On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 12:59 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear LaVonda,
I know that some things are dear to your soul. To mine too.
It's not only in Alabama that the sentiment in this piece is sung, or
goes home:
http://www.google.co.uk/#sclient=psy&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=And+before+I%27d+be+a+slave+I%27ll+be+buried+in+my+grave.+And+go+home+to+my+...&pbx=1&oq=And+before+I%27d+be+a+slave+I%27ll+be+buried+in+my+grave.+And+go+home+to+my+...&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=4798l4798l0l6190l1l1l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=4dd86e68d6c231d3&biw=1280&bih=831
I've been learning a lot from your postings and if anything I've
learned to respect your commitment, honesty, depth of emotion and
attitude. You're an asset to USA _ AFRICA. I'm never impressed or
deceived by uncle-tom-foolery or quackery, and some of the fakes bring
out some of the worst emotions in me. As the saying goes, "Where
arrogance appears disgrace soon follows."
Better still still this proverbial piece of advice which you could
take to heart :
"Approach a goat from the back, a horse from the front, and a stupid
man from no direction whatsoever."
And it's not that I need Toyin Adepoju to want to teach me what is
good or bad manners towards a respected elder in Yoruba culture (he
had better teach you and himself that) - or to want to convert me to
the idea that it's hands off when it comes to you and your African-
American background being applied to whatever subject that you may
alight upon, that is of great importance/concern to you.
Especially when it's an African thing, he could also invoke the same
argument for me - that coming from somewhere else on the globe I /we
may still look at some universal dilemmas from our various
perspectives – and not that you - or indeed Lady Bird Johnson ( a
true blue blood American) should have a monopoly on insight or
"feeling good" about any particularly nationalist or not so naturally
blue or black emotion.....
It's not that knowledge of African American or European - or any
other history or gossip is stored in one's genetic code and readily
available for consultation on request- so that one doesn't need to
look, to read or to listen.... yet it seems that you did not take
exception to that reviewer saying that
"precious few works of art tackle the Civil Rights era, and what
people coming of age in the 21st century learn about this era often
stems from fictive rather than nonfictive sources."
What does he mean by that? By "nonfictive"? Legendary sources?
African-American Mythology? Science fiction? Vision? Lies? The Ku Klux
Klan?
More importantly, have a heart La Vonda and be careful with that your
propensity for dramatic exaggeration and over-generalisation: You
cannot dismiss the whole "white race" with a simple stroke of your
pen :" I will not believe that any of those women, during the Jim Crow
Era, were true friends to the Black women who waited on them." THat's
one more dangerous sterotyping of Ms White ....
Even in Africa, people have servants, domestics, cooks, gardeners,
chauffeurs, night-watchmen, secretaries, teachers, body guards,
etc. - people employ other people who would otherwise not be employed
– and in as far as they do not underpay or mistreat their servants, I
don't suppose that they have to "love" them either.
Last week, I read this portion of the Bible Deuteronomy 15: 12 – 18
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+15%3A12-18&version=NIV
Also taken up here :
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+21%3A2-11&version=HCSB
and here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+25%3A35-55&version=ESV
Now, I mention these three references because when we say the United
States of America, we are mostly ( nowadays) talking about BIBLE
TERRITORY and the Civil Rights Movement's appeal to people's "moral
conscience" was mostly an appeal to Bible-based ethics. After all, it
was the Church that provided the organisational structure for the
Civil Rights Movement on the way to "The Promised Land....."
That being the case, with all that Bible ethics (love thy neighbour
etc.) operating in the hearts of the well scrubbed wives who could
afford servants) it's an overstatement to say that you NEVER "saw one
of them getting hit with hoses or bit by dogs....never saw one of them
crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge... really and truly never saw one of
those housewives, who paid their "friends" next to nothing, watched
what they cooked and ate, fired them if the husband looked crosswise
at them (see Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's work), or for that matter spoke
up for their children (the Black ones) in college admission letters
(to name just one tiny method of redress or recompense for the endless
hours of work for low pay)."
About their children there's this bit which will probably bring a tear
to your eye instead of a smile:
"A Negro mother mothered five illegitimate children. One was fair with
straight hair. One day she heard him bragging to the rest of his
brothers and sisters about his colour and hair. " Shut your mouth
you half white rascal. If I hadn't got behind in my insurance you
would have been as black as the rest of um."
( From "Jokes among Souther Negroes : The Revelation of conflict" By
Prange and Vitols)
"It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education
to assist others in the same pursuit."
Please continue to enlighten us, tell us some more about what is and
where its at.
On Aug 30, 9:32 pm, Lavonda Staples <lrstap...@gmail.com> wrote:
> How 'bout this one? A master can never be a friend. I do not believe that
> the word friend can be applied in relationships of disparate levels of power
> and autonomy. So what? If I give you three dollars you won't be able to
> take my opinion and those three dollars and get a vente coffee at Starbucks.
>
> You don't have to read into it - I'll tell you! I don't believe that a 16
> year old can make a conscious decision to be with a 30 year old and the law
> is on my side (statutory rape). I don't believe that a woman should enter
> into a relationship which is, at its definitive point, abusive
> (pimp/prostitute). I don't believe that any slave owner had a true loving
> friendship for any slave. If so, they would have given him/her back the
> right God gave - liberty. I will not believe that any of those women,
> during the Jim Crow Era, were true friends to the Black women who waited on
> them. I never saw one of them getting hit with hoses or bit by dogs. I
> never saw one of them crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I really and truly
> never saw one of those housewives, who paid their "friends" next to nothing,
> watched what they cooked and ate, fired them if the husband looked crosswise
> at them (see Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's work), or for that matter spoke up for
> their children (the Black ones) in college admission letters (to name just
> one tiny method of redress or recompense for the endless hours of work for
> low pay).
>
> You all just kill me right down to the flo. I have a colleague who was
> raised by a mammy. I've been mothered by three women who were Black
> domestics. These women went straight from in-house work to social security
> as these jobs paid no pension. The White women of these times took
> advantage of the fact that they didn't have to pay any type of taxes. Where
> was the cookie jar or pin money when Sally, Dicey, Mary or Susie could no
> longer work? Who paid the bills for the knees, hips, fingers, and backs
> which were used up in the houses of these "friends?"
>
> Don't meet me on this field. You are sadly unarmed. This is a gender
> issue. This is an African American issue. This is an America issue. Most
> importantly, it is a labour and wage issue. It is NOT a religious or
> "friend" issue.
>
> Your move.
>
> La Vonda Staples
> Independent Historian
>
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Other thoughts about "The Help" which I have neither read nor
> > seen.....
>
> > Of course, I won't pass judgement on a film that I haven't seen.
>
> > Meanwhile, the house is still divided into three camps - the Field
> > Negro and the House Negro and of course true Jungle......
>
> >http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Malcolm+X+%3A+the...
>
> > Ama thinking about a distraught La Vonda Staples saying that " A
> > servant can never be a friend" Perhaps especially a servant who has
> > had to put up with tha Gawdy, nanny, little Black Sambo, picaniny
> > image, that was once upon a time foisted on poor Negro folks,
> > especially down South, and still survives...
>
> >http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=picaninny&btnG=Go...
>
> > Also mulling over the reviewer saying ironically or sarcastically or
> > innocently or even good naturedly, that "Good people were never anti-
> > Semites; only detestable people participated in Hitler's cause.".
> > Well, good people are never sons of bitches, to begin with. And some
> > others are plain victims of bigotry and ignorance.
>
> > Perhaps I've misunderstood the full thrust or import of the latter
> > statement - in the same way that I jumped the gun, perhaps due to the
> > wine and what was actually happening in South Africa at the time
> > ('86) so that when I heard Howard S ( who is Jewish by the way) say,
> > "Some South African intellectuals now believe that the ANC is acting
> > in a counter-revolutionary manner", I heard something else, something
> > other than what he was really, actually saying......well he wasn't
> > saying that ANC had become uncle tom....
>
> > In my humble opinion, works of fiction, whether film or in the novel
> > form can mirror any preferred reality or fantasy whether it's Haley's
> > "Roots"or Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or Alice
> > Walker's "The Color Purple".Nor does historical fiction have to be
> > held to the standard of historical reality or the given point of view
> > of a documentary, although fiction can mirror an authentic version of
> > history. As for for those who where not there and therefore do not
> > remember , the sad reality is as the reviewer said, "It is unfair to
> > the filmmakers and cast to expect a work of fiction to adhere to the
> > standards of authenticity we would want for a documentary." and also
> > that "precious few works of art tackle the Civil Rights era, and what
> > people coming of age in the 21st century learn about this era often
> > stems from fictive rather than nonfictive sources."
>
> > That being the case, the only option available to the disenchanted
> > social critic of works that fall short of artistic or historical
> > integrity would be to create other versions that challenge or present
> > alternate takes of their own cherished vantage/ disadvantaged points
> > of view. We have the social and political responsibility to tell that
> > story without falsifying the historical reality of what was, how it
> > was......that's one kind of story......although in retrospect,
> > nostalgia can exaggerate and say that it was either worse or not that
> > bad..... in the middle of the wilderness, even with Manna falling from
> > heaven the Children of Israel at some point were complaining to
> > Moses - and some of the ingrates were even longing back to the
> > days of slavery in Egypt:
>
> >http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9877
>
> > There's also this article that was posted by Tracy Flemming :"Racism
> > and Science Fiction"
> > by Samuel R. Delany...
>
> > 99% of the historical and fictional sources ( film, novel, biography,
> > autobiography – and documentary) about the Second World War has not
> > been from sources close to Hitler – and please permit me to place
> > Günter Grass, Pope Benedict Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (born in the
> > same year as Grass ) - and Joseph Heller, in the same category of "far
> > from Hitler."
>
> > For some, it could be difficult to determine which is superior or
> > even more relevant - a complete documentary of Malcolm X or the
> > Spike Lee / Denzel Washington version , the first hour of which , from
> > my point of view , was almost a complete waste of space. Just for the
> > record, I too would like to direct my own Malcolm X movie and in the
> > same spirit do one of Melvin Van Pebbles and one starring Marcus
> > Mosiah Garvey, most certainly. The Great Barack Obama of the Mighty
> > United States of America is not yet old enough for us to do one of
> > him. Given all the very difficult circumstances within which he has to
> > manoeuvre, hopefully, during his second term he will fulfil most of
> > his good intentions and complete the good work that he has so
> > faithfully begun...
>
> > Lady La Vonda Staples who probably does not, has not had any is
> > suggesting to the suggestible, so " You think you can trust your
> > servants? ….A servant can never be your friend."... No doubt she is
> > one of those who is "angry that the movie is based on a novel by a
> > white woman, Kathryn Stockett, and they question whether she is
> > capable of telling that particular story."
>
> > Well, it's possible that she's looking through a glass darkly and is
> > not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and
> > that' she's only telling her particular story, just as Alice Walker is
> > telling another kind of story in " The Colour Purple." of which film
> > version one cannot say that "the audience never sees an intact black
> > household, and a black man's abuse of his wife is all the more
> > chilling because we never see him, only the pots he hurls and the
> > scars he leaves." :
>
> >http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=The+Color+Purple&...
>
> >http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=555
>
> > A servant can never be a friend?
>
> > N.B: Abraham was a friend of the Almighty!
>
> > May I never grow tired of citing this particular story " Robinson
> > Crusoe " written by the first novelist ever to appear in the English
> > Language, Mr. Daniel Defoe and these most relevant lines that were
> > quoted by John Maxwell Coetzee, in his Nobel Lecture:, in 2003:
> > " He and His Man :
> > "But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him,
> > and made it my business to teach him everything that was proper to
> > make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak,
> > and understand me when I spoke; and he was the aptest scholar there
> > ever was."
> > (Daniel Defoe, "Robinson Crusoe" )
>
> >http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2003/coet...
>
> > And here, let us take note of language as the tool of empowerment -
> > even subservience.....and befitting a few paragraphs of postscript to
> > Professor Pillay's "Thinking Africa from the Cape "
>
> > I've seen a Marxist vantage point-of-view film version of Robinson
> > Cruse, from Man Friday's point of view …. Robinson Crusoe – no Robin
> > Hood is he - as the colonial master etc. etc....
> > Some of the atheists and ungodly
>
> ...
>
> read more »
--
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La Vonda R. Staples
Adjunct Professor, Department of Social Sciences
Community College of the District of Columbia
314-570-6483
"It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education to assist others in the same pursuit."
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