Sunday, June 7, 2020

Review of National Geographic's Documentary Film "LA92"

Good Evening,

I have spent the last two plus hours watching a documentary film titled "LA92" by Academy Award  Winners, Simon Chinn, Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin and Jonathan Chinn, that compared what happened in 1965 in Los Angeles and 1992. Both were race based riots and a discussion with Jane Elliott, award-winning fimmaker, Dream Hamilton, Jamal Simmons, Jelani Cobb . What did it reveal? That again, what is happening today, is not new and has never been new. As an African-American, my parents have often reminded me about what happened in the 1960s. I have lived through two race based riots both in 1992 and now. It was said that the problem is leadership. But it goes deeper than that. What this film reaffirmed is everything that I have recently written about in social media. The sin of slavery and the ideologies of systemic racism,  the psychological warfare that takes place against African-Americans through the justice system, companies, etc. We have to tear down the ideologies or this nation will implode on itself sooner rather than later. We have also seen that when African-Americans do things on their own, some European-Americans go the extra mile to destroy, i.e. Rosewood, Black Wall Street, gentrification. We have had self sustaining towns, banks, insurance companies all because the general public has previously told us, it didn't want to serve us, nor wanted us. The reality, this nation was founded the wrong way and has never atoned to the generations of Blacks who have provided numerous inventions and cultural contributions. Our creations are respected, but we are not. What was said is exactly the truth during the discussion, "African-Americans have never had a good relationship with law enforcement because it was developed out of slavery." The images of LA92 are very raw and hard to watch but a reality and truth is exactly what Dream Hamilton said, "genocide." Jane Elliott said it, "Africans were the first humans and they were explorers and they were Black. They traveled the world and populated it and taught others. There is no such thing as White, only faded. Everyone is an African descendant."  Jane Elliott said it, "Stop showing that clip. What do you think it is doing to Black men and their mothers? Do something about it. And stop the psychological genocide."


You can watch "LA92" on YouTube for free. It is graphic and painful but even more painful that nothing has changed.



#LA92 #nationalgeographic

No comments:

Post a Comment