Monday, February 13, 2006

Black people, I miss you in the theaters...

It was so nice to see you at Love Jones.
Ebony faces from front to the rear.

Sorry I missed you at Good Will Hunting.
Was it lack of interest or some kind of fear?

Haven't seen you since I Got the Hook-Up.
Horrible movie, but, hey, you were there.

Didn't expect you at Brokeback Mountain.
All we saw was pink skin and grey hair.

So much excitement surrounding Something New.
To me, it seems like it's anything but.

At Crash I think that I just might have seen you,
Was it Terrence or Luda or what?




Cliché's in Black movies were goin' strong
you'd think we ALL thug to get rich.

Black women were missing for so damn long
unless they were playing "the bitch."

It seems Black professionals are the new theme.
So we're glad that it's getting much better.

If you're supporting the cause I ain't blamin' you dawg
I just want us all hangin' together.

Just as Black movies are for more than our folks...
(Remember the love from Glory?)

It would be nice to see more of my people
even if it is not just our story.




We spent many years doing just that
But that "Booty" and "Playa" shit's stale.

We can go so much further than all of those clichés
even if the lead actor is pale.




This sad attempt at poetry was brought to you by West.
I hope the message is clear, despite the delivery.

Questions? Comments?

3 comments:

nikki said...

I LOVE IT!

it's soooooooo true. it's like i've noticed the lack of quality black shows. where's my 'living single' and 'different world' at???

i'm getting to the point where i'm gonna start boycotting cuz it makes no sense for me to continue giving my money when they're fine with not representing my folk.

West said...

I just wish we didn't just zoom to the theaters to see a movie just because we're so starved for positive representations of ourselves... and then skip other really good movies because we don't see reflections of ourselves.

Personally, I think that if this world is going to get any better, we have to get much more interested in each others' stories.

nikki said...

i see where you're coming from, but i think the reason why hollywood continues to be fine with not putting black folk in movies is cuz we're giving them all our money even when they don't.

the only place i think to get them to recognize is in the pocket.