Afraid of that Book Cover?

I penguin shuffled out of Theater No. 4 at the Angelika Film Center Friday night, my eyes focused on no particular spot on the carpet as the exit line moved in hushed tones. A bow-tied usher, propped up near the concessions, peered at the faces of those who’d just seen “Fruitvale Station.”

 “It looks like that was a serious movie, “he dutifully announced.

I ignored him and kept walking, wrestling with my own emotions and shaking my head. Almost reaching the up escalators, I stopped and turned my face away from the crowd lining up for the next showing. My eyes welled up and I wept.

“Fruitvale Station” is one movie you are going to hear a lot about because it is a movie you will see and then feel a lot about.

It’s an unspoken fact of life that all humans are pre-programmed to make snap judgments  - sizing people up, profiling each other  - based on class: where you live, how you dress, the manner of your speech, the type of work you do, the type of car you drive; gender: if you pee standing up or sitting down;  orientation; who you prefer to spend your private time with; age: how wrinkled is your skin or how gray is your hair; and from what neighborhood, race, or religion do you come?

All people do it. Some people more than others. Others do it and allow it to influence their behavior; some suppress it and try to give unfamiliar individuals the opportunity to be just that: a unique individual.

In Ryan Coogler’s controversial true story about Oakland resident Oscar Grant, we accompany him on a cinematic reenactment of the last 24 hours of Grant’s life. We make no snap judgments but complex and layered ones; we learn he is a doting father, a son, a grandson, a nephew, a friend to friends, strangers and animals. He also has been to prison, has sold and smoked marijuana, and he has unresolved and gnawing angst about how to make his family’s future more stable.  He’s struggling to not be pushed any closer to the edge.

And just like how Spike Lee portrayed Brooklyn in “Do the Right Thing”, and how Albert Hughes portrayed South Central LA in “Menace II Society”, Coogler grittily captures the stores, the music, the streets of East Oakland and the omnipotent BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train that sleekly rumbles across The Town, that’s what locals call Oakland, a reference to Oaktown.

Oakland is seven miles east of San Francisco (The City) via the Bay Bridge or a quick ride through the underwater train bubble on BART.  This part of Northern California is called God’s Country because of the beautiful scenery, no humidity summers,  the mountains, hills, oceans, bays, the Redwood trees, vineyards etc. one of the most beautiful places on Earth.  I feel in love with this area when I first visited in the summer of 1989 and later lived there three different times since college.

Many know that Oakland, it’s hills, and nearby coast towns of Alameda, Berkeley, San Leandro , Richmond and Hayward all have better weather and  views than much of San Francisco, which is often cold and foggy. But people stay away. They don’t visit Oakland much because they are afraid of its reputation for gangs, gun violence and “scary’ black people. 

But I grew fond of the East Bay. I lived near Lake Merritt in Oakland not far from the real Fruitvale Station in the racially-diverse Fruitvale part of town. I enjoyed the ‘healthy” food, the festive people; the fun of being in cool California; the dread of earthquakes and forest fires but the joy of living and appreciating the environment.

Every Sunday morning (10 a.m. is kickoff time on the West Coast) for years, I watched the NFL games at the Golden Bear sports bar with guys just like Oscar Grant. I’ve laughed and cussed the screens and even bet against “him and Da Raiders” when my Tampa Bay Bucs faced them in Super Bowl XXXVII. I helped coached a Pee Wee football team of 25 black, Latin and Asian boys who all resembled Oscar – and his environment -  when he was probably 11 or 12 years old. I cheered their successes and helped try to mentor when their mothers got overwhelmed.

But I also was constantly aware of Oakland’s underlying gun violence problem that seemed to crash in - sometimes randomly, sometimes not - at any time, at any place:  political assassinations of news reporters on downtown sidewalks, corner street store owners blasting disrespectful customers or even police officers killing innocent unarmed people, like what the BART police did to Oscar Grant.

I was not emotional Friday night because of how the movie “Fruitvale Station” ended; I felt it because I intimately knew the place the film depicted and I felt I personally knew that young man. He had promise, he had hope, his life had value.

And I know a lot more of them; they look like my nephews Michael in Orlando, Chris and Ben in Morristown; and my friends’ teenage boys in Dallas, D.C. and Atlanta;  and the other hundreds of young men I see every day on the streets of the Bronx, Harlem, Brooklyn and Queens.

Or like the one in a hoodie we all learned about last year who died in Sanford, Florida: Trayvon Martin. As that murder trial jury now continues to deliberate George Zimmerman’s fate, the comment pages and posts on social media sites are spewing with venom: “that boy was TRASH” “Zimmerass is a punk loser”, “Trayvon deserved it” etc. etc.

There were plenty of observers, pundits and other “keyboard cowboys” that said all the same things in 2009 about Oscar Grant when he was killed and about the officer that pulled the trigger. (I ask you to closely watch the one scene of humanity and dignity between the two of them at the end of the Fruitvale movie; once both realized the preciousness of life.)  

In the Grant incident, a city’s consciousness was outraged. One man died and one man did go to jail for 11 months. But what did we learn from that? What has really changed about handguns, police tactics with unarmed people, with how we value life, or how we profile each other?

I was reminded then, and now with the Martin incident, that you can’t always judge – or be afraid of - a book by its cover.  That little saying is known and said by all of us. What’s sad though is too many people still don’t even bother to open the book and look at any of the pages.

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Drugs are a white elephant, after MJ what have we learned?

Drugs as the white elephant

Three years after Micheal Jackson’s death, what have we learned?

 BY JAMES L. WALKER, JR

ATLANTA – This week marks the third anniversary of the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

On June 25, 2009, the legendary entertainer was found unconscious at his home and rushed to a hospital where he later died from an overdose of propofol.

While Jackson’s personal physician now serves prison time for involuntary manslaughter for his role in putting the singer to sleep and then death, much of the music and entertainment industry remains asleep, or sedated, to its incessant and problematic drug problem. For many, many years now , the early- grave conveyor belt streams through some of the best and brightest artists. 

It’s time to wake up.

  

Michael Jackson was a drug addict.  Whitney Houston was a drug addict. 

And, so was Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Gerald LeVert,  Donyale Luna, Brenda Fassie,  Old Dirty Bastard,  Pimp C,  Phyllis Hyman,  David Ruffin, Ike Turner, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli , Elvis Pressley, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix Curt Cobain and countless others. 

Watch more: Celebrities that have died from drug abuse 

But that’s those who’ve died. Good luck assembling the list of the addicts still drinking and drugging their way through their fame today. I’m sure you know some of the names. (Lindsay, Britney, Soulja Boy, Charlie Sheen and others who are so often admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration?)

Three years ago, I thought Michael Jackson’s death would be used as a world- wide teaching moment about the dangers of  legal and illicit drugs. I wrote and spoke on the topic extensively, as did others. But that moment was obviously fleeting.

Rather than effecting a change to the continued veneration of clinically dependent individuals, the clarion call became a familiar but obviously broken record. New title but same tune only sung about a different drug and a different life gone too soon.

Like Jackson, Houston was a megastar. 

While certain facets of her story – and death from a cocaine and prescription drug overdose and subsequent bathtub drowning - were markedly different from that of Jackson’s, the world had a seemingly front row seat to her gravely familiar narrative: “music artist bigger than life, grapples with drugs for years and eventually looses the battle and his or her life;  another beautiful talent turned ugly because of the tempting appeal of crack cocaine, heroine, ecstasy, marijuana, alcohol, prescription and synthetics drugs.

Unfortunately, if you audited any of the  mega-celebrity responses to Houston’s death, and many of the others, it’s seems that they too are in denial or are very good liars because they all express and echo a collective  “shock.”

Shock?!?!?  For real?

Should the inevitable end not reign obvious at this juncture?  Other responses expressed deep regret, sorrow and empathy for the deceased.  The one thing you never hear is outrage.

Not one artist ever calls for a revolution of realism, an acceptance  about the underlying evil that should first be acknowledged and then confronted. 

It appears the answer to the question of “where are we as a music community after Whitney Houston’s death?” is the same as the answer to the question of “where are we as a music community after the third anniversary of  Michael Jackson’s death? Answer: The same dead-end place!!! 

While a general tone of cynicism may appears to suffuse this commentary, I want to be clear of one undeniable fact. 

There is a “silent consciousness” within the entertainment industry.

But, it is not limited to just drug related deaths in the music industry.

Someone, somewhere, on the night of Houston’s death, held another dying person close and begged that friend to seek help.  They refused the help and died with traces of drugs in their system like Houston and Jackson.

Perhaps another started with the “Man in the Mirror” and packed a bag to check into rehab. 

Either way, as we celebrate Michael Jackson’s music throughout the week, I hope when the music stops, we will wake up and have a real confrontation with this huge white elephant of an issue.

James L. Walker, Jr. is based in Atlanta, Georgia.  He is the author of This Business of Urban Music. A professor and entertainment lawyer, he can be found at www.jameslwalkeresq.com

R&B star Stacy Lattisaw Reflects on Michael Jackson

Three years after the King of Pop Michael Jackson died June 25th of an accidental overdose, former teen singing superstar Stacy Lattisaw – best known for several 1980’s hits including "Jump to the Beat" and "Let Me Be Your Angel," and who once toured and opened for the Jacksons mega successful Triumph Tour in 1981 - reflects back on the man she knew.

Ms. Lattisaw is now married (Mrs. Jackson now to be correct) and the mother of two teenagers and lives in Fort Washington, Maryland. She took this weekend to speak to entertainment lawyer James Walker and myself. Read more below.

“Michael Jackson was the most kind and the most humble person I ever encountered in the entertainment industry,” said Lattisaw, whose own career began in 1979 at age 12 and extended through 1992 with several Top 40 R&B hits.

 Click here:  Stacy Lattisaw performing on Soul Train with Johnny Gill


“And that’s one of the most important things I learned from him,” she says.

”At the tender age of 14 I had the opportunity to open for The Jackson's "Victory" tour in 1981. I remember that as if it were yesterday, I was outside playing kickball with my friends and my Mom came outside and said "Stacy, we just got a phone call from the Jackson's management company requesting you to open for them."

“Not realizing that this was a opportunity of a lifetime, I immediately began to think, if I accepted the offer, I would be away from home, my family, and friends for 13 weeks on a 38-city tour. My mom set my mind at ease and convinced me to partake in this once in a lifetime experience!”

The tour began July 9^th in Memphis and Stacy’s brother accompanied her on the road. She remembers being in awe of the 23-year Michael, who was already a megastar – as this was just before the release of his classic Off The Wall album – one whose electrifying aura had tens of young fans collapsing in excitement every show.

Watch a clip from the Los Angeles show here: Triumph Tour 1981

“He was a perfectionist and was very diligent.  He would practice for hours and hours. He was very dedicated to what he did, but I also remember he was very quiet and reserved. But when he hit the stage, it was like all of a sudden a magic from somewhere just came and the crowd went wild and thunderous. I saw him give all he had every show, he’d be exhausted.

"And after each show, my brother Jerry and I would go sit, talk, and take pictures with Michael for a few short minutes. Just to be in his presence was amazing. And while being around him, I learned the importance of humility. His success never changed him. I learned the importance of being a giver. A lot of people don’t know this, but Michael donated all of his earnings, his money, from the Victory tour to different charities.

“l also learned the importance of surrounding yourself with people who have your best interest at heart. Because Michael was such a giver, there were some who took advantage of his kindness.” 

“Those were some of the most precious moments that I will never forget,” she said.

After Lattisaw retired from the music business in 1992 to become a wife and doting mother to two children, she and Jackson did not stay touch. She, like millions of others worldwide, learned of his sudden death June 25, 2009 while watching television.

“I was devastated when I heard the news,” she said recalling the moment and how she began to cry. “It broke my heart.

“In some ways I wish that maybe I could have spent some time with him and maybe we could have prayed together. While I never reached the level of his success, I could totally relate to him, I’d had a taste of what he’d gone through, not having had a childhood and growing up in the harsh light of stardom at a very young age.

“Most people only see the glamour and glitz of fame, but there are so many unseen things I dealt with and sacrificed,” Lattisaw says about fame. “Michael indeed was a superstar and what people should learn is that no one will ever know what it was like to walk in his shoes because when you reach that level of stardom, your life becomes an open book.

“I think people had put so much pressure on him, that it probably became too much for him to handle. All he wanted was to rest and sleep.”

Jackson died from an accidental overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray, who is now serving four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

“I am very humbled and honored to have met Michael and tour with the Jacksons and in my opinion, there will never be another Michael Jackson. He was the greatest entertainer of all-time.”

Stacy Lattisaw Jackson lives in Fort Washington, Maryland and now operates a women’s ministry called Believers Building Bridges. Learn more at stacylattisaw.net  

Am I Next? Thoughts about Trayvon

It could have been nothing more than a big brother’s love that prompted Trayvon Martin to make a quick trek to a nearby 7-Eleven, during halftime of the televised Feb. 26th NBA All-Star Game, to buy some Skittles candy for his little brother.

And it probably was nothing more than society’s propensity to disregard the lives of black males that led to 17-year-old Trayvon never making it home alive; and for his killer to still not be charged with any crime.

A Neighborhood Watch volunteer named George Zimmerman admitted to shooting an unarmed Trayvon with one 9mm bullet to the boy’s chest. Zimmerman told police that he spotted the “suspicious” 17-year-old while on his vigilante duty. He called 911, then followed the teen -against the dispatcher’s orders, confronted him and ultimately, after a struggle, murdered him. Zimmerman claims the shooting was in self-defense. 

And the police have concurred. They concluded the killing was justifiable because Zimmerman – ten years older and 100 pounds heavier, was “standing his ground” in this Sanford, Florida gated community less than 30 minutes from Walt Disney World.

As a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the nation’s first and largest Black fraternity organization, I, and thousands of my brothers nationwide, are speaking out in outrage. Our late Alpha Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

We were all once teen-agers like Trayvon. We are fathers like his father. We are brothers. We are students. We are employers, employees, entrepreneurs. We are Republicans and Democrats. We are taxpayers and, most importantly, we are citizens. We are not suspicious solely based on the color of our skin.

As such, we are compelled to call for immediate action from the federal Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights, since the Sanford Police Department and the local District Attorney have found no sufficient evidence to arrest Zimmerman. 

We applaud the department’s recent announcement that they, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida and the FBI, will launch “a thorough and independent investigation into the facts and circumstances of the shooting” and have pledged to “take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation.”

As it stands now in Florida, walking while black down the street is a crime that could be met by a death sentence. Trayvon posed no imminent danger to Zimmerman; he’d even tried to run away. How else would a reasonable person be expected to try to avoid danger or a confrontation? Can you change your skin color while in flight? What is wrong with this, and other similar situations, and why do they so often involve a young black male?

Could another young black person be shot again, in another part of the country – in our city - just because they looked like they didn’t belong? Probably, and sadly, it very likely will.

The men of Alpha believe in liberty and justice for all innocent people no matter what the color of their skin. We grieve with Trayvon Martin’s family; and mourn for a lost sibling, a young man, a good brother. We, and many others, plan to continue to advocate and agitate because again, “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

President Obama offers a dance challenge to Sarah Palin -Sept. 24 in Brooklyn

The free Let's Get Mobile Festival is Saturday, Sept. 24th in Brooklyn, 257 N. 6th St. at 10 a.m.

A health and fitness event for families, students and children featuring food, free prizes from the Jets, Knicks, AT&T, Staples and ESPN as well as capoeira, dance, hip hop, yoga and double dutch.

Special guests U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, NYC School Chancellor Dennis Walcott and international hip hop performer and activist Toni Blackman.

Obama "Let's Get Mobile" Sept. 24th
by: alonza.robertson

Obama, corporations and celebs join forces to fight obesity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Alonza Robertson /Arobertson@todays-child.com, 202.567.1276

Let’s Get Mobile Festival promotes healthier lives for families and youth

NEW YORK – (September 8, 2010) - The Let’s Get Mobile Family Festival – powered by TCC Family Media, Wal-Mart and AT&T – will mobilize celebrities,businesses and public officials in Brooklyn Saturday Sept. 24^th for a free health-empowerment event to promote fitness, nutrition, technology and support services.

In conjunction with the 8^th Annual Worldwide Day of Play –endorsed by First Lady Michelle Obama http://vimeo.com/28457172 – Let’s Get Mobile will offer interactive fun to help families and youth make healthy choices, promote access to healthy food and help children become more active through a half-day of hip hop art, music, spoken word, cooking demonstrations, exercise and technology.

“Families will embrace healthier habits when they can understand and see how beneficial it is to their well-being and life,” said Michelle Drayton, president of TCC Family Media.

The fun will happen Saturday, Sept. 24th, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 pm at the joint campus of the Brooklyn Preparatory High School and Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, 257 N. Sixth Street in Brooklyn.

Confirmed to attend are:

§  NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott

§  U.S. State Department Hip Hop Ambassador and activist Toni Blackman –

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVcoUmJc3Ns

§  Olympic gold medalist Diane Dixon - http://youtu.be/Ufug2NdyXT0

§  The all-youth Renaissance EMS Band - http://www.renaissanceems.com/

§  Double Dutch Dreamz - http://vimeo.com/27122906

Invited to also join us are:

·         Celebrity chef, food activist and Red Rooster owner Marcus Samuelsson

·         U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Clark (D-Brooklyn)

·         Underground rapper Stic.man, of the hip hop duo Dead Prez, and founder of the RBG Fit Club - http://www.rbgfitclub.com/

·         Allan Houston, retired NBA All-Star New York Knicks

More than 40 percent of NYC Schools’ 1.1 million students are overweight or obese. Events like TCC’s Let Get Mobile energize students, parents and community groups and remind them that physically-fit students do better in school and often have better long-term outcomes in life as well.

Festival attendees can participate in the games and workshops while parents can browse Education Row, a collection of exhibitors, city support services organizations and other resources. Everyone will have the opportunity to win free Samsung smart phones, NY Jets prizes, ESPN book bags and Chef Rock cookbooks.

The Let’s Get Mobile Family Festival is sponsored by TCC Family Media, Wal-Mart and AT&T. Other participating sponsors and exhibitors include Children First BYAM Network 404, NYC Human Resources Administration OCSE, NYC Department of Education, NYC Parks, MobileTrec, PepsiCo, Health and Hospitals Corporation, Monroe College, Advanced Business Solutions and That's My Father Productions.

The festival will be available on Ustream and posted for later viewing on Twitvid, Facebook and YouTube.

  

About TCC

TCC Family Media is a division of Today’s Child Communications, todays-child.com; a marketing, communications and publishing firm that specializes in developing programs and products that enhance the health and well-being of families. TCC is a private-sector firm invested in the public sector—it’s where brands and families connect.  

TCC organizes professional development workshops, health forums, wellness conferences, publishes a quarterly family/parenting magazine, Today’s Child, as well as provides fundraising, grant-writing, media communications and partnership services.

Let's Get Mobile!  http://youtu.be/mYP4MgxDV2U

Contact arobertson@todays-child.com or call 2025671276 for more information.

Taye Diggs, Chris Paul and more Back To School news - TCC E-News 2011

READ TCC E- News September Edition: Chris Paul, Taye Diggs, Help for Parents on Back to School, Get Your Child a  safety tattoo and more. Click here http://ow.ly/6fWZJ