Bmore Bashing

I am a Baltimore Native. Yes, I grew up in the county but when I moved out from my parents, I moved to the city. I was educated in Baltimore (by way of Loyola and University of Maryland Law), got my culture from Baltimore and had many a good time there. While I no longer live in Baltimore I find a need to stand up for it. So what's there to stand up to, you ask?

Upon my exodus from Baltimore, I cannot tell you the number of times I will tell someone where I'm from and get everything from a raised eyebrow to a "are you packing?" to a "but you don't seem/sound/look like you are from there".  What does that mean? It's so annoying!

As if my life in Baltimore was just one long episode of The Wire. It doesn't matter if the person I'm speaking to came from a not so spiffy neck of the woods or are not living so comfortably, they still feel in a place to judge. Why the hate towards Baltimore? I've had people recount many a tale about an unfortunate event they have had in Baltimore and summarize the whole town with that event. Usually said event is in a less than savory area or club.

Sure, there is crime but there are also great things about this town.

• It's accessible because its small, which for me is a great thing. I love a manageable city (Florence, Amsterdam).

• It has some really cool areas. Fells Point (cute boutiques, good places to eat and drink), Federal Hill (fun bars), Harbor East (fancy and trendy shopping and eating),Mt. Vernon/Charles Village (hipster), Inner Harbor (touristy but fun for shopping/nightlife), Hampden (quirky).
  

• Its artsy. I know people, especially in the music area, who have left their cities to come to Baltimore because of the art scene. (Check out Mt. Vernon and Charles Village area)

• Movies love us. Sure The Wire, The Corner and Homicide were filmed here. But Wikipedia "films shot in Baltimore" and you will see a host of notables you didn't know were filmed here. Mostly because its a town that has locations that can mimic other cities. Step Up 1 and 2 were filmed here. House of Cards, He's Just Not That Into You, Sleepless in Seattle...
  
  Just to name a few. If this city was so dangerous, I doubt so many stars would risk their lives coming here.

• It's a great place to learn. John Hopkins, University of Maryland Grad Schools, Loyola are all top tier schools and there are many others (Towson, Morgan, Coppin, Notre Dame, University of Baltimore...).

• The people. Sure some folks are "special". But Baltimoreans are a chill, down to earth, non pretentious, fun bunch.

No city is prefect. Not every city can be glamorous. But one thing is certain, judging someone based on where they are from is absolutely ridiculous and you never know what great person you are missing out on by dismissing them because of where they came from.

What would you do?

The other day I caught a segment on the today show regarding public verbal and physical assault between couples and how bystanders would react. They discuss the difference between most of the public response to Solange/Jay Z on the elevator vs. Ray Rice and his wife. For the former there was laughter and an SNL skit, for the latter, there was outrage and what appeared to be more of a hunt to punish athletes who had assault charges pending.

In the segment they showed fake scenarios where a man was verbally assaulting a woman and then visa versa. In the first, people intervened to stop it. In the second, people did nothing, some took photos and recordings and one even joined helping to hit the guy when the woman was hitting him. It is clear as a culture we have a different standard for violence when it comes to men and women (I'd even venture into race but I'll save that for another day).

So what does that mean? Is it right to let women go around assaulting people unchecked? If there was a video of Syrena Williams kicking her man or knocking him out with her shoe (or whatever) and then getting her bodyguard to drag his body out the elevator would she be suspended from tennis? Even if she was defending herself against his aggression?

How much should we get involved if we see verbal/physical assault? Is it none of our business? I remember some friends and I were out one night and we saw this couple arguing. She was storming away and he kept following her. This went on for a while and she looked extremely upset and he was not leaving her alone. Eventually, one of my friends went up to her and asked if she was ok and needed any help. The woman kind of brushed her off like she didn't want to be bothered. I feel like my friend was being a good human being and the fact that this woman didn't want her help is irrelevant. Whether you are the couple involved in the argument/fight or not, we as a society need to stand up against it all. All types.

This includes letting the victim know that we don't approve either. As support and also as a message that violence is not an action our culture is tolerant of no matter who the aggressor is and how the victim chooses to react to it.

Black Movies You Might Want To Check Out

April 12, 2011

Since lately we can only get a trickling of black movies in between Tyler Perry’s Madea Domination (what happened to the Jumping the Broom advertisements after the Madea’s Big Happy Family ones started to show, what there can’t be two black movies advertised on TV at once?), I thought it only appropriate to highlight under the radar black movies that do not involve a man dressed as a large unattractive smart mouthed black woman and that didn’t get much play or any play in the theaters or BET/TV ONE (sorry Three Can Play That Game won’t be listed). Here are some of my favorites:

1) Love Sex and Eating the Bones: It has Hill Harper in it. Nuff said. Okay, a little more. It’s a romantic comedy which usually isn’t my thing but I gave it a shot this time around and liked it and its original plot line.

2) I’m Through With White Girls  – now the title kind of put me off but I took a chance and I found the movie so adorable. It diffinetly went against the stereotypical roles of blacks in film. The main character is a black comic book nerdish guy who only dated white women because they were what he encountered in his world. Then he meets a black woman (biracial really) from the valley and well, you’ll have to check it out. But I’ve seen it twice and would watch it again. And that’s saying a lot for a girl that hates rom-coms.

3) Cadillac Records - not sure how many folks got to see this movie about the company but I can say I didn’t mind Beyonce’s performance in this as Etta James.

4) Daughters of the Dust-  I remember seeing this movie ions ago as a child. It was on PBS I believe and I thought it was so beautiful and I was fascinated with the Gullah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah people since then. I actually can’t recall what it was about but the images of the island are still with me so if you are into arts cinema, I would recommend.

5) Miracle at St. Anna- A spike Lee joint. He can be hit or miss but if you are into war movies and looking at cute guys (hehe) I’d recommend this one. It actually made me cry.

6) Sparkle - before Dreamgirls there was this 1970s classic and if you are an Envoge fan you will know two of the songs that were originally performed by Aretha Franklin for the soundtrack of this album. "Given him something he can feeel, to let him knoooow this love is reaaal"!

7) Claudine-  this is one of the first non blaxpotation movies of the seventies and stars James Earl Jones and Diahann Carol. Worth a look!

8) Cornbread, Earl and Me  – just to see Lawrence Fishburne as a kid was enough for me, haha. But I really liked when they made good black books into movies. That’s a rarity now (other than Push) and quite sad because there are plenty of quality authors out there who could have great movies made of their books instead of all these recycled stage plays.

9) Colley High - I swear I was not a child of the 70s but they had some entertaining films then. This was even ranked in Entertainment Weekly’s 50 best High school movies (better have beat High School Musical!)

10) Sarafina!-actually saw this in school and it resonated with me. It’s a musical as well and tells the story of a student protest and apartied South Africa.

Then there are some mainstream ones I implore you to see again: Lean on Me, The Wiz, Higher Learning, Mahogany, Lady Sings the Blues, The Best Man, Posse. Got any to recommend to me?