I’ve had a lot of discussions about reproductive justice, black folks, black women’s bodies, colonialism, medical histories, etc. and came across this article in the New York Times entitled “To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case”:

ATLANTA — For years the largely white staff of Georgia Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, tried to tackle the disproportionately high number of black women who undergo abortions. But, staff members said, they found it difficult to make inroads with black audiences.

So in 2009, the group took money that it normally used for advertising a pregnancy hot line and hired a black woman, Catherine Davis, to be its minority outreach coordinator.

Ms. Davis traveled to black churches and colleges around the state, delivering the message that abortion is the primary tool in a decades-old conspiracy to kill off blacks.
[…]
This month, the group expanded its reach, making national news with 80 billboards around Atlanta that proclaim, “Black children are an endangered species,” and a Web site, www.toomanyaborted.com.
[…]
A new documentary, written and directed by Mark Crutcher, a white abortion opponent in Denton, Tex., meticulously traces what it says are connections among slavery, Nazi-style eugenics, birth control and abortion, and is being regularly screened by black organizations.
[…]
Data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that black women get almost 40 percent of the country’s abortions, even though blacks make up only 13 percent of the population. Nearly 40 percent of black pregnancies end in induced abortion, a rate far higher than for white or Hispanic women.
[…]
Abortion opponents say the number is so high because abortion clinics are deliberately located in black neighborhoods and prey upon black women. The evidence, they say, is everywhere: Planned Parenthood’s response to the anti-abortion ad that aired during the Super Bowl featured two black athletes, they note, and several women’s clinics offered free services — including abortions — to evacuees after Hurricane Katrina.

I have yet to completely grasp the depth of this issue because it is not solely about the simplified notion of “choice” and the exclusionary past forty years of the feminist movement. There are centuries of American and diasporic history to cull through to just begin crafting a holistic starting place. This is such a sensitive topic, not solely because we are talking about black bodies–black women’s bodies and who has dominion over them, but because the corporal existence is in some way connected to the spiritual existence. It seems if the anger over abortion is not only about progeny but what some anti-abortion activists are positioning as spiritual as well as physical genocide. Folks are calling all of this a conspiracy theory and I am not sure what to make of that pejorative, nor am I sure what to make of the arguments made by pro-abortion communities. Whatever the case, the dialogue needs to be expanded. There are lots of moving parts and loose ends. What are your thoughts?

One only needs to look historically to understand why it’s so important that we interrogate cultural phenomena like Avatar. For example, take the 1915 drama Birth of a Nation. Birth of a Nation was the Avatar of it’s time, having broken revolutionary ground with state of the art cinematography, special effects and unprecedented box office sales. It was actually the movie that coined the term “blockbuster” because folks were wrapped around the block waiting to watch it. One can learn a lot about early-20th century social and cultural politics by watching and analyzing Birth of a Nation. It was a Ku Klux Klan propaganda film, which depicted Blacks in the reconstruction era as a vicious threat to society. The film reflected the sentiment of many white Americans of the time, who sought to undermine Black progress through the media, Jim Crow, lynchings and other means. The fact that Birth of a Nation was so ridiculously popular reveals the extent to which it resonated with the people of that time. The same can be said about Avatar. We can learn a lot about Americans in this century by critically analyzing the implications of her pop culture juggernauts. That being said, I want to tread lightly. I could be guilty over-analyzing a film that has nauseatingly saturated the media and blogsphere as of late. Writer Dave Itzkoff tackles our obsession with Avatar in his hilarious and introspective article, “You Saw What in ‘Avatar’? Pass Those Glasses!”

Over the last month, (Avatar) has been criticized by social and political conservatives who bristle at its depictions of religion and the use of military force; feminists who feel that the male avatar bodies are stronger and more muscular than their female counterparts; antismoking advocates who object to a character who lights up cigarettes; not to mention fans of Soviet-era Russian science fiction; the Chinese; and the Vatican. This week the authorities in China announced that the 2-D version of the film would be pulled from most theaters there to make way for a biography of Confucius.

I guess Itzkoff can add me on his list of over-analytical scholars. It is, after all, my job. WARNING: if you have been living under a rock since December and have not yet seen Avatar, go watch it (or read this synopsis of the plot) before reading this article. Spoilers await you.

I’ve spoken with friends and colleagues on both sides of the fence that have had strong opinions about Avatar’s racial and cultural implications. My sister, for example, had observed through the trailer that the film was about a conflict between white humans and a tough, “hard to kill” dark skinned race. For her, red (black and green) flags went up at notion of yet another movie which juxtaposed white heroics with exotic “savagery” of color. Pun intended: she’s seen this movie before. It’s a Hollywood staple epitomized in the majority of the Disney catalogue (except, maybe The Frog Princess. Anybody seen it?). In the other camp, some of my people applauded the revolutionary, anti-imperial/colonial slant to the film. Dr. Ray Winbush over at the blog, Reparations for Enslavement and the Blackside of Things saw Avatar as the perfect venue for social critique:

I loved the film because it is one of Hollywood’s best attempts to deal with the horrors of white supremacy and the African response to it… Historically, violent, rapacious, imperialistic, white supremacist attacks have not only been directed toward Africans, but indigenous people as well. Indeed, if Avatar doesn’t do anything else, it shows that white supremacy directs its malicious onslaught against all people of color both inside and outside of Africa.

While I agree with Dr. Winbush’s observation that Cameron exposes the historically sinister pathology of European Imperialism, I feel like he dropped the ball on the “African (and Indigenous) response to it.” How can we applaud Cameron for championing Black (or Blue) self-determination, when the revolutionary N’avi resistance was only successful at repealing the colonial invasion after they were lead by the white main character, Jake Sully? Cameron successfully challenges some notions of white supremacy, only to fall into the trap of others. Blackademics interviewee, Paul Mooney (March 2007) addressed Hollywood’s penchant for white supremacy in his Chapelle’s Show skit, Movies with Mooney. In the skit, Mooney comically reflects on the Hollywood blockbuster, The Last Samurai with two white counterparts:

Film Critic: The Last Samurai centers around Tom Cruise, a Civil War veteran who goes to Japan and teaches the Emperor’s troops how to fight.

Mooney: Another movie I was offended by. Hollywood is crazy. The Last Samurai starring… Tom Cruise? He’s the Last Samurai? Give me a break. The movie was offensive. Hollywood is crazy. First they have The Mexican with Brad Pitt and now they’ve got The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. Well I’ve written a film, maybe they’ll produce my film. The Last Nigga on Earth. Starring Tom Hanks. How about that?

Mooney elucidates a common thread in Hollywood where white men are placed in desperate situations within communities of color, then emerge as the focal point and heroes of the story. It’s not enough for Cruise to partake in the cultural experiences, and gain the trust of the Japanese - he must also become the trailblazing hero and leader of the Japanese people as well. Likewise, look at Avatar’s main character and protagonist Jake Sully. He is a Marine who infiltrates, befriends and falls in love with the blue-skinned Na’vi people, and ends up almost single-handedly rescuing the entire civilization from imminent destruction. In addition to becoming their moral and strategic leader, he’s physically stronger than the Na’vi alpha male, he conquers the most feared and spectacular bird on Pandora and is sleeping with Zoe Saldana - the baddest sister on the planet! This has dual implications. On one hand it reinforces the myth of the “white savior” as the sole source of liberation for people of color, rendering them almost defenseless without the aid of the white super-hero. It also perpetuates what journalist Annalee Newitz calls the “white guilt fantasy” in her article “When will white people stop making movies like Avatar”

These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the “alien” cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become “race traitors,” and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It’s not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it’s not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It’s a wish to lead people of color.

Despite the “white savior” undertones, what saves Avatar for me is its social, political and religious messages. The film is an out-right condemnation of colonialism, imperialism and genocide, and a celebration of environmentalism, spirituality and revolution. Just look at the “bad guys” in the movie. The language of the corporate military antagonists is clearly meant to represent the historical language of Western colonists, slave-holders, war-mongers and capitalists. They disparagingly call the N’avi “savages,” as Indigenous Americans, Africans and Black people have been (and still are) called. They refer to N’avi warriors as “terrorists,” as Harriet Tubman, John Brown and Toussaint Louverture were called. They uncompromisingly pursue profit at the expense of people’s lives just as Napoleon, George W. Bush and Christopher Columbus did. Film critic John Nolte calls Avatar,

“a thinly guised… fantasy/allegory critical of America from our founding straight through to the Iraq War.”

The film is meant to reflect real historical (and contemporary) examples of corruption and the extortion of people of color. This, for me, makes the “white savior” complex tolerable. It’s like The Matrix. It doesn’t really matter that the main character in The Matrix, Neo, is white. The most important aspect of the movie is its revolutionary substance. At the end of the day, the biggest movie of all time is a condemnation of racism, greed and oppression and a celebration of a grassroots, people’s Revolution. What does this say about where the average American’s (or global citizen’s) head is at?

Hi Prof. Freelon,

I am in the class and as I kept reading about Pat Robertson’s comments about Haiti and what was shared in class, I think you and the class misunderstood what he said. I think he should still be condemned for his wild remarks, but it is important not to misunderstand him. In class, you rebutted Robertson by saying that he implied that Haitians’ attempts to
free themselves from the French is making a deal with the Devil and therefore, the opposite of what he said would imply that staying in bondage would be to serve God. That’s not what he said. He said that, “And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ True story. And so the Devil said, Okay, it’s a deal.’ . . . But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.” In other words, he believes that they made a deal with the Devil to gain freedom, not that for Haitians to gain freedom is to make a deal with the Devil. Robertson’s comments allow for Haitians to gain freedom through other means, but he condemns Haitians for “[making] a deal with a Devil” to do it. Nevertheless, he’s still stupid and the class is awesome.

Sincerely, John

First off, I want to give props to John for reaching out - he’s definitely earned some extra class participation points. And even thought it’s 3am Friday morning and The Beast has two big shows in Baltimore and New York this weekend (that I should be resting for), John’s observation has inspired me so much that I can’t go to bed without delivering an articulate response. And with no further adieu..

Excellent point, John. Robertson never directly states: Haitian freedom = evil. But I would suggest that he infers as much. Indeed, he is part of a long tradition of scholars and politicians to do so. The Haitian revolution has historically been down-played for ideological, political, and ultimately economic reasons. Here’s a bit of history:

The Haitian Revolution (1804) was largely inspired by the French Revolution (1799) and American Revolution (1776). This was a time where European monarchies were overthrown by democratic governments and ideological shifts led to the development of modern principles like citizenship and inalienable rights.

However, while the French and American slave-holders were fighting for their own rights, they were not so willing to relinquish their control over over their cash-crop/property: enslaved Africans. Luckily for all of us, Haitians didn’t need their permission. Between 1791 and 1803 Toussiant Loverture and others claimed freedom by force in the largest and most successful slave revolt of all time. This shocked, bewildered and frightened Europeans and Americans. As I’m sure you can imagine, slave revolution was bad for business.

By 1804, Europe and America had already reaped MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars from slave labor. Just imagine what must have been going on in their heads following the Haitian revolution. What if other colonies such as modern day Brazil, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba and the USA were to follow in Haiti’s footsteps and revolt? The consequences would have been staggering and the economic blow to the West would have made 2008’s global crisis look like a mediocre day at the stock market. Furthermore, word of the Haitian Revolution traveled fast. Nat Turner, the leader of the United States’ largest Slave Rebellion sited the Haitian Revolution as his inspiration. In these revolutionary times, Europeans felt the desperate need to smother the flames of slave rebellion. In order to maintain control over their investment, Europe and America craftily engaged on a political, economic, and ideological campaign to undermine the success of Haiti and the Haitian people. Here’s how:

Spain conquered part of Haiti and established the Dominican Republic, which split the country, and the resistance. Economic embargoes were placed on Haiti to prevent her from being self-sustaining. Get this: as a pre-requisite to limited trade agreements HATIANS WERE FORCED TO PAY REPARATIONS TO FRANCE for revolting in the first place. When the Haitian government sent a letter to John Quincy Adams (the 6th President of the United States) requesting diplomatic ties between the United States and Haiti, Adams penned “not to be answered” in the margins, writing “this Union will not permit the fruits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among us.” Europe NEEDED to do these things in order to make Haiti, and consequently to make slave rebellion, seem like a bad idea. The rationale was simple: “Haiti rebelled, and look at how poor they are now. If you stay with us (Europe/US), and stay in your place, we will take care of you.”

So when Pat Robertson says, “Haitians made a deal with the Devil” I see it as a perpetuation of this centuries-old myth that slave rebellion, and consequently black self-determination, is a bad thing. He essentially believes that rebellion against the white power structure is something to be discouraged, even damned by God himself. Consider Robertson’s quote with this framework in mind:

“…ever since (the revolution) they have been cursed by one thing or another, desperately poor.”

And Robertson is correct. Ever since the revolution Haitians have been desperately poor - but this is not the work of the Devil (at least not the Devil Robertson is referring to). Haitians have been desperately poor because of two centuries of calculated and systematic economic/political exclusion; from the John Quincy Adams administration to the George W. Bush Administration. Robertson goes on compare poor Haiti to their flourishing neighbors:

“The Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy full of resorts, etc.”

This further supports my thesis. When praising the Dominican Republic, Roberton does not evoke images of “God” or the “Devil”. He simply talks about money and political economy. And as proof of prosperity he points to the Dominican Republic’s resorts - the majority of which are American/European owned and filter billions of dollars to western companies. Like a plantation, these resorts exploit the Dominican people with dependent/symbiotic relationships, in which Dominican businesses, workers and environments suffer.

There seems to be a correlation in Robertson’s judgment: if you’re making money for Europe/America and allow yourselves and your country to be controlled on their terms: you’re “prosperous,” “healthy,” and “blessed” - like the Dominican Republic. However if you rebel, like Toussiant L’overture, or like Haiti’s last president Jean-Bertrand Aristide - who has repeatedly spoken out against globalization and western institutions such as the IMF and World Bank for perpetuating debt-slavery and exploiting Africa and the Caribbean - you are condemned, and cursed. On top of that you will probably also be removed from power, which is exactly what the US Military/Bush Administration did to Aristade in 2004.

In conclusion, I don’t think Robertson actually believes that Haitians made a deal with the Devil to get free. Instead, he is one man in a loooooooong tradition of men, who have had a vested ideological, economic and political (not religious/spiritual) reasons for saying: “Damn” and “Haiti” in the same sentence.

Deuces.

-Pierce

Haiti was the first country in the African Diaspora to successfully liberate herself from enslavement. Under the leadership of such revolutionaries Toussaint L’ouverture (I talk about L’ouverture with our November interviewee, Lilian Thuram) Haiti obliterated the French army and became a haven to, and inspiration for enslaved Africans everywhere. Robertson’s suggestion that the Haitian Revolution was the result of a “deal with the devil” is reflective of his belief that Black self-determination is evil. I suppose the “good” or “Christian” thing for the Haitians to do, would have been to allow the French to continue raping, murdering, torturing and working them to death until they were “granted” independence alongside the other Caribbean nations in the mid-20th Century. Robertson’s got it all wrong. The ones who made the deal with the devil were the French. The Haitian Revolution was an act of God. Don’t let organizations like the CBN use your well-intentioned money to undermine the Haitian people. The best way to guarantee the sanctity of your contribution would be to book a flight to Haiti and instead of donating money, donating your sweat and time. But for those of you who can’t, choose carefully:

American Red Cross International Relief Fund:
http://bit.ly/7pChi9

Canadian Red Cross:
http://bit.ly/12cR1n

International Committee of the Red Cross
http://bit.ly/7zaFIy

MercyCorps:
http://bit.ly/4nyB0q

Oxfam America
http://bit.ly/6E9Xd8

Oxfam UK
http://bit.ly/6SwLAE

International Medical Corps:
http://bit.ly/89W696

Pan American Relief
http://bit.ly/74Opc2

Medical Teams International:
http://bit.ly/4wxkal

AmeriCares Help For Haiti:
http://bit.ly/5bz7a9

Islamic Relief USA
http://bit.ly/4KzSDB

Food for the Hungry
http://bit.ly/67GBST

Doctors Without Borders:
http://bit.ly/4Yp1aN

UNICEF:
http://bit.ly/8RT4CQ

Partners in Health:
http://bit.ly/7bsUly

International Organization for Migration:
http://bit.ly/66Ul9m

SOS Children’s Village:
http://bit.ly/50W2ZR

Catholic Relief Services:
http://bit.ly/4OdwPp

Mennonite Central Committee
http://bit.ly/5S6OK0

Kids Against Hunger:
http://bit.ly/4xjdUw

Episcopal Relief and Development
http://bit.ly/6v1rN7

Adventist Development and Relief Agency
http://bit.ly/4OCC3q

Compassion International
http://bit.ly/85QtXC

Outreach International:
http://bit.ly/7Xv7XE

Partners in Development:
http://bit.ly/6cE325

Hope for Haiti:
http://bit.ly/4EYFIH

Beyond Borders:
http://bit.ly/7RMCN8

American Jewish World Service:
http://bit.ly/4WYmif

Food for the Poor:
http://bit.ly/73ZcDj

Fondation Odette Roy Fombrun:
http://bit.ly/8GzxWW

Lutheran World Relief:
http://bit.ly/50DTq6

Haitian Health Foundation:
http://bit.ly/4BcsRr

Childcare Worldwide:
http://bit.ly/6hCvtv

Friends of the World Food Program:
http://bit.ly/7aEjXm

Madre.org:
http://bit.ly/8bEgZy

Samaritan’s Purse:
http://bit.ly/5D9N3D

International Eye Foundation:
http://bit.ly/7jAajP

Operation USA:
http://bit.ly/8qOqNc

Save the Children:
http://bit.ly/7EL3MB

Save the Children Australia:
http://bit.ly/4Z8Oqy

Meds and Food for Kids:
http://bit.ly/5V778s

Direct Relief International:
http://bit.ly/8gLP7P

Salvation Army:
http://bit.ly/4YmC2j

Operation Blessing International:
http://bit.ly/GkW4N

World Wide Village:
http://bit.ly/5GRwph

International Relief Teams:
http://bit.ly/8qKk2f

CARE:
http://bit.ly/8VLrDr

World Vision:
http://bit.ly/5MMv0T

MOSCTHA – Socio-Cultural Movement of Haitian Workers
http://bit.ly/83RjKU

World Concern:
http://bit.ly/5lRt12

Mission Aviation Fellowship
http://bit.ly/7NrpDY

Converge Worldwide
http://bit.ly/7IX47Z

In the 5 years since its inception, Blackademics has traveled from Durham’s Hayti Heritage Center to the Martin Luther King Jr. Arts Complex in Columbus Ohio; from Durham School of the Arts, to the Deepalaya School Gusbethi in New Dehli, India; and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to the University of Ghana at Legon. Now celebrating our 5th year I wanted to share footage from two recent workshops that bring it back to where it all started. Below, I’ve got youtube clips from my Hip-Hop/jazz quartet, The Beast’s most recent program at Durham School of the Arts. Below that, check out a Hip-Hop Symposium we developed for Movement of Youth, featuring Grammy nominee Phonte (of The Foreign Exchange - congrats on the Grammy nod, Tigga!). As Blackademics.org grows, we will incorporate more information about our educational programs into the framework of the blog. We’re really looking forward to the next 5 years!