' piqued the FBI's radar, notably J Edgar Hoover. Its charismatic leader, Fred Hampton, was getting popular. He found a place in the hearts of the poor via the party's breakfast programme to feed the poor kids. Medical clinics were set up to meet their medical needs. He even tried to unite various fringe societies through his Rainbow coalition. Not only did he reached out to blacks, but his party also formed allegiances with Latino immigrants 'Young Lords', black gangs of Chicago and the group called 'Young Patriots', of poor white Confederate-supporting workers who came from the Southern states of the USA.

It was a time when Chicago was easily the most divided cities in the world. Police brutality was rife, and the mayor's support base was uneasy with the migration of poor blacks, Latinos and even 'white trash' into their neighbourhood. However, cooperation between these newcomers and the scream of political revolutions did not augur well for the local white population who had lived there for generations.

With the FBI's cooperation, the Chicago police planted a mole in the Black Panthers Party to monitor the party's activities and subsequently kill Fred Hampton. This movie is the story of the whole operation through the eyes of the police informant, William O'Neal.

Fred Hampton is portrayed like Jesus, the Messiah, the revolutionary who united a motley crew of marginalised people against a mighty but despotic Roman regime. But, unfortunately, Pontius Pilate and his sycophants saw Christ as a troublemaker instead. And Judas, like O'Neal, doublecrossed Jesus by being a follower for a meagre sum of money. Like Judas too, in the latter part of his life, O'Neal is said to have committed suicide for the sell-out. This, he is said to have done after his 'bare-it-all interview with the PBS channel. Others like to believe the 'accident' was 'arranged' by the FBI for his exposé.

The issues, all the while, have been the same by all movements - demand for good education, decent housing, adequate medical coverage, fair trials and an end to police brutality. It is pretty much the same ring even today.

Note the Confederate flag and Black Panther logo in the background on the same platform. 

One screams of White Supremacy and the other of Black Consciousness.

[When black, white and brown banded together to make life better for communities in need via 

The Rainbow Coalition, the power elite got so frightened, they had to kill it.]

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