WHEN IT COMES TO BLACK & WHITE, ONLY ONE THING MATTERS … AND IT’S NOT RACE

If anyone knows me, they know one of my dearest pastimes is watching Turner Classic Movies. If you want to be my best friend, go to the TCM Shop and find me an old “Black and White.” The cable channel is a godsend for me, as I find refuge in its daily (and nightly) programming.  As some of you know, most of these classic movies were made before 1970 and lack the Technicolor and other color motion picture innovation in which practically everyone under 40 years old may be accustomed.

More important, many of these Black and Whites were made during a period when black and white actors still experienced segregation, stereotypes and discrimination, on and off the silver screen. For example, in a recent airing of CBS’s “The Chew,” legendary actor Debbie Reynolds talked about how she and friend and fellow legendary actor, Lena Horne, would sit on a bench and eat lunch during breaks because they worked in an age when people of color weren't admitted into the movie studio’s commissary. Since Horne couldn't go, Reynolds didn't go.

Horne & Reynolds
L.A. Times/AP

  

I’d like to think that Reynolds was the type of woman who only saw black and white when she saw the playback of each scene. Whatever film it was she shot with Horne, it was done in living color until the director said "Cut."

Fast forward to today, when everything is supposed to be in color.

Pic posted on Uncle Sam's
 Misguided Children's Facebook Page

There was a horrific bombing incident Monday in Boston as runners in the city’s historic annual marathon were crossing the finish line. As of today, authorities report three people were killed and hundreds were injured in what many called an act of terror.

Bring in the racist fanfare.

I don’t understand what a president’s race has to do with the suspected bombing of a sporting event. But low and behold, folks came out of the woodwork with the yuk comments and you should see them on this popular Facebook page. Then on Tuesday, Ken Burn’s “The Central Park Five” aired on PBS and just opened up wounds and created more scars. On Wednesday, the gun control amendment votes got everybody riled even more. And it hit me – someone who can’t afford to be racist because in my opinion, we’re all black in the dark – like a ton of bricks: race IS the genesis and catalyst for every woe in the world. It could be financial, spiritual, political, economic, professional or of course, social. Race, is the root of some of the most socio-economic trials known to man, let some of you tell it, instead of our own personal discrepancies:

·      Let a black man lose his job. It’s Whitey’s fault because he looks out for his own or “he don’t like black people.” 

·         Let the banks go under. It’s the black man’s fault because the banks were giving him loans when he knew he couldn’t afford them.

·      As far as politics, we all know that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an UncleTom, U.S. Senator Mark Rubio, R-Fla., is a flip-flopping Hispanic and Pres. Barack Obama is a socialist Muslim. 

·         Oh yeah, the country is in a hole because all ofthe minorities are sucking up the food stamps.

    I tell you what: Why don't we just establish a new House Un-American Activities Committee or just exhume Sen. Joseph McCarthy?

This is how some of the world really thinks, so forgive me if I appear facetious or sarcastic. Let’s not even get into the whole progressive, holier-than-thou movements by any race in this country. If you’re a protestant white man, the hell with Obama. But nine times out of 10, you’re a Southern Baptist and can you guess the color of your organization’s president? If you’re a protestant black man, you know Obama is your boy. Heaven forbid you wear a turban or a hijab in this country and have a name of African or Islamic origin, or that's a wrap (pun intended); you may not be able to get a plane ticket without CIA intervention. As far as Catholics, you’re just happy to have Pope Francis. You have your own issues to worry about, aside from a woman’s right to choose.

Take newborn babies, for example. I don’t know if children can immediately see in color when they’re born. I only say that because a child’s eye color still has to develop after its born. I have reason to believe when I came out of my mother’s womb, I came out like a bottle rocket so I may have seen fireworks anyway due to my urgency to grace the world with my presence. Nevermind, moving forward, young children don’t care about the color of their counterparts-at least I don’t think they do. They just roll with the flow until their prejudiced parents pump the ignorance in their blood, along with the ineptitude to sufficiently fail standardized tests.

Here in Avoyelles Parish, loosely known as “The AVP,” you’re either white or you’re black. It's as simple as that. Yeah, there are American Indians in our parish, they pretty much run the casino in Marksville. But there are some who refer to the group as either Black Indians or White Indians, believe it or not. As far as Hispanic, the 2011 U.S. Census reports less than two percent reside in the parish, but this is the same census report that states less than two percent of the parish reported to be of mixed races. That’s peculiar, because every time I turn around, there’s someone claiming to have “good hair,” “Indian in the family,” or a certain epidermal hue because an ancestor colonized up near Cane River or went through somebody’s back door during Reconstruction.

I just don’t get it. Here we are, Americans, a perfect union constantly chastised by pee-wee nations and creators of some of world’s most mediocre graduation rates, yet, we worry about who's black or who's white. Being black or white will stop someone from stepping into an elevator. Being black or white will stop some from sharing a row on a bus, plane or train. But I’ll be damned if black or white will prevent one from taking that pint of blood if a transfusion is needed.

As far as I’m concerned, tongues are pink, blood is red and we’re all black in the dark. Yes, this post could have gone much deeper, but that’s for another day. I also know I sound very idealistic, but as far as racism, ain’t nobody got time for that. In the meantime, I digress from this random rant and return to the classics-something I do have time for. I may as well, because the classics are the only things black and white that concern me.

By the way, the 1943 classic "Cabin in the Sky" starring Horne, comes on at 1 a.m. on Friday.