Red Tails - Is it about Black Consciousness or Black Apathy?

"...will we be as excited, if Obama has Black pilots bombing out our kin folks in Africa.."

Dear friends,

There seems to be a lot of frenzy about the newly-released Hollywood flick called Red Tails, particularly among many African Americans. The idea that courageous African American men fought valiantly against fascism during the Second World War is surely something of which to be proud, especially in a society that deliberately goes out of its way to ignore the relevance of the existence of African American people to either the past or present of this country.

However, aside from the fact that there are never either television shows or movies made that show Black Resistance, such as the many "slave" rebellions, or assaults against White Supremacy by Black warriors like Nat Turner or the men who burned down the house of Confederate leader Stonewall Jackson, much less our female freedom fighters like Ida B. Wells or Black Panther leader Elaine Brown who still fights for social justice to this very day, what should we really expect from Hollywood, regarding our story?

Moreover, is it not peculiar that: at a time when the US Military/Industrial Complex, supposedly lead by the so-called "Black" president, is under increasingly greater scrutiny than ever before, that a film about Black fighter pilots from the United States is being given so much honor and attention? If that's not the case, then why not show a movie about the War of Independence where Black soldiers fought overwhelmingly FOR the British against the new "Americans". In fact, most of our ancestors fought by a ratio of 4:1 in comparison to those Blacks who fought on George Washington's side, because Lord Dunmore had promised the former fighters freedom from slavery, if Britain won the war. Additionally, why not show that thousands upon thousands of Black Confederate soldiers fought against the Union during the Civil War (as opposed to those in the 54th Calvary that the movie "Glory" showed), because slavery was a class institution - NOT a "race" one. Please go to your local libraries or type "Black Slave masters" in your browsers!

Finally, will we be as excited, if Obama has Black pilots bombing out our kin folks in Africa, as he and his administration continue to set up shop in Africa through AFRICOM, as the United States sets up military bases throughout the Motherland? Let's keep all of this in perspective, please.

G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post