Movies That Move We

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)
https://youtu.be/GxlrRyUDXxY?si=ZAwP2qBUWZLWmBMA

my thoughts
6:37 right, hope and hustle are together especially as black people were never supported. before 1865 we were over 90% enslaved to other human beings. Then after 1865 we were never given focused assistance from the government. Black people post 1865 have never been given any assistance beyond what can be obtained as a citizen of the USA. so this created the hope/hustle balance. 
9:16 Interesting that heat of the night was three years earlier. 
10:03 The problem with merit in the united states of America is that merit has never been the basis of worth. The NYPD wasn't started by citizens trying to get rid of criminal activity in their community. The NYPD was started by Boss Tweed for the purpose of gaining votes + an allegiant arm of New York City government. He achieved it by giving the Irish gangs badges. We Blacks talk about merit a lot, as if we don't live in the USA or know the USA. And I comprehend the country you are fighting to make happen argument. The USA has a system that allows for systemic change over time and from 1776 to 2025 the USA has changed in various ways. But, Ossie Davis is making the old argument that Black people should approach the USA as the country they want it to be, and I argue, that has cost black people. 
10:57 Yes, the 1970s was the end of what I call the enslavement era. The 1980s was the beginning of what I call the integration era, and cotton is the symbol of that. 
12:37 The proof in my historical measure is the role of women who needed the 1980s to have the ability to truly financially standalone.
14:36 I think both. She had to do both, fight to gain something for herself, autonomy,  while also be attache to this guy, through the system she lives in. O'Malley can't hate the player, has to embrae the game. This is the reality of women at that time. Remember Ruby Dee is Ossie Davis's wife and I think Ruby Dee would make Ossie Davis have an idea of how a woman living with a man thinks of some things. 
15:03 love Purlie Victorious and you mentioned it. I saw the play with Leslie Odom. Ossie Davis did write the play. Didn't know about the film, gone are the days. Ossie Davis eulogy concerning Malcolm. 
16:23 Didn't know it was in the 30s in the original text. That is interesting plus valid, wise by Davis.
17:17 Cotton comes to Harlem isn't relevant to Harlem but is relevant to the Black experience still. Because the core issue is getting to a functional multiphenotypical community. It is one thing to have a city of people who look every which way, it is another for all of those peoples to not only have individual allowance but also have growth within their communities. NYC's problem in the 1930s/1970s/today is the ability of individuals to grow has strengthened, the black populace in NYC has more wealthy individuals in it than ever before, more black owned businesses than ever before. BUT, the black community is arguably weaker than ever before. Weaker in that the mechanics of collective power are farther away. And so black individuals still have to go through hurdles with the non black every which way and the black community has to deal with constant attacks from the agenda of the non black.
17:21 Blaxploitation was simultaneously with the mob movie that had complaints from many Italians and yet, the godfather and et cetera are some of the best films. Italians never said their community had problems even though the movies involving characterizations of the Italian mob [godfather/scarface/] showed a cruel violent crime culture. 
20:18 I can't think of a film with a black cop taking charge outside an Oscar Micheaux film , but I can't think of the scene directly. But I know in one of his, a black cop is helping a black woman do something. 
22:00 Blaxploitation's influence is huge in soundtracks. Hollywood had the musicals but from 1970s onward the placement and use of Black music in films/television/commercials has been on a constant rise. And every decade you see jester films of Black people whether produced or written by black people or not. 

My Comment

Was O’Malley exposing the system — or just gaming it? hope and hustle, I think are inevitably intertwined when one seeks growth noncriminally against a group that historically or modernly uses criminal activity whether legal or not for their own agenda.  Merit, at the end of the day, many black people physically live in the current  usa but philosophically live in the usa they want to be tomorrow. women's empowerment, I think most female characters in fiction are both, trying to empower self while also living in a man's world. Women today in the USA are unlike any women in recent history anywhere when it comes to individual rights/protections/abilities Ossie Davis did write the play, Purlie Victorious Cotton comes to Harlem is relevant in that minority populaces will always have in any fiscal capitalistic setting those among them looking to make money regardless of the detriment to said minority populace. Minority populaces will always have in any bureaucratic environment made by a majority those among them trying to be bridges into the bureaucracy.  Blaxploitation - eddie murphy once said no one wants to see that today, but i argue whenever films have one of the two following elements:  the joyous black jester-formerly jim crow(norbit/dont drink juice in south central/baps) ,  or the black communal plight films(juice/do the right thing/boyz in the hood) these are no different than most of the films of the 1970s involving black thespians that were mortly,written/directed/produced by whites commonly called blaxploitation Black Cops in film, i can only think of a black cop in an oscar micheaux film. i think he was a ranger or mountie or a role in that field, but your right it was uncommon. I wonder how many black people wanted to be cops through these films. To O'Malley, he cheated the village but overall, it is both, let's be blunt, the usa wasn't born by legal fiscal operation and great ledgerwork. The usa was born from thieves/killers/cheaters not really hustlers but people far far worse. To my knowledge omalley killed no one, in the very city harlem sits in, rockefeller who is known to have killed white oilmen has a whole center to his name. Carnegie who is known to have stolen land and murdered competition has various buildings with this name and an endowment with it. The roosevelts is the name of an old dutch family when new york was enw amsterdam who was part of a land owning caste upstate new york , that had a sharecropping system for white farmrs for the purpose of keeping them as lifelong tenants. If white people who murdered entire indigenous peoples and enslaved as many as possible have their names lauded why is OMalley a great sinner, for his wee hustle.

comment referral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxlrRyUDXxY&lc=UgzkjnVo7IPWs1g6xyh4AaABAg