I say this on here all the time, but people can't seem to grasp this concept on here. We can all be equal and play different roles. A leader and follower are equals because neither of them can exist in the capacity that they do with out the other. They are different but understand they are equal.
*Long post*
I'm like a big film/documentary head (along with being very into sociology) and I saw this movie one day and it really made me look at the problems the black community was having in a completely different way.
After the Civil Rights movement, the black community is in a "good state", at least the black family is. Socially, we are connected. Civil rights movement "ends" in 1968. What big government sanctioned actions happens the next year?
1969 - The draft lottery of 1969. For what war? The biggest war the US has ever lost and knew they were going to lose but still kept fighting and sending troops anyway:
The Vietnam War
Now, who is drafted at a much higher rate that any other racial group in America?
African-American males. For the Vietnam war, though African-Americans made up only 11% of the US population in 1969-70, African-American males accounted for over 12% of the drafted persons. These are young men and men who have families as well. Men taken out of their communities after the biggest social movement the United States has ever seen. Men taken out of their community when they are needed the most.
What happens while these men are at war? They are sent to some of the worst areas in Vietnam. Areas where the causality rates are abnormally high when compared to their white counterparts. At this time, these men are also promised all of the benefits of fighting in this war (education, support, etc.). Do many of them get it? No. The ones that are left alive, are left to come back home, many of them miss out on their education benefits, suffer from severe mental problems with no help from the government and are basically discarded back into the community after 1973. Under the guise of patriotism and supporting their family and nation, black men were separated from their families and communities at a much higher rate than any race of people at the time.
Now, the other, what happens back home while the men are away? Of course these women begin to live their lives as single parents. With their husbands and partners dying at alarming rates, what do they turn to? Oh. of course, do I even have to say it?
But that's not all, what media movement in the black community hits the populace like wildfire while the men have been taken from the homes, the community is desolate of it's working class male structure, and when these same working class men return home? The direct year after 1970, the year where all of those drafted are sent to war what movement happens:
1971 - The Blaxploitation Era: The glorification of the pimp, the crime underworld, drug use, pre-marital sex, hypersexuality, promiscuity, the strong black women who fights crime and doesn't take shyt, all while backed by the too cool for school black man who is kickin' the man's ass and freeing his community, one honkey at a time. 1971 is the release of the first blaxploiation film, by Melvin Van Peebles "Sweet Sweetback's Bad Ass Song". The opening scene of the movie is a little boy having sex with a grown women.
Everyone loves it. It's the biggest thing across black America. Black boys who don't have fathers in their homes anymore are finding solace in the images of pimps and crime hustlers, who are fighting against "the man" with illegal and debaucherous activity as a financial support system. They begin to glorify the misogynistic imagery along with the flashy lifestyle of criminals. Women who don't have husbands, partners, fathers see these images of these "cool" black men who are also the leaders of their community, but none of these men have real jobs, they are not working class, they only seem to fight crime with crime and pimp women and be cool as hell while doing it. But this is the biggest thing in the black community and everyone loves it. They also love the overly sexualized images of black women, these same black women who also never commit to men in these movies, neither sex takes on partners for a family. And everyone loves watching and emulating it.
Who tries to fight against it?
The NAACP. The NAACP and other black leaders fight hard against the blaxploitation media, but black people love it so much, they don't wanna give it up. In fact, the NAACP is shamed for trying to put black people out of jobs. They are shamed by people who believe any image of black people (good or bad) is better than no image. Try to speak down on the blaxploitation or say that you don't watch those movies, even today, black people will shame you. It does not take Hollywood that long to get involved. Within 1-2 years, Hollywood is buying up and financing much of the blaxploitation industry and painting their own images as well.
But what happens when the men come home from war (1973-1975)? Things aren't the same anymore. Working class men aren't honored anymore, by men, women, and children in the black community alike. I know y'all seen "Dead Presidents", who was feeding Anthony's family so his chick wouldn't have to go on welfare?
We made these images popular ourselves, and we took them in and gave them a home in our social connection to our communities. In a matter of 5-7 years, everything in the black community changes. The black community in allegiance, men and women, began to glorify the cool demeanor, sex, and crime, in the name of "revolution" and finally getting over on the white man.
Through the glorification of crime and misogyny in spite of warnings from black leaders and the like, black people (of all ages and both sexes) singlehandedly reversed the tone of their community to supporting derogatory images of men AND women as an antithesis to white American culture. This continues throughout the 70s. The love and admiration of crime, misogyny, hypersexuality, etc. continues on into the 80s through the drug and HIV epidemic, rap music, prison growth and the surge of crime rates
I'm gonna try to find this film and post it here. It was really good doc. It's mostly about the blaxploitation era, but it touches on how the draft unfairly took black men out the black community and how this genre of media stepped in right after and the NAACP and other's opposition.