Don’t Be Afraid Our History Because It’s Black

The other night, I was writing a movie with my crush and we found ourselves watching Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. We started talking about how much we enjoyed the film and then I told her “If you enjoy this film, you should check out the documentary series Hidden colors”. Her smiles fades and she looks me and say “oh Im not really into the pro-black thing”.

I was offended for two different reasons. 1 reason is because I considered myself pro black but I was really offended because I hate the stigma black history has. No one bats an eye when it comes to talking about Alexander the great, Christopher columbus or Napoleon. They don’t call it WHITE history. It’s just history.

Biopic Films like Milk or Ghandi isn’t and shouldn’t be separated from films like Malcolm X because its focus on someone black or the black struggle. It’s a part of our history. Why do people throw shade or discourage us when we talk about our history. I love history. All history. You have to study the past to know the future so why take out certain parts because it make other people nervous or sad. You don’t stop talking about the jewish holocust for the German sake? 

I consider all history interesting. I think its fun imagining what the world was like before we had the knowledge and technology we had today. I want to use this blog to discuss all history. World history. I just don’t want people excluding black history just because it’s black! 

I remember being in elementary school, hearing stories about the underground rail road and seeing it in my head like a suspense thriller like “Escape from New York” or “They Live”. Those slave narrative were action adventures in my head. Sure Django Unchained was not a true story but that was the action adventure I was dreaming about for years. Nate Parker’s Birth Of the Nation trailers should of been edited like the trailers of Django Unchained. I should of heard some Kanye in that trailer! The Root reboot was cool but when are we going to see a swashbuckling film about the moors? When are we going to produce a Django style action adventure about the Haitian revolution? 

To be honest, those are projects Im developing. If I don’t produce them, who will tell our stories? I think at this point, it’s the only way to tell our stories since no one cares to discuss black history unless its set up like a marvel shared universe. ​