The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

You’re obviously operating under the misapprehension that Hollywood types have any loyalty to America. There’s no evidence to support that hypothesis when discussing the bulk of modern Hollywood.

I can see your point on W, but in the case of Toussaint Louverture, how’s telling his story un-American, or tantamount to a subversive act? Especially since America’s not really involved in that story one way or the other?

jonolan~

True!

how’s telling his story un-American

Glover’s stated goal with this film is to educate Americans on a portion of Black history he feels has been wiped out of America’s recollection of history. Since his target is AMERICA, why rely on the ‘good will’ of a president who:

#engaged in voter fraud
#was warned about human rights abuses against his own people
#suppressed free speech
#referred to our president as the devil?

Like most Black folks out there, I want to know as much history about my people as possible. But I am not willing to recieve any lesson about Black history from a political ideolgy that has a long history of only using it to push its own agenda against the West.

I agree with Avery. I think you went overboard on Toussaint Louverture.

To all four points you raised, I bring up America’s ties to China, who has ties to terrorist countries.

i’d argue that all history is an attempt to push an ideology. the only question is whether you agree with it or not. obviously, it depends on the final product, but as long as the story remains close to history (cuz even historical stories have some creative interpretations), i’d rather have a Toussaint story funded by chavez than no story at all while waiting for a more savory (?) backer. but i’d say the same thing if a toussaint movie were being funded by haliburton.

A wrong cannot bury a wrong.

Unless I am mistaken and we carry what you said all the way out, every time your family buys something made in China, your dollars are going right over there as well. But since we are not talking about economics…

America’s economic ties to China are indeed very whack and I have called our country on that many times. But again, typically we do not rely on them to give us an education on history. Especially when the above mentioned countries regularly engage in editing history for their own benefit. We’re not the ones filtering out the Internet.

i’d argue that all history is an attempt to push an ideology. the only question is whether you agree with it or not.

Huh?

If it happened, it happened. Someone agreeing with it or not cannot erase historical fact. If Toussaint is unknown, it has nothing to do with folks agreeing/disagreeing with his contribution to history.

Learning about what folks did in the past has nothing to do with an ideology. You are simply telling the story of what happened in the past. Communists, Marxists and Socialists on the other hand have a very long history of using Black history to push their political agenda.

i’d rather have a Toussaint story funded by chavez than no story at all while waiting for a more savory (?) backer.

But that is the problem. Do you really believe that Toussaint’s story would be forever lost unless someone makes it into a movie? You know about it, right?

Yes I remember Glover complaining about not being able to get funding here in the US because there were no “White heroes” in the film. But strangely enough, there have been PLENTY of Black films released both under the big studios and independent labels that got funded and did well without a “White hero”. But again, he considers himself an ‘activist’, so I am not at all surprised he would do something like this.

It’s bad enough when folks here in our country at times cannot get our story right. But to rely on countries who are known for using political propaganda on their own people to tell OUR story is downright foolish and naive.

Duane,

Dont be so niave as to why Danny cant get funding to make the Toussaint Louverture film is the USA! This is a ture story of how black slaves rose up and successfully defeated their white slave owners and did so before even America had won its own independence establishing the first democratic republic in the western hemisphere. This is one of the most important events in the history of the Americas and black history yet many, many blacks and most whites even today are not aware that this took place.

Is it not kinda ironic that Danny Glover could not easily secure the funding for this project in the USA??????? Maybe it is simply due to the fact that this is NOT a story that most of white America is interested in learning about.

Stop casting your lot with the worst elements of this country that are HATED by many outside of our boarders. I think we as blacks is America are grown up enough to choose who we associate with and do business with. Not for nothing there are many flag waving Americans within our boarders that do NOT wish us well and do NOT want blacks to rejoice in this great story about black people actually defeating our oppressors. Hey man, the blacks won that war and killed many racist french slave owners. Hollywood has always had issues telling storys that they believe might incite “us”.

“enemy propaganda”

What are we back to McCarthyism here? When exactly did Venezuela become our enemy? Should we invade????? They do have some nice oil reserves, right!

The way I see it Chavez is the direct outcome of the USA’s sorry half-a$$ed Latin-America foriegn policy over the last 50 years. Chavez got into power because enough of the people in his country were feed up with how the USA has manipulated the economy and policital system there for years.

No Chavez is not a saint nor do I agree with all of his policies, but I can see beyond most of the propaganda directed at him by the US media. On top of that after 8 years of GWB I think we Americans should really learn to not throw stones!

Think about Oly Stones movie and ask yourself why no one in the USA has the balls to find this project? So much for freedom of speach right? NOt for nothing but those Chinese are funding everthing else in the USA today so why not a little ole movie!

Even though I don’t like Mr,Glover perhaps he may have made an interesting film. The subject sounds good anyway. Theres a lot of sports figures,of the black persuasion,who make tons of money. I have to wonder if he went to any of them with his dream? Mr.Glover and perhaps Mr. Spike Lee could conceptualize a collaborative effort by bringing in a few black lawyers to draw up a proposal whereby they could all become something like share holders. Even in todays environment one can readily support a family and multiple material dreams while subsisting on one million dollars a year. What I’m saying is that black folks have the financial wherewithal to fund their own projects. But instead of doing that we whine and cry about why “some other”has not helped us. Frankly I am quite sick of the cowardice and disunity within the black community that this is indicative of. If black folks were plunked down in our own country along with our present wealth we would be the 16th largest economy in the world. Black people don’t need to go to foreign countries to secure financing for their projects the money is right here. But this is some of the reason why we don’t get respect from other nationalities. They see how disunified we are. Many of them know and see the obvious that black people have money and the intelligence but that our propensity is toward the “nanny state syndrome”. But I am sure that as time goes on some black person will assert,errantly, that the nonexsistance of meaningful black unity is a direct result of racism.