Django Unchained Review

 

 

Peace! For those who didn't have an opportunity to check out The Geek Supremacy Project Radio Show I was on, I just wanted to give you a quick Review of the Film 'Django Unchained'.

1.) First and foremost I approach all Films as a Social Study and being Entertained is not the primary reason why I invest my time in checking it out. Quentin Tarentino is an Action Movie Maker so if you're intention for going to cee 'Django Unchained' was to cee him tackle the Institution of Slavery on Film from a "Drum", "Mandingo" or "Sankofa" Perspective you'll be sadly disappointed because that's not his Genre. This is an Action Film stylized as a 'Spaghetti Western'. Spaghetti Westerns were low budget Westerns produced in the 1960's by Italians, usually filmed in Europe and hence the association with 'spaghetti'. If you've checked out other Tarentino Films you'll cee these Western elements in there.

2.) What I most appreciated about 'Django Unchained' is it showed how complex and sophisticated the Institution of Slavery was on a psychological and sociopolitical level. Many people are under the false impression that "White People had Black People as Slaves." The reality is, various people of European Descent/Nations directly and indirectly participated in the Institution of Slavery and brought with them their own cultural nuances/considerations to the table. For example, French, English, so-called Jewish, German and etc. Slavers did things alittle differently. If you know anything about the French, they were historically more sexually (sadomasicism) orientated than the English which painted a different social backdrop for their Plantations. These Europeans didn't always get along either and definately didn't just group themselves together as "White People". This Film clearly shows how a German (Dr. Shultz for example) didn't "entirely" identify with a Southern American or a Frenchman. The concept of Race Relations (White vs Black) was a sick smelting process that took many years to forge in America in order to have these European Descendants buy into the idea of being "White Americans". Prior to this, they were simply Jews, Scottish, American and etc. Slavers and Colonial Transplants (Rural/Towns People) that didn't always group all "Black People" together because all Black People in America pre the Civil War weren't Slaves. If you really want to do your research you'll find that there were many Black People here before any Europeans that were NEVER Slaves. When America declared Independance from Britain they signed a Treaty of Friendship with Morocco in 1777 which consequently reasserted the sociopolitical status of some of the Moors who were living and doing business here. 'Django Unchained' does an excellent job expressing some of these historical, cultural nuances and subtleties. For those of us who study 120, this gives you excellent cultural context to your 1-36 or "English" C Lessons that primarily deals with Slavery under the English.

3.) 'Django Unchained' also showed the "congnitive dissonance" that came along with ceeing a Free Black Person (Django) and other Blacks (Enslaved Blacks) occupying the same place at the same time. This "congnitive dissonance" or difficulty trying to reconcile new information that conflicts with our presently held beliefs is something that affected both the European/American Slavers and Enslaved Blacks alike. Ceeing Django express a sense of 'Self Determination by dressing himself, speaking for himself and performing basic human functions (like riding a horse) was something that many European/American Towns People, Slavers and Enslaved Blacks never experienced. The same phenomena exists today...

4.) There's a beautiful Black Woman named 'Sheba' who Slavemaster Candie keeps by his side. Because of the way she dresses, expresses herself and what she has access to you actually get the impression that she's Free. Sheba holds this position all the way up to the point where Lara-Lee (Candie's Sister) enters the room and automatically demotes her to being "The Help". Not because of Lara-Lee asserting her hierarchical position b.u.t. based upon the glorious marbled pedestal the White Woman was primarily placed upon in America by White Men -for show of course! You also cee an incestuous relationship implied between Candie and Lara-Lee which is something wasn't uncommon on Plantations and amongst early European Colonialists. What this Film also makes perfectly CLEAR is how the unsoiled Lara-Leeized fantasy was being forged in the minds of Black Men/Women that many of us still salivate (lust) over and/or use as a standard model of beauty today. This non-verbal Power Dynamic shown between Lara-Lee vs Sheba is a historical relationship (and rivalry) that still colors relationships between Black and White Women today!

5.) The Slave 'Steven' (Samuel L. Jackson) looked like Gollum (Lord of the Rings) and was a House Nigga that made James David Manning (ATLAH Worldwide Missionary Church) appear like Khalid Abdul Muhammad.

6.) Django had a Mission; to save his Woman. The torture, torment and inhumanity he and his Woman were exposed/subjected to during the process, while he maintained his composure and focus to fulfill that Mission is a Lesson in and of itself for any Black Man. Many of us get easily sidetracked by the most trivial things and loose sight of the fact that Cultural Freedom and Family is vital to our survival as a people.

7.) The subtleties! The conspicuous handshake between Django and his 'Master' Dr. Shultz (cee Tubal-Cain; Metallurgy) initiating him into the Bounty Hunting Profession. The Candie Plantation (of 'French' orientation) being in Mississippi instead of Louisiana where Plantations like this primarily were. The emphasis on Law/Legalities by 'The German' Dr. Shultz (cee Muhlenberg). These are all worth looking into to gain a larger Persepctive of the Backdrop that eventually forged America's Sociopolitical landscape we're living on today.

8.) Spike Lee, as I said last week, is a Red Hook Hater. The only one I've ever heard him give credit to were The NY Knicks. Welp.., willfully he can Direct/Produce a Film about the subject matter of Slavery that shows respect to our Ancestors. I will definately check it out and critique that too.

9.) All in all I think 'Django Unchained' is an excellent Social Study for those of us who're are interested in getting a better understanding of the conditions, complications and complexities that came along with the various Relationships during the time of Slavery pre the Civil War. This Film definately doesn't show you everything and many things are simply implied yet analyzing/assessing these implications are well worth the research!

Peace!

PUBLIC STATEMENT
-The Connecticut Shooting-

In regards to the recent tragedy at the Elementary School Shooting that took place in Newtown, Connecticut I wanted to offer a Public Statement addressing a couple points. Before I do that I want to first say that I am deeply sorrowed by these events and any other tragedies happening within our Human Family, especially as it relates to our children, regardless where it’s at around World. At the date of this writing the death toll stands at 28 with 20 of them Children, 6 Adults, the shooter's own Mother and himself.

NEWS COVERAGE

Although this is the lost of human lives, for those of you like myself (Black) who belong to a minority group here in America, it’s important to realize that this tragedy is a case of a White Person killing a group of primarily White Children in a primarily White Neighborhood. The Mainstream Media is primarily White. Therefore, the story is going to be told in a way to protect the overall image, status and interests of White People as a whole. To expect their Media to denounce their own or deface their own image by defining their own as a Terrorist, Fanatic, Menace to Society or etc. is expecting too much of them. I’ve read many complaints about how White People are playing the “mental health issue” and “he was such a smart/intelligent guy” card to solicit for the general public’s pity and you all have a right to be offended by that. I think it’s great to voice your perspectives on incidents such as this and anything else you think is not being covered fairly or reflective of all elements of America's so-called 'Melting Pot'. Ceeing that the Media Coverage of this shooting is obviously written from the perspective of White People who directly identify/sympathize with the children, the shooter, the families, the community and similar gun tragedies that happened like this in similar areas around the US, it should encourage you to share your own perspective. We should be encouraged because as a minority group in this Country, our perspective, consideration for our perspective and what’s happened/happening in our Communities is not the voice of Mainstream White America. Usually it's only Regional/National News to the extent of how it directly effects their (White) People or how it bolsters the positive image and status of White People. This being the historical case, Journalism, Blogs, Vlogs, Discussion Groups, Commenting on Articles, sharing Articles from Alternative News Sources and etc. to express our view are effective ways to engage others in our perspectives that help bring balance to Mainstream News Coverage. For example, the slogan for  Supreme Design Publishing is "Reinventing the World" and this is exactly what this Company is doing by providing resources (literature) and  ultimately perspectives that are not represented or outright repressed in  Mainstream White America. Providing these sources also provides us with a platform to reinforce or start establishing our own Media outlets! You are reading this Article right now or have been checking out my videos at A.S.I.A. TV because I am also providing such a platform as a minority voice here in the wilderness of North America and there are people who reference this platform Globally. So it’s alright to complain, just use your analysis and critique of situations like this to change the game.

ETIOLOGY

Etiology is defined as "the cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition." In this regard, in order to better understand what happened in tragedies like this we must take an Etiological approach. We must look at the origin of this. As I stated in the second paragraph, "The Mainstream Media is primarily White. Therefore, the story is going to be told in a way to protect the overall image, status and interests of White People as a whole." What this means is that it's never in the best interest of Mainstream White America to approach things Etiologically. The reason being is because the trail would lead back to their doorstep. In order to uphold their overall image, status and interests they must play the 'Blame Somebody Else Game'. For example, whenever someone from a Foreign Country does something to protest or lash out against America they're always categorized as a Terrorist or Fanatic, NEVER are people told that this person or these people are responding/reactiving to America's devilish Foreign Policies towards their people. Whenever you cee a Black person or other person of Color be charged with a crime it's always because of a unilateral decision on our part, the checkered past and soiled reputation, usually the socioeconomics created by White Mainstream America that are valid factors that contributed to the charge, not crime -meaning we're already sentenced in the public eye via their Media before being judged before a jury of 'their' peers, never make their way into their News story. Many of us like playing the 'Blame Somebody Else Game' because we're just as inconsiderate and irresponsible. The problem with this Game is that it always comes back to haunt you in the end. Crack wasn't a problem in America until the children of Mainstream White America started smoking it. Then the President's First Lady (Nancy Reagan) got on Television in 1986 and told America to "Just Say No". Nancy Reegan coined the phrase in 1982, yet in our Communities, Urban Communitites, the Heroin and Crack epidemic had already ravaged our families and neighborhoods years before this became a mainstream concern of theirs. Again, when crack dealers (and drug users) in Urban Communities were/are still locked up and given harsh sentences unequalled to their White surburban counterparts who possess pure powder concaine -via  the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986-, rarely is the question ever asked or investigated how these drugs are making it into the US, in these neighborhoods... 

In this tragedy, like the various other mass shootings that have taken place in primarily White American Communities, the question of 'individual sanity' or some kind of 'chemical imbalance' always arises. Etiologically speaking, this has not and does not address the sociopolitical environment that cultivates the type of psychopathy that produces this type of tragedy. If the sociopolitics are examined then the Social Engineers will be revealed. Obviously these Engineers must exist because incidents like this aren't isolated. Crimes aren't defined as isolated for Black or other people of Color -sometimes being tied together via Hip Hop although they're 2,200 miles apart, so there's definately some dysfunctional rhyme to their reason. Again, the problem lies in taking responsibility. Frankenstein never created himself.

Will Mainstream White America look at themselves and ask the hard question, "What is the reason our children doing this to our children and how did I err as a Parent?" Probably not. The larger and more important question is, "What are you doing about it?" In closing, I want to encourage those of you who're observing the Media Coverage to keep in Mind that anytime we cee events like this happening within any Society, especially Societies that pride themselves on being the standard of the Civilized World, to take this as a warning of what's to come. You shouldn't be afraid you should be encouraged to be that much more mindful and involved in actively creating conditions that reinforce Love, Peace and Happiness and thwart such atrocities. On Facebook I saw alot of people, who after learning about this tragedy, encouraging others to go home and hug their own children as if to say, "I'm glad that wasn't mine". Yes I think that's excellent to appreciate our Family yet I also think it's important to extend ourselves to those within our neighborhoods and communities who don't have the sense of Family that you are encouraging in your own household. One thing that you'll cee consistent and at the heart of any of these mass shootings is Family Dysfunction; a 'member' of a Family performing a heinous act that affects the lives of their Family and other Families. In extending ourselves to others we must be more personable and supportive of eachother. Invest the time to positively encourage and speak to one another, help eachother whenever we can and simply strive to re-establish human relationships that many of us have strayed away from in exchange for being all about "me and mines". We don't have to wait until disaster strikes to do this! We can advocate preventative measures so that tragedies like this are minized and willfully stopped from happening again. There are tragedies happening all over the Country and World that don't get Mainstream News Coverage that require our attention, sympathy and action. None of these tragedies are more/less important than any other because they're all tragic and effect us all! At this very moment a student I mentored is sitting in a small town jail in the South facing Class A Felony charges (life/execution) of a robbery that he didn't commit/mastermind yet is being fingered for because a.) He's a young black  male and it was a White Woman b.) He's from New York. All of these incidents are News worthy and anytime there is a loss of innocent lives, especially children, as Parents, Educators, Mentors, Caretakers, Adults we need to responsibly reassess the Roles we play in the conditions that promote or don't promote such tragic events. Again, my heart goes out to all of us who are directly/indirectly affected by this tragedy, tragedies happening throughout this Country and around the World. And I will that through the insight of God and intuitiveness of the Earth that we begin/continue working towards healing these self inflicted wounds within our Human Family. I also want to Thank those of you whom I know personally or whom I may not know who have made the children and Families within your Community, City and Society at large your responsibility! Those of you who prepare meals for those babies living in your neighborhood you know didn't eat today, those who volunteer to help your elderly neighbor bring their groceries in the house and those who're going outside of your houses of worship to help people who aren't members because you care about them regardless what they believe. It is because of you all, who realize that "It's not my job" isn't an option when it comes down to doing the right thing and what needs to done especially for our children! This is evidence of a Will for a brighter future and I am, we are, the result of such a Will and a future. It was because of the Love, Peace and Happiness that others invested in me that I stand before you as the Man I am today. It is because of the Love, Peace and Happiness you are investing in the children of today that they will one day become the Ambassadors of a brighter future we desire to cee!

Peace,
Saladin

The Status Quo

By Allah Universal Lord Life Justice Shabazz

I read your build, "Pike Dream" God. I found my persons mentally stimulated and would like to add on to some of the comments made within. I particularly thought it astute of you to point out the sociopolitical agenda of those who keep the status quo, the Freemasons. We as original people need to be conscious of the fact that we are a society or culture within the inside of a much larger culture. Unlike other people who came to America from other countries to apply for citizenship, most of our people here were abducted from our homeland and enslaved. This is a point to pay close attention to, for where the immigrant petitions for citizenship, we did not. Whereas a newly American citizen decides which parts of his previous culture-turned-subculture will remain in his/her life as an American. Our culture was obliterated and has to be recaptured through active research and development. But in both cases, to call yourself American means that you pledge allegiance and incorporate yourself into the American culture.

 

A lot of us think that we are sort of a huge population in America being unfairly treated. That is not true. Though we may not be treated fairly as Americans, we are not a huge population within the American fabric. Our numbers represent about 15-18% of the American population. That's like a hunk of pepper buried in a salt shaker at the bottom. It will be some time to attempt to uplift that unit to the top of the shaker and it will not happen evenly when or if it does. When we talk of the American phenomena, ratios being somewhat consistant, we were 19,000,000 original people to 103,000,000 Whites in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's consensus of 1933. Yes, I know we are in a ratio of 11:1 or 4,400,000 Blacks to 400,000 in that same consensus around the world --but our conscious community seems to loose tract of the fact that our American numbers are very disproportionate to Whites. We are not in the majority in America. If this were so, the status quo would be in favor of us, simply because that would be in favor of majority interests. To this day, there is even issues between Black and White lodges within America (those who would like to investigate further should read, "History and Evolution of Freemasonry" by Delmar Duane Darrah 33', The Color Line pp.313-323).

 

So from our sheer numbers in America alone, we can only be one of the mainstream's minority issues, like non-White ethnic groups, religious sects (other than White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), the rising issues of sexuality and rights affiliated with these things. We speak about civil and human rights but we petition the courts of their system to have their mainstream society grant smaller sub-cultural groups and communities the rights which are inalienable to the mainstream. America then response in such a way as to give the impression to the world that there is liberty and justice for all in this country--however it is a work in progress. . . Yet for Whites whose ancestors came to America as early colonizers (so called true native Americans or White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), liberty and justice are automatically given as their birth rights. Those clandestine societies who maintain the status quo are there to protect the interest of the majority, while entertaining some of the wishes of its minority to quell civil unrest. And those who are ethnic Freemasons are here in this country because the White working class Masons from England, have allowed them to be. George Washington consecrated the first lodge in America called the Occident Temple No.1. All other lodges are beholden to that lodge. Even the Prince Hall Masons. Prince Hall, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen received their charter initially from England.  So they are beholden to uphold the status quo in America, not Arabia, the Fertile Crescent, Central Asia or so-called Africa. Their National Treasure is in America. Although they are secret societies and we will never know how the lodges truly feel publically about our liberation and the changing of their policies, status quo or keeping things as they always were--we know America's policies come first and are the primary concern of any Masonic lodge in America beyond all else.

Let us also not forget, in Blacks petitioning to be recognized as Americans, we took on America's greatness and America's ills. You can see this at play when you examine the behavior of our grandparents and great, great, great grandparents. Most of them stuck to the policies of the bible, dressed differently than Whites and had practices for rearing their children far different from mainstream America. We even wore different clothes than our fellow White counterparts. We did so because our views were not the same and we were not treated the same--so doing so was a sort of hypocrisy. In the past we held ourselves to a higher Biblical standard. . .

 

In the documentary called 'The Hate That Hate Produced', it is fairly obvious that the Blacks used to flush out information from Black Organizations and hand them over to Mike Wallace of CBS News are nothing but lap dogs for the White media machine in America. In the famous photo of Marcus Garvey riding in that convertible with the plumed hat, the Blackman in that car with the straw "election-like" hat is none other than a secret service man for the United States Government in those days; a person all Garveyites despised because he was a overt agent who attended their meetings and reported their activities.

 

It was never intended for us to belong to such secret organizations, agencies or Masonic lodges, thus it would not be wise to trust in those who have dual allegiances at best. Most of our organizations in the past were sabotaged by those agents who had black skin. This should serve as some example of who you have to watch out for. If we are doing things for the upliftment of ourselves as a people, let us be sure of what cause we are serving. Besides, our knowledge is open and free, is the Freemasons? So how is that just or equal and how can such a relationship be trusted? Protect your neck.

Peace Family,

Allah Universal Lord Life Justice Shabazz