By Dennis Hartley
This is why I love the Scots…
Thank you Samantha Bee, and your brilliant entourage of writers and correspondents, for easing me through this nightmare without meds.
Related:
Forward, into the past: A timely reissue of Peter Watkins’ Culloden
By Dennis Hartley
(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on February 4, 2017)
Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.
– James Baldwin, from The Fire Next Time (1963)
Last month, we celebrated the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., whose incredible example is unique in American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I took the statue out of my office. It turned out that that was fake news. Fake news. The statue is cherished, it’s one of the favorite things in the — and we have some good ones. […]I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things. Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed.
– President Trump, from his Black History Month speech, 2017
At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed
– Frederick Douglass (born ca. 1818, died 1895)
While he hasn’t been dead as long as Frederick Douglass has, I have a feeling that the late James Baldwin, who is the subject of Raoul Peck’s documentary I Am Not Your Negro will also be “recognized more and more” (you’ll notice). Specifically, anyone with half a brain who watches the film will recognize not only the beauty of Baldwin’s prose, but the prescience of his thoughts.
Both are on full display throughout Peck’s timely treatise on race relations in America, in which he mixes archival news footage involving the Civil Rights Movement, movie clips, and excerpts from Baldwin’s TV appearances with voice-over narration by an uncharacteristically subdued Samuel L. Jackson, who reads excerpts from Baldwin’s unfinished book, Remember This House.
Baldwin’s book (which he began working on in 1979) was to be a statement on the black experience, parsed through the lives (and untimely deaths) of Civil Rights icons Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Given Baldwin’s literary chops, and the fact he was personal friends with all three, and that each of these extraordinary individuals was working toward the same end but through different means, one can envision a classic in the making.
But it was not to be. By the time of his death in 1987, Baldwin had completed only 30 pages. So the director has essentially set out to “complete” Remember This House (or construct a viable facsimile), filling in the cracks with Baldwin’s own voice (via the TV interviews).
While occasionally arrhythmic to the film’s flow, Peck is on the money whenever he interjects images that connect the dots with the Black Lives Matter movement. Baldwin’s sharp sociopolitical observances have no expiration date, and speak for themselves. This is particularly evident in the television clips, where Baldwin (whose persona is an amalgam of Mark Twain and Lenny Bruce) always seems light years ahead of the hosts and fellow guests.
Peck also gets a lot of mileage (and truckloads of irony) from a wealth of TV and print advertising images that speak volumes as to how African-Americans have been viewed by our society over the decades. In this respect, Peck’s documentary recalls The Atomic Café; particularly when he digs up a 1950s corporate film with a rather unfortunate title (“Selling the Negro”) that offers up handy tips to marketers who want to reach African-American consumers.
Most fascinating to me are Baldwin’s deconstructions on traditionally lauded race-relation themed films like The Defiant Ones (1958) and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). He posits that, no matter how well-meant these and similar films were, they were produced by white liberals for other white liberals, who could pat themselves on the back for buying a ticket (he was defining “virtue signalling” before it had a name). Even more provocatively, he sees little difference between them and Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927).
Now that I think about it, Baldwin himself remains a cypher as credits roll, so it may have been unintentional misdirection to state at the top that the author himself is the “subject”, particularly if you’re expecting a straight-ahead biography. Neither is it “about” the Civil Rights Movement, although it is woven throughout. It’s worth noting that Baldwin (self-admittedly) was not a movement activist in the literal sense, but was committed in the literary sense (present as an observer, chronicler and deeply insightful social commentator).
I was left saddened that so many of Baldwin’s statements remain applicable to our current political climate. While we have made “some” progress in healing the racial divide since the assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., the all-too-easy and all-too-recent triumph of Trumpism indicates that the fear and ignorance that fed the ugliness of “those days” never went away.
We’ve still got a lot of work to do.
By Dennis Hartley
Well, let’s see how busy Donnie’s been on the Twitter this week:
Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017
There is nothing nice about searching for terrorists before they can enter our country. This was a big part of my campaign. Study the world!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017
Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2017
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile.Should have been thankful for the terrible deal the U.S. made with them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
In other words, he is continuing to plow forward with the unchecked megalomania of an 8 year-old old with the power to change reality, while all the adults who surround him kowtow in fear for their lives.
I’m sure we’ll be fine. It’s GOOD that he’s my president. Real good!
By Dennis Hartley
Just for giggles, let’s look at some of the developing news stories on this day before the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the POTUS:
New Gambian president sworn into office in Senegal as Gambia’s defeated longtime ruler refuses to step down. https://t.co/mlA1kli2e9
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Oh, boy.
Mideast expects big changes under Trump, by @perry_dan and @bklapperAP. https://t.co/3372tflCCv
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Aw, jeez.
Already reeling, Mexico fears it has much to lose with Trump. https://t.co/aE5L2DyLXR
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
Ay, cabron.
UPDATE: Pentagon says is prepared for threat posed by North Korea; declines to comment on @Reuters report of possible missile test
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 19, 2017
Oh god.
Trump has officially completed the selection of his Cabinet. Here are his picks: https://t.co/6nqEpWb6u7 via @ReutersGraphics pic.twitter.com/a3T6g5CZns
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 19, 2017
Oh, fuck…
PHOTOS: Donald Trump, wife Melania arrive in Washington ahead of Friday’s inauguration. https://t.co/09bp9rWymI https://t.co/ZTSAcxb9Ei
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 19, 2017
…this is no dream, this is really happening, isn’t it? I feel safe. You?
“Ignorance is king. Many would not profit by his abdication. Many enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court, and in his name they defraud and govern, enrich themselves and perpetuate their power. Even literacy they fear, for the written word is another channel of communication that might cause their enemies to become united. Their weapons are keen-honed, and they use them with skill. They will press the battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble, and a new society emerges. I am sorry. But that is how I see it.”
By Dennis Hartley
In anticipation of what may be in store for us, here are links to the resources likely to be more crucial than ever. Bookmark this post!
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
American Civil Liberties Union
Center for Democracy and Technology
Committee to Protect Journalists
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
You’re welcome.
* * * UPDATE 1/20/17 * * *
And so it begins:
(from People Politics)
The moment Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States at noon on Friday, the LGBT, climate change, health care, and civil liberties pages disappeared from the website of the brand new Trump White House.
Motherboard, VICE’s website focusing on science and technology, reported that the changes occurred at noon, when the Obama administration turned over the official White House website, whitehouse.gov, to the Trump team.
As I said: bookmark this page. Perhaps a screen capture, just in case?
By Dennis Hartley
Representative John Lewis has stated in an interview he did for Meet the Press that he will not be attending the presidential inauguration ceremonies on January 20, because he feels that Russian interference in the 2016 election nullifies the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s win. As we have come to expect, the President-elect Tweeted up a storm:
Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2017
“No action”? Really? You mean the same John Lewis in this photo?
Future Congressman John Lewis is the gentleman in the lower right of the photo, being “helped” to the ground by a policeman and his truncheon…that John Lewis? The John Lewis who marched with Dr. King, and put his own life and limb on the line for civil rights? OK.
While you’re at it, Mr. PEOTUS, are you sure you don’t want to throw in a jab at that gutless choker, Gandhi? Or that nasty overrated woman, Mother Theresa? Those people are just talk, talk talk! Sad!
Nice inspirational lead-in to MLK Day, Mr. PEOTUS! Stay classy!
By Dennis Hartley
With SNL on hiatus, I’ve really been getting a kick out of the venerable weekly Canadian sketch comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes (on the CBC, which we get as part of our cable package here in Seattle). While I admit I don’t “get” all the jokes regarding Canadian politics (which, like most Americans, I don’t really follow that closely), they have been pretty relentless (and consistently hilarious) in their take downs of Donald Trump. God knows, there’s years of comedy gold to mine coming down the pike (or at least until he Tweets North America into nuclear oblivion). This recent bit had me in stitches:
I love Canada…
By Dennis Hartley
As Congress heads into Day 2 of confirmation hearings for President-elect Trump’s choice of Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (missing from the painting) for Attorney General of the Confederate United States of America, an interesting document has been making the rounds of the internet and other media outlets:
That is excerpted from a 1986 letter, signed by a Coretta Scott King:
[from the Washington Post ]
Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., urged Congress in a letter to block the 1986 nomination of Jeff Sessions for federal judge, saying that allowing him to join the federal bench would “irreparably damage the work of my husband.” The letter, previously unavailable publicly, was obtained on Tuesday by The Washington Post. […]
Thirty years later, Sessions, now a senator, is again undergoing confirmation hearings as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, and he is facing fierce opposition from civil rights groups. […]
“The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods,” she wrote, later adding, “I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made toward fulfilling my husband’s dream.”
During the 1986 hearing, the letter and King’s opposition became a crucial part of the argument against Sessions’s confirmation. The current Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), has not previously released the letter, which committee rules grant him the sole authority to reveal.
Yeah, that’s an ‘R’ in front of ‘Iowa’. Shocking, isn’t it?
If this man is confirmed as “our” Attorney General, all I can say is, this Monday will be The. Saddest. Martin. Luther. King. Day. Ever.
And I ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie.
By Dennis Hartley
Michelle…Michelle LaVaughn Robinson of the South Side…for the past 25 years you have not only been my wife and mother of my children, you have been my best friend. You took on a role you didn’t ask for. And you made it your own with grace and with grit and with style, and good humor. You made the White House a place that belongs to everybody. And a new generation sets its sights higher because it has you as a role model. You have made me proud, and you have made the country proud.
Malia and Sasha…under the strangest of circumstances you have become two amazing young women. You are smart and you are beautiful. But more importantly, you are kind and you are thoughtful and you are full of passion. … you wore the burden of years in the spotlight so easily. Of all that I have done in my life, I am most proud to be your dad.
–President Obama, from his farewell address, January 10, 2017
And to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.
Now, I — I know — I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but some day someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now.
And — and to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.
–Hillary Clinton, from her concession speech, November 9, 2016
Trump: Yeah, that’s her, with the gold. I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. I just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Unidentified voice: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.
–President-elect Trump, from the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tapes.
C’mon, everybody! You know the words…
By Dennis Hartley
As if I didn’t already have enough reasons to admire Meryl Streep:
Wow. Truth to power, baby. In case you missed the gist:
“Thank you, Hollywood foreign press. Just to pick up on what Hugh Laurie said. You and all of us in this room, really, belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now. Think about it. Hollywood, foreigners, and the press. But who are we? And, you know, what is Hollywood anyway? It’s just a bunch of people from other places. […]
Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. If you kick ’em all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts. They gave me three seconds to say this. An actor’s only job is to enter the lives of people who are different from us and let you feel what that feels like. And there were many, many, many powerful performances this year that did exactly that, breathtaking, passionate work.
There was one performance this year that stunned me. It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can’t get it out of my head because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.
And this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose. […]
This brings me to the press. We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every outrage.That’s why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in our constitution. So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the committee to protect journalists. Because we’re going to need them going forward. And they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.
[…] And we have to remind each other of the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy. We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honors here tonight.
As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once, take your broken heart, make it into art. Thank you.”
Stay tuned for Orange Julius Caesar’s 3am Tweet storm…
* * * UPDATE 1/9/17 * * *
Right on cue:
Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never “mocked” a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him…….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
“groveling” when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
Your new POTUS in just 11 days, America! Sad!