Links to Excellence – And Still I Rise

Courtesy of Bob Hercules and Media Process Group

Film Trailer

This PBS documentary on the late Maya Angelou is Interiors’ selection for women’s history month, given its inspiring title and mantra that exemplified the strength of Angelou and many powerful women that we have or have had in our lives, who would encourage us in these difficulty times.

Currently streaming on Netflix, the following link provides a behind-the-scenes discussion of the film with its Peabody Award-winning Directors, Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn-Whack.

American Masters Behind-the-Scenes Interview

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For more information, visit The Maya Angelou Film

and Media Process Group

Commercialized Love

The images of interracial relationships often seen in today’s media, and real life, usually consist of a black man with a woman of another race when the interracial component involves a person of color.

Some argue that this dynamic speaks to America’s racial progress since the Antebellum South, Jim Crow and the tragic death of Emmett Till – times when the lives of African Americans were at risk for even thinking of the forbidden and accused of such. The truth in this argument validates itself, bearing historical consequences that bred fear, which is now replaced by male-liberation and possibly victorious-pride to defy a system that was so punitive to the extent of dictating whom one could and could not love.

Even the dictates over the longevity of black love during slavery, and the prices paid after families were separated for financial gain, carried over as forbidden remnants during the early TV era when images of black love were not seen, nor authenticated in the media. 

Quality films and their memorable scores like Love Story, and The Way We Were, had no counter-equivalents aside from rare gems as, Lady Sings the Blues­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­, and Mahogany, whose protagonists' conflict added richness to these stories and their mainstream counterparts. 

After Lady and Mahogany, there was a wide disparity in black love dramas with a rich undertone, till such films as, DuVernay’s, Middle of Nowhere, Jenkins’ Beale Street adaptation,  and currently, The Photograph by producer Will Packer who’s among today’s leading creatives elevating the “black love” genre.

The task to bring these stories to the cultural landscape amid disproportionate images of black-male “interracialization” is imperative, as it offers balance and reminds us that black love does exists and is a sustainable option as any other love.

“Excellence is never an accident.  It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution …”                                                             

                                                                                                                   – Aristotle  

The Stanley Nelson One-Question Interview

All Images Courtesy of Firelight Media/DKC

         

       “Another Side of Cool through the Aura of Miles Davis”  

In Part II of this Miles Davis feature, I interview filmmaker, Stanley Nelson Jr., as my premiere guest for Interiors' One-Question Interview series.

Having achieved numerous honors as a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow – receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, to the National Medal in the Humanities and Emmys for his films on race relations – Nelson’s latest work, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, explores the life and music of Miles Davis, while touching on the infamous “Miles Mystique,” which offered an opportunity to engage a brief discussion on how Miles “demarginalized” his blackness into an imitable aesthetic.

Interiors of Man: Through your film, viewers learn where “the cool” originated in Miles, finding his voice apart from the bebop legends he admired and developing a cool jazz sound early on.  That was one part of the Miles mystique, but the other, most important element was the confidence and respect he had for his dark, black skin – tapping into the under layers of his complexion and exuding a regal presence.

How did this racial maneuvering and confidence equally contribute to Miles Davis’ success?

Stanley Nelson:  Miles understood the optics of being a dark-skinned Black man. His confidence was unshakeable. He understood that having pride in his skin, in how he dressed, in how he carried himself, sent a message to his fans, and to the music industry. He was aware of the message his image was sending, and it influenced many of his decisions, including the mandate to put images of himself, his wives, and other Black bodies on his album covers.

Miles Davis was unapologetically Black, back at a time when that could have been a career-ending posture and years before it was chic.

For additional interviews and more on Stanley Nelson, visit The Miles Davis Movie/Press and Firelight Media.

Links to Excellence – The Second Birth

Courtesy of Firelight Media

Acclaimed filmmaker, Stanley Nelson, adds to the history of jazz in this Firelight presentation, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, named after Davis’ original compilation album released in 1957.

The Miles Davis Movie

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”

                                                                                  – Thomas A. Edison
                                                                                                                                                       

The Deculturalization of Love

The introduction to bell hooks’ 2001 national bestseller, Salvation – Black People and Love, contains a disturbing belief she uncovered while lecturing in the public schools during her tour for a previous book, and hearing a number of young black people proclaiming, “there is no such thing as love.”

I was drawn to this book in reading its introduction, powerfully entitled, Love is our Hope, and then seized by the disheartening belief these young people have towards love.  

What’s more disheartening is that today, (twenty years later since hooks discovered this nihilistic attitude) it’s easy to understand the cynicism, hearing the profane anger and frustrations coming from young people who are growing up in hostile environments where the absence of affection is replaced by verbal attacks on the state of the family-dynamic.

The elegance of Salvation, is hooks’ solution and urgency to restore the “love-ethic” where it may be absent. This nurturing custom, grounded in spiritual guidance is what has built strong communities, families, and young who grew into respectful adults – a nurturing custom that has been dismantled by broken homes where childrearing is replaced with rage caused by hardships that turn the focus on self, amidst emotional neglect that makes love invisible when not modeled before the young or afforded the agency to be modeled, living in brokenness that has no oxygen for the act. 

The deculturalization of the word, beaten down by shame, impoverishment, fear, vulnerabilities, and the myth that it subverts strength in the face of weakness has paralyzed some from moving into its embrace.

For love to be our hope, regardless of race, it needs to be modeled through simple acts as brave professions, healing language … and the “reculturalization” of affectionate music, anthems, and conversations that soothe the soul.