Krazy Katz Kataztrophy


KRAZY KATZ KATAZTROPHY



 Mother Wit and imagination can sometimes force the most devout believers in racial superiority in the United States of America to eat  their errors. Consider George Herriman and Ron Stallworth. Their life histories   are  instructive examples of how much can be accomplished through the agencies of silence and sound.  Herriman, one of the nation's most gifted cartoonists, remained silent about the African dimensions of his Creole heritage, perfected his art, and passed into American cultural literacy.  Stallworth, a police officer in Colorado Springs, spoke" whitely" enough to fool David Duke's ear in 1979 and  published his memoir BlacKkKlansman (2014), which Spike Lee has translated into the film BlacKkKlansman (2018). Time revolves mysteriously, its goodness to perform.  



C. Liegh McInnis, an astute critic, suggested "BlacKkKlansman is evidence that " Spike Lee is at the top of his game. The writing, acting, and, of course, Lee's cinematography are all top notch."  For him, "the film does not end with the notion that all is well in America but moreso seeks to be self-conscious of its role as artistic historical archiving in a manner that history can be used for reference, blueprint, and inspiration, all three of which this film, like Margaret Walker Alexander's Jubilee, does well" (email August 12, 2018).   The phrases "artistic historical archiving" and "reference, blueprint, and inspiration" conjured thoughts of what film can offer viewers, of what Lee's ChiRaq did not provide. Lee's treatment of violence rich Chicago is a mockumentary, a satire gone wild.  On the other hand, BlacKkKlansman is a model of signifying on the systemic issues which invite acknowledgement as well as denial of conditions in the United States of the late 1970s. The conditions of 2018.  It is a clever, calm, top notch modified documentary.  It is a fine contextualizing or "historical archiving" of what prevails in our nation.  We can always depend on McInnis to gauge the pulse of our culture with uncanny accuracy.



The 135 minutes of BlacKkKlansman refer to essential features of our nation's social/racial contract, features worthy of debate in everyday conversations and in the more formal settings of educational institutions.  As a blueprint for thought, the film might urge us to return to such challenging  works as Rebellion or Revolution? (1969) by Harold Cruse and  Blood in My Eye (1972) by George Jackson, works that force us to admit that we have small jars of progressive reform but that the jars of liberating revolution shall remain empty in our lifetimes.  The film inspires us to be more savvy about ascending, digitized domestic terrorism and the vernacular fascism of now.  Perhaps the film will persuade a few people who have not been rendered deaf, dumb, and blind by the sinister psychology of Trump to continue to seek the better habits of the heart.  If the film accomplishes nothing more than that, it helps us to recognize what was brave, rational and commendable  in Ron Stallworth's political intervention .



Jerry W. Ward, Jr.                            August 18, 2018

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