Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 1, 1996, edition 1 / Page 4
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4A EDITORIALS/ The Charlotte Post February 1, 1996 Cljarlotte Gerald O. Johnson Publisher Robert Johnson Co-Publisher/ General Manager Herbert L. White Editor Sex and profanity stain movie based on educated black women By James E. Alsbrook SPECIAL TO THE POST If the biggest and best daily newspapers are correct, hundreds of thousands of black women individually and collectively are seeing and enjoying the movie "Waiting to Exhale” These four women, in figurative terms, are holding their breath while wait ing and looking for "Mr. Right" to appear, sweep them off their feet and leave them breathless. Then, and only then, will they really "exhale." This movie is unusual because it was directed by a black actor. Forest Whitaker, and is the first movie ever to focus on middle- class black women. None is a cook, maid or servant as were por trayed by Butterfly McQueen and Louise Beavers, and none is a handkerchief-head as was Aunt Jemima. They are educated and are of the sorority-sister type. The movie was adapted from a very popular novel of the same name by the black fiction writer, Terry McMillan. The four sophisticated ladies in the leading roles are all talented - Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine. Reports from various cities provide the following black female reaction to this movie: • In Houston, one black woman thought "Waiting to Exhale" was so important that she bought the entire house of 300 seats to entertain her friends and clubs. • In at least two cities, black women said "Waiting To Exhale" was as important to them as the Million Man March on Washington was to black men. • Some white women said the issues raised in this movie are so broad that they "transcend the experiences of race and class." • In Columbus, Ohio, black women said the movie redefines the meaning of black womanhood, presents new public Images of black women and gives new meaning to their missions In life and to their roles In society. • One said on television that women of various races - AlWean American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, European and eth ers - take "Waiting to Exhale" very seriously because all women of all races have variations of the same problems with men, • Some women In California said the movie was the best ever shown about black women because it presented them as self- reliant. creative and prosperous authority figures with good taste and brains. • Several women In different cities compared this movie with "The Cosby Show" that ran from 1984 to 1992 and "broke new ground" in truthfully showing middle-class black people. Millions of white people had an Amos n' Andy image of black people because they had been deceived by black stereotypes tai lor-made to placate whites handicapped by a "sick" need to ei\joy feeling superior to African Americans. This writer saw the movie at the River Valley Mall in Lancaster. Ohio, an area wherein blacks constitute only 2 or 3 percent of the population White women in the audience com mented to one another sometimes across several seats when they saw familiar experiences in scenes depicting exploitation of women by an insensitive or unscrupulous man. In several scenes this movie presented profane language and questionable sexual behavior that bordered on obscenity. Then I knew why the movie was categoried as "restricted" or "not suit able for family viewing." Four-letter words are spewed from the mouths of the leading women frequently and loudly, and temper tantrums loom omi nously nearby. The F-word and the S-word shocked some female and male viewers. This vile profanity really degrades the suppos edly educated and cultured black woman. These "dirty” words detracted from the enjoyment of some, disrupting the mother- daughter and father-son rapport and companionship of some in the audience. The best thing about this movie is that it projects a new image of the black woman, taking her from the kitchen help category and showing her as an educated, sophisticated living-room host ess. The worst thing is that its sex, profanity and man-bashing subtract and detract from its good assets. JAMES ALSBROOK is professor emeritus at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. * Four unpopular columns in one Loretta Devine as Gloria, Whitney Houston as Savannah, Angela Basset as Bernadine and Lela Rochon as Robin protray four women who Journey through husbands, lovers, and makeovers in “Waiting To Exhaie.” I have four columns in mind to write during the upcoming weeks. You will probably disagree with me about all of them And since I don't rehsh the idea of having you angry with me each week for the next month, I think I will give them to you all at once. Here they are — four unpopular columns in one. 1. Quality of presidential candidates. I am hearing about it more and more. "Why can't we have a better choice." Or, "I think I will just stay away from the polls this year. None of the candi dates suit me." Sometimes it is worse. It is amazing what strong lan guage a dis cussion of the presidential candidates can provoke. Clinton I say let's be thankful for what we have got. If Clinton and Dole are the major party nominees, we will have a choice between two strong, experienced, pragmatic, mod erate people who are right out the mainstream American experience. Maybe their political wheel ing and dealing turns you off. But I want our presidents to have the skills and energy to make things work. Hold your nose if you want to. I'll say a prayer of thanks. 2.Budget debate — partial government shutdown. Most people are still com plaining about the partial gov ernment shutdown that resulted from the inability of the congressional majorities to reach a speedy agreement with the president about this year's budget. I say that this crisis has been good for us. All of us want a balanced budget. But we also want to keep many core government programs and we want our taxes low ered. We have tried to have it all ways. And then blame the politicians for the mess we are in. The budget crisis has put the ultimate responsibility where it belongs- with us. 3. Bosnia "We shouldn't be there.” "We shouldn't sacrifice a single American for that region's peace." I hear opposition to our use of troops in Bosnia at every comer. It is good to be skepti cal about sending American troops to somebody else's coun try. A healthy "show me" atti tude is the right starting place for such proposals. But I believe that bringing a time of peace — even an imper fect peace - to that region of Europe is so important to our long term security that it is worth the risk Americans are taking. And I have high hopes for their success. 4. Recalling elected officials. Some of my neighbors in a nearby town have been busy collecting signatures as a part of an effort to put a newly elected councilman out of office. He was charged with "impaired driving" a few days after the election. Chasing public officials - from the president to tovVn councilmen - out of office early is becoming our most popular pastime. I say let's ease up on our elected officials and let them serve out their terms - absent misconduct in office — or crimes that send them to jail. Here are a few of my reasons: We will treat elections even less seriously if we think we can easily remove elected offi cials whenever they don't suit us. The more we require our elected officials to fight efforts to remove them from office, the more we take away the time they should be working in the offices to which they were elected. And, the more we go after those in office, the harder it is to recruit sane, well-meaning people to run in the next elec tion to replace them. Now, aren't you glad I got those four columns out of my system at once. Next time, I will write something that you agree with. I promise. D.G. MARTIN is vice presi dent of public affairs for the University of North Carolina system. THIS liepBeseNTS! C m C lEiNOWCft 0 dAN6 SHuTT, pweViLLe PTA THe tm Can’t afford to lose drum majors for justice Bernice P. Jackson Our values are misplaced. You hear about the deaths of old sports and entertainment figures who have abused their bodies, but those people who have devoted their lives to jus tice so that the lives of others might be better get no lines in the newspapers or time on the television. The world was a better place because Dr. Jean Sindab was in it and some 800 people came to Riverside Church in New York in the middle of a snowstorm to testify to her life of commitment to poor people, to oppressed people, to young people. Young people came, native Americans came, envi ronmental justice advocates came, Southern Afiicans came and many of her friends and colleagues came to pay tribute to this gentle woman with an uncompromising spirit. Dr. Jean Sindab was an Africanist, whose love for Mother Africa was central to her own identity. Through her work at the World Council of Churches, she was able to work for the liberation of black people throughout Southern Africa and for the eradication of racism the world over. Through her more recent work at the National Council of Churches, Dr. Sindab became a leading voice in the environmental justice move ment. She helped black churches to understand the impact of environmental racism on the lives of their communities and she clearly understood the link between living in degraded physical environments, mass alien ation and destructive violence. Jean Sindab was also a vocal supporter of our youth and one deeply concerned about the violence which threatens to engulf them. She put together a program called "Things that Make for Peace" and was an active participant in the Kansas City gang sum mit. Jean Sindab died at 51 of breast cancer. Another war rior for justice felled during what should have been the prime of her life. Another frontline casualty in the war against racial, social and eco nomic injustice. We seldom talk about the price one pays for being on the frontlines in the battles. We seldom talk about the early deaths, the nervous break downs, the health problems of facing into the winds of injus tice and power. But they are clearly there and we as a com munity need to acknowledge them. And then we need to do something about them. We need to take better care of our leaders. We need to embrace them, to support them, to demand that they take care of themselves physi cally, mentally and spiritual ly. We need to encourage our leaders to stop smoking and to find time for exercise in the madness of the world. We need to make sure that our men on the frontlines watch their blood pressure and their diets and have prostate cancer tests. We need to make sure that our women on the front lines have mammograms. It seems that I've lost a lot of folks I respect and love to can cer. Indeed, African Americans have the highest overall age-adjusted cancer incidence and mortality rate of any group in the U.S. Black women are more likely than white women to die from breast cancer and black men are more likely to die from prostate cancer, for instance. Cancer, I am told, is a rela tionship between a host and an invader. There are a num ber of factors which impact how your body reacts to that invader and clearly heredity, environment, social and nutri tional factors all have a part to play in cancer. So do racism and stress. Being a drum major for jus tice is full of stress. It means being sensitive to the plight of those who are oppressed. It means speaking difficult words to power. It means putting your life on the line, sometimes in not-so-obvious ways. Tell someone you respect, someone who is on the front lines for justice that you care. Make sure they take care of themselves. We can not afford to lose many more Jean Sindabs. We can't afford to lose many more drum majors for justice. BERNICE POWELL JACK- SON is executive director of the Commission For Racial Justice in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 1, 1996, edition 1
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