![]() There is a scene in Barry Jenkins film adaptation of If Beale Street Could Talk, a novel by visionary James Baldwin, that details American racism without a word. įiled Under: Film, The Line Don’t Call Me A Person of Color: I’m Black It’s a thinly veiled threat couched in the kind of casual racism that hovers throughout the film, even after said owners lose the house themselves in a serendipitous twist of fate. They’re well-meaning older white liberals that were clearly beatnik artists once, dropping “hey man” into their sentences and saying they don’t want to call the cops if they catch him on the property again - but they will. His grandfather built it, he insists, and he’s drawn to it, returning repeatedly despite the fact that his family lost it in a wave of gentrification and it has had new owners for the last 12 years. In The Last Black Man in San Francisco the protagonist, a Black American named Jimmie Fails (played by himself and loosely based on his real life), is anchored to a house. Things happen without rhyme or reason, and we, the living, are pulled along, anchoring ourselves to friends, family, lovers people, places, and things in an effort to stay afloat, to make sense of it all. ![]() įiled Under: Film, The Line The Last Black Man In San Francisco ![]() It’s depiction of a group of political anarchists attempting to overthrow an alien-controlled government is inventive, if not downright ingenious, and their foundational codes - the ideals for which these men and women live and die for - are as equally powerful and persuasive as they are heartening, yet no less disturbing. But this film has the density and complexity to develop a cult following of its own in the coming years. įiled Under: Art, The Line Audacious Digs In Virgil Abloh’s Figures of SpeechĬaptive State was initially misunderstood. Released in March, it received mixed reviews, described by some critics as ‘murky,’ ‘lugubrious,’ and ‘unexciting.’ Despite star turns by brooding young upstart Ashton Sanders ( Moonlight, Native Son), indie darling Jonathan Majors ( The Last Black Man In San Francisco) and industry veteran John Goodman, it grossed only $8 million against a $25 million dollar budget, making it a box-office bomb. A testament to its culture-shifting perspective, the retrospective opens with the story of how the line came to be, and then moves through its brand history and significance in time as viewers explore the gallery. inner-city, customer who predominantly wore streetwear. As numerous high fashion and luxury brands clamor into the billion dollar market for streetwear, Cross Colours: Black Fashion in the 20 th Century, showing at the California African American Museum (CAAM), is a fresh and dynamic exhibit examining the history of the recently rebooted Cross Colours: a Black-owned brand that was one of the first to cater exclusively to a young, Black, and ‘urban,’ i.e. ![]() This motto has held steady for years in the world of fashion, with it’s here-today-gone-tomorrow trends, and nowhere has it rung more true than in the waves of 1990’s urban culture that are currently enjoying a huge resurgence on runways. It’s not.At California African American Museum, Los Angeles (through March 1, 2020)Įverything old is new again. In her rant on The Grapevine, Sensei left the impression she thinks this is a new argument. Of course, nothing is ever pure and simple when it comes to this question of who has the “right” to exploit black culture. Mars was defended by many African Americans, including R&B legend Charlie Wilson, who called him “a genuine talent, pure and simple.” Yet Bruno Mars has an Album of the Year Grammy and Prince never won an Album of the Year Grammy.” Panelist Seren Sensei ripped him a new one.Īs she sees it, Mars’ success proves that many Americans “prefer their black music and their black culture from a non-black face.” Mars, she said, is “a karaoke singer … a wedding singer … the person you hire to do Michael Jackson and Prince covers. A few days ago, he was the object of a heated debate on The Grapevine, an internet series on African-American issues. Mars, son of a Filipina mom and a Puerto Rican/Ashkenazi Jewish dad, has been ubiquitous in recent years with a high-octane style fueled by hip-hop, funk and other African-American idioms. Singer Bruno Mars is the latest to feel their ire. But the term above, with its connotations of grand-theft culture, is the one favored by some African-American activists who’ve had it up to here with non-black performers borrowing the soul and style of Michael, Marvin and Prince. “Cross-cultural influence” would be the less pejorative phrase. I’m here to defend cultural appropriation.
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