opinion
‘Red Tails’ Shoots Down Racial Stereotypes
“W
e
hope
what
youngsters get out
of the story is that
under some dire circumstances
we prevailed. We performed suc-
cessfully and we opened doors
that they don’t have to fight to.”
Col. Charles McGee, “Red Tails”
technical consultant and surviv-
ing member of the Tuskegee Air-
men
Last week, I attended the New
York premiere of a new George
Lucas film about the heroic
exploits of the all-black fighter
pilot squadron that helped Ameri-
ca defeat the Nazi’s in World War
II. I am not in the business of pro-
moting new movies.
But, there are several
reasons that compel
me to highlight the
release of “Red Tails,”
the story of the pio-
neering Tuskegee Air-
men. First, the movie
has a virtually all-
black cast with black
male heroes – a rare
depiction by Hollywood. Cuba
Gooding, Jr., Terrence Howard,
Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, and
NE-YO all play key roles. Lucas
has said that the black theme and
black cast were major reasons
Hollywood repeatedly declined to
back the film. He struggled 23
years to get major studio financ-
ing. “I showed it to all of them,”
t O b e
e qual
Marc Morial
he said, “and they said no, we
don’t know how to market a
movie like this.” He wound up
pouring $58 million of his own
money into the project.
The second reason I am excited
about this film is that recent com-
ments by political candidates den-
igrating the African American
attempts to score political points.
In a discussion of social assistance
programs, Santorum said he does-
n’t want to “make black people’s
lives better by giving them some-
one else’s money.” Santorum’s
appalling comment implied that
people of color are a drain on
resources mainly provided by
whites, even though about 70 per-
cent of food stamp recipients are
white.
Santorum’s statement was fol-
lowed a few days later by a com-
ment from Newt Gingrich that
“African Americans should
demand pay checks not food
stamps.” Gingrich has called
B a r a c k
Obama “The
best
food
stamp presi-
dent in Ameri-
can history.”
We are out-
raged by the
comments of
both candi-
dates
and
denounced them in separate state-
ments. The fact is, social safety
net programs serve families in dire
circumstances from all walks of
life. Many of those who now find
themselves in need, whatever their
ethnic background, are the very
people who have paid into these
programs and made sacrifices to
support their families and our
Lucas has said that the black theme
and black cast were major reasons
Hollywood repeatedly declined to
back the film
community and reviving outdated
stereotypes, make it more impor-
tant than ever to spotlight the his-
toric contributions and public
service of black Americans.
In just the last few weeks, two
presidential candidates, Rick San-
torum and Newt Gingrich, have
perpetuated false and destructive
racial stereotypes in desperate
nation throughout their working
lives. Which brings me back to the
Tuskegee Airmen.
In the 1940s, before our armed
Johnson, and black director,
Anthony Hemingway to create a
film they all hope will inspire a
new generation of African Ameri-
Santorum’s appalling comment
implied that people of color are a
drain on resources mainly provided by
whites, even though about 70 percent
of food stamp recipients are white
forces were integrated, the
Tuskegee Airmen became the first
black aviators in the United States
military. They were trained at
Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee
University in Alabama. Despite
discrimination, during World War
II, these brilliant airmen fought
fascism abroad and returned to
fight racism back home.
Lucas teamed with black co-
executive producer, Charles Floyd
can youth. The message of the
movie…the lesson of the
Tuskegee Airmen is clear: We
have the power to overcome any
barrier to serve our nation and
achieve our dreams. One movie
won’t solve the problem, but we
think it’s an important step in the
right direction.
Marc h. Morial is the President
and Ceo of the national urban
What do you think?
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at www.theskanner.com
arizona: Censoring history
U
sing disingenuous
suggestions that
so-called ethnic
studies programs are
divisive, right-wing ideo-
logues seek to obliterate
from our education pro-
grams any discussion of
the crimes associated
with the founding of the
United States
What first caught my
eye was that teachers in the Tucson Unified
School District were ordered to stop using a
book in which I have an essay. The book,
Rethinking Columbus, has been an impor-
tant source of expanded understanding of
the colonization of the Western Hemi-
sphere. Challenging many of the myths sur-
Using disingenuous
suggestions that so-
called ethnic studies pro-
grams are divisive,
right-wing ideologues
seek to obliterate from
our education programs
any discussion of the
Bill
crimes associated with
Fletcher Jr.
the founding of the Unit-
ed States, crimes such as
slavery, genocide and the
annexation of northern Mexico. Instead
they want our children to believe that North
America was destined by God’s will to be
settled and conquered by Europeans. Slav-
ery and genocide in that myth were collater-
al damage.
What is at stake is not simply the banning
of certain education
programs or the ban-
ning of a book. What is
really going on here is
the shutting down of
any debate. History is
not the reciting of facts.
History
always
involves
contention
between
different
analyses or “takes” on a
series of events. As such, which facts are
included or excluded from history reflects
the basic message that someone wishes to
convey. If you want to pretend that northern
Mexico (currently the states of Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Col-
orado) simply fell into the hands of Euro-
American settlers, then little facts, such as
that the USA provoked a war with Mexico
in 1846 becomes very inconvenient. If you
want to pretend that there was no one on
this land except, perhaps, a few Indian
tribes, then it also becomes inconvenient to
discuss the land claims that Mexican Amer-
icans/ Chicanos have in the Southwest that
frequently date back to the 1500s, not to
mention the land that was occupied by sig-
nificant numbers of Native Americans.
All of this is to say that history remains
t ranS
a FriCa
Their aim is to shut down any
comprehensive examination of
history and the sciences and,
instead, replace them with myths
rounding the arrival of European settlers,
rethinking Columbus pays attention to the
victims of the hemispheric invasion that
began
in
the
1500s.
If banning a book was bad enough, it must
be understood in the context of decisions
made in Arizona to ban Mexican American
Studies. These are the sorts of steps being
undertaken by right-wing activists who
have infiltrated school boards around the
country. Their aim is to shut down any com-
prehensive examination of history and the
sciences and, instead, replace them with
myths. Terminating the teaching of Mexi-
can American Studies, particularly in a state
that prior to 1848 was part of Mexico, is not
only idiotic from the standpoint of scholar-
ship, but is insulting to Mexicans and Mex-
ican Ameri cans.
January 25, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 5