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®’* KJnrtlanh (Obstruer
In Loving Memory
William Ernest Penson
William Ernest Penson, a track star at Jefferson High School
and a member of the championship team of 1962, died April 17,
2013 from complications of lung disease. He was 70. His look
was peaceful as he left our presence to be present with the Lord.
He was bom April 15, 1943. He had a knack for spreading
laughter no matter what life brought his way or what path he took.
He leaves behind m any
memories, mostly in Colorado,
Arizona and Portland where
he returned to reside for over
two decades. He was preceded
in death by his parents, Dor
o th y M ae and Jo h n L ee
Penson; and siblings, Nettie
Marie Penson-Westbrook, and
John Lee Penson Jr.
He is survived by his oldest
s is te r B a rb a ra P en so n -
McDade o f Denver; children,
Tamara Kay Penson-Tolbert,
W illia m S h aw n P en so n ,
Corwin Deon Jack-Penson, all of Vancouver, twins Deborah
Jane Penson-Sampson and Gregory Wayne Penson, both of
Portland, and William Derek Penson of Philadelphia; 10 grand
children, 3 great-grandchildren, a host of nieces, nephews, and
cousins; an honorary daughter Nadine Bolden of Portland; and a
host of friends and acquaintances.
Remembrances may be made in care of Bank of America. A
memorial celebration will be held Friday, April 26 at 2 p.m. at
Celebration Tabernacle, 8131 N. Denver, with Pastor Mondaine
officiating. Please join us!
Excellent Care
Funeral Services
One Stop Funeral Center Now-Open...
Get the best package in Portland for burial.
Everything you need all in one building.
• Consultation
• P ro v id ed H earst
• Large Sanctuary
• M in iste r
and B alcony
upon req u est
• Em balm ing
• Parking Available
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• L im ousine S ervice
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• L arge K itchen
Location: 126 NE Alberta St.
On the corner of Mallory and Alberta
2 blocks West of MLK, Jr., Blvd
Call now (971) 888-4024
April 24,2013
yirts
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ever occurred and given us the
experience of wishing for it.
Further, his film not only de-
picts something never before
imagined on screen; it conveys
some things about how oppres-
sion works. A lurking question
that troubles many people about
slavery is why the black slaves
didn't simply rise up and kill the
whites; Tarentino puts that ques-
bon (stated ironically) in the mouth
of a vicious slaveholder and then
devises a freedman superhero to
d° 2 USt ' h a t
But the film also demonstrates
the real answ er to the
slaveholder's ironic question: that
the system of oppression func-
tioned so as to ensure that such a
freedman superhero (or even a
larcapacityfortellingstorieswith
immediacy, our movies recount
the history of slavery from a cer-
tain historical remove. We tend to
soften the inhumanity, for ex-
ample, with prominent white he-
roes (as in “Lincoln.” which I did
admire very much, or “Amazing
Grace, about the movement
against slavery in England). As
important as these stories are,
they don t confront us with the
8w V “n SI ° PP“
'. A „
With Django Unchained,
Tarentino has used his admira-
bon of and facility with such dis-
counted genres as spaghetti west-
eras and blaxploitation films to
lure multiracial audiences (and in
places like Portland, largely white
audiences) to invest nearly three
hours looking at aspects of our
relatively recent past that we have
declined or even refused to face.
As he has himself pointed out,
one cannot make a film as lurid as
slavery was in reality. Slaves are
whipped; chewed to death by dogs
while bystanders watch; made to
walk, chained, on bare bloody feet
for days; and kept in burning
holes to die of thirst.
Watching the film, I found my
self reflecting on where I might
have fit into the diabolical social
h ierarch ies enforced am ong modest uprising) would never
slaves based on their physical happen. The mechanics of that
attr'J>u<es-
system are depicted with uncom-
Would I have been one of an mon insight; a hierarchy of white
army of house slaves, working enforcers maintained and benefit-
above all else to blend into the ted from the system in varying
machinery? Would I have been a degrees.
virtual farm implement, toiling in
Even more remarkably, we also
the fields but subject to sexual see a player who has not been
exploitation at a moment's whim? portrayed with this kind of perspi-
Would I have lived in relative cuity: the head house Negro
comfort and been dressed as an Stephen, played by Samuel L. Jack-
elaborate sexual toy, only t° have son. The w hite v ileness in
children ripped from me and later “Django Unchained” is more fa-
1°
offu wheLn my beauty miliar’ and is certainly chilling -
faded This is how humans being but Jackson's character is a rev-
treated as property lived a mere elation. Far from a sympathetic
150 years ago, and it's brutal.
Uncle Tom, his ruthless collabo-
Also, in giving us a black hero rator can also be an essential in-
who provokes audiences to cheer gredient of oppression. H eister-
as he mows down white oppres- rifying; he also rings true.
sors (who are the ancestors of
I disagree with those who see
many of us), Tarentino may well in King Schultz (the character for
have subliminally provoked us to which Christoph Waltz won his
notice that no such vengeance second Academy Award) just
another version of the necessary
white hero in a story about black
oppression.
Schultz is a German and he is
not out to fight slavery. This is
not his fight; he is out to make
money. He winces at slavery's
brutality because it is not his bru
tality; he is not part of this system
in the way an American necessar
ily would be. His motivation to
collaborate is less heroic, more
practical and more believable. He
is not a stand-in for white Ameri-
cans. He is necessary to the plot
(he buys and then frees Django)
but the essential fight belongs to
Django.
As Tarentino has matured as a
filmmaker, he has begun to turn his
penchantforfilmingviolentrevenge
stories to more ambitious purposes
In “Inglorious Bastards ” he cre-
ated a clearly fictional revenge fan-
tasy against the Nazis, which was
dangerous enough - but that story
js „ot our American story in the
same way this is. Here we are the
subject of the vengeance we root
for that vengeance. In this movie
w e-th at is, Americans who benefit
from our history of brutal slavery-
The mechanics o f that system
are depicted with uncommon
insight; a hierarchy o f white
enforcers maintained and
benefitedfrom the system in
varying degrees.
w
. are the bad guys,
The first time I saw “Django
Unchained,” I was profoundly
shaken by what I had seen. That
seems to me an appropriate response
to American slavery. I'm glad to
haveexperienceditthroughthelens
of this filmmaker; and to have sat in
a theater ofmostly white Americans
who experienced it too, even if they
may have not reflected on it as
deeply as I did.
One hundred and fifty years ago
the worst and most unacceptable
parts of slavery actually happened,
To pretend that it didn’t just got
harder
DarleenOrtegaisajudgeonthe
Oregon Court o f Appeals and the
first woman ofcolorto serve in that
capacity. A movie reviewerfor over
adecade.hercolumnappearsregu-
larly in the Portland Observer. You
can fin d her m ovie blog at
opinionatedjudge.blocspot.com.