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Common's Character in Selma Convicted of Incest


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Man in simply researching the articles I've been publishing lately it is just simply astonishing how much we don't know. 

 

I just finished reading an article about Rev. James Bevel from the December 20, 2008 Washington Post.  (Harry Brown, you better sit down for this one)  Bevel is the character who portrayed by Common in the film Selma.

 

common-in-selma.jpgjames-bevel.jpg

 

Bevel was a key Lieutenant for Dr. King, and prominent civil rights activist his entire adult life--even help The Nation of Islam organize the Million Man March.

 

He was married 4 times, and fathered 16 children with 7 different women.  He was also convicted of incest with one of his teenage daughters!  Apparently several of his other children complained about sexual abuse as well...

 

James Bevel, Photo Credit: By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post

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Well Dizzam! You know what's interesting is that if we all looked at Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man closer we would see this being introduced in Black literature. I think a lot of this was taking place and a careful analysis of literature will reveal the disdain the writers held for various men in "important" positions. While the character in IM (Trueblood) was not of status the introduction of his story showed the infatuation of strong men in dominating women. I guess the idea of a patriarchal society is that the men get away with this behavior (Cosby, Woody, etc) and the women bear the brunt of proof and shame.

 

Actually Invisible Man is all about the duality that exists in being Black. The simple fact that the main character represents every facet of life as he makes his getaway from Ras The Exhorter is evidence that Black people are not one monolithic culture, but the perception is that they are. One Black man is all things to the greater society therefore he is invisible. This invisibility allows him to maintain status while also acting as brutal and ugly as his white counterparts.

 

Damn.

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Baynard Rustin who was also one of MLK's strategists was, in addition to being brilliant, blantantly homosexual. Back during the civil rights movement this was, of course,  frowned upon.  King, himself, was a notorious womanizer. In the Aretha Franklin bio I just recently read it told how her father Reverend C.L. Franklin a prominent Baptist preacher, civil rights crusader and confidant of MLK was screwing half the women in his congregation.  

 

The Black Panthers were very chauvinistic, relegating women to subservient roles.  Kathleen Cleaver, wife of Panther leader Eldrige Cleaver, finally left him because she got tired of him beating her up.  Angela Davis and other female activists also complained about how male -dominated these militant movements were, never allowing women leadership roles.  These "black is beautiful" sloganeers also displayed appetites for white women. 

 

The Black Muslims banned women from their hierarchy, too, expecting their spouses to obey and serve their husbands to the point of allowing them to practice polygamy. Boxer, Muhammad Ali, took on another "wife", while still married to his first one.

 

"Boys will be boys", and their vices transcend race. Religion has never interfered with sexual debauchery, either.  All the biblical patriarchs were playas.  :unsure:

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Being and male chauvinist or womanizer, does not come close to Bevel doing one of the most repugnant things an man can do--rape their own child.

 

Worse still (Harry, breathe deeply now), Rev Bevel is also accused of murdering his daughters.  At least that is what I'm getting on social media (though a quick search does not turn up anything).

 

Today, despite the misogyny level against Black women in popular media, Black women dominate Black culture: They are the most educated and head the majority of our families.

 

Boys will be boys, but we need to be men--whatever that means in 2015 America....

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