Source: Alexey Fursov / Getty The 42-Year-Old Definitely Didn’t Think This One Through A North Dakota man had plans for Donald Trump and they didn’t involve any MAGA love. According to the Grand Forks Herald , Gregory Lee Leingang, 42, pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to stealing a forklift with goals to “flip” Trump’s limousine on the day of his Mandan, North Dakota refinery speech. U.S. Assistant State’s Attorney Brandi Sasse Russell said that Leingang knew that the president was coming to town on September 6, 2017 to give his speech at the Andeavor Mandan Refinery, an area which had been cordoned off for his motorcade route. Before the president’s arrival at around 2 p.m., Leingang had stolen a forklift in Mandan and entered the motorcade route, according to Sasse Russell. “The intent was to basically try to get to the limo, flip the limo and get to the president and he wanted to kill the president,” Sasse said. Leingang’s plans were thwarted, however, when his forklift got stuck in a gated area. Once this happened, Leingang dipped only to be caught by the Mandan police, according to Sasse Russell. She said Leingang spilled all the beans about his assassination plans to detectives and a member of the U.S. Secret Service. “He was suffering a serious psychiatric crisis during this incident,” said Michelle Monteiro, Leingang’s public defender. Before stealing the forklift, Monteiro said Leingang set two fires that morning at the Bismarck Municipal Ballpark maintenance shop and the state parole and probation office. Leingang also pleaded guilty to setting these fires and was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. For his whole forklift fiasco, Leingang was charged in federal court with one count of attempting to enter or remain in a restricted building and on grounds while using a dangerous weapon, as well as one count of attempting to damage government property. He reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors on Friday for his first charge. Leingang also pleaded guilty to stealing the forklift and was sentenced to five years. In a separate case he pleaded guilty to burglary and received another five years. He is expected to stay in prison until 2038. Leingang told U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland on Friday that he is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and he has been on and off medications since he was 12. Monteiro said Leingang is seeing a psychiatrist and therapist while in prison.
Image via Chris O’Meara-Pool/Getty Images Andrew Gillum Concedes Florida Governor Race To Ron DeSantis Despite a swell of support and an influx of 11th-hour celebrity endorsements , Andrew Gillum has conceded the Florida gubernatorial race to Republican opponent Ron DeSantis. Despite numbers that were deemed “too close to call” at the hour by NBC — Gillum secured 48.9& of the vote while Desantis held 49.9% — the democratic candidate announced his concession in a speech given from his Tallahassee campaign headquarters around 10:45 PM. As he stated in his speech (via NBC News ): “Even though I won’t be the next governor of Florida, I still plan to be on the front lines. We still have to be willing to show up every single day and demand our seat at the table. I still believe and I still trust in the voters. I still believe that there is more of us that believe in what is common and what is decent.” A BIG loss for the democratic party and the anticipated “Blue Wave” this election was set to bring. We’ll continue watching the poll results this evening to give you further updates on integral races. Wilfredo Lee-Pool/Getty Images/Chris O’Meara-Pool/Getty Images
Source: David Livingston/Paras Griffin / David Livingston/Paras Griffin Oprah Winfrey made her own little history on Thursday. For the second time in her career, the media mogul endorsed a politician running for office. Her first was Former President Obama and now her second is Stacey Abrams , the Black Democratic candidate running to be Georgia’s next Governor. If Abrams win she will be the first Black woman to do so in American history . The creator of the OWN network, who is also a registered Independent, told a crowd today (Nov 1) at a Cobb County town hall, that she believes in Abrams and believes that she is the future of the state of Georgia. “I am here today because Stacey Abrams cares about the things that matter,” Winfrey told a cheering crowd , citing Abrams’ stance on environmental protection, healthcare and gun control. Adding that Abrams keeps “standing strong for the values that matter to me and the values that matter to Georgians all over this state.” Winfrey added that “if you’re woke just a little bit, you know everyone is not treated equally.” “Georgia, you've been on my mind!” Oprah Winfrey says while participating in a campaign event for Democrat Stacey Abrams. “You all are on the very precipice of a historical election.” https://t.co/an3bkmclCP pic.twitter.com/DM3ZgRQoWT — ABC News (@ABC) November 1, 2018 The 64-year-old 60 Minutes special correspondent made sure she let the crowd know that she wasn’t there because she plans on running for President in 2020 or because the Democrats paid her. “I came for myself,” she asserted. “I want to tell you…no one paid for me to come here. No one asked me to come here. I’ve earned the right to think for myself…I don’t want any party and I don’t want any kind of partisan influence telling me what decisions I get to make for myself” “I want to make it very clear,” Oprah Winfrey says while campaigning for Stacey Abrams. “I don't want to run, okay? I'm not trying to test any waters. Don't want to go in those waters.” https://t.co/an3bklUKLh pic.twitter.com/Vy6WkdzgVa — ABC News (@ABC) November 1, 2018 Winfrey also encouraged the women in the audience to vote their values and for politicians that have their best interests in mind. “Vote your values,” she emphasized. “Vote your conscience … the vitriol and the ads, they are designed to confuse and confound you with fear … When you know the right thing, and you can feel it … you can’t be influenced by propaganda and fear.” According to NBC News , Abrams is in a super tight race with her Republican opponent Secretary of State Brian Kemp. Last week, an NBC News/Marist poll found that the race is tied, with likely voters favoring Kemp by a 49 percent to 47 percent spread, a number within the poll’s margin of error. However, Abrams has some other serious backup coming in soon too. Former President Obama will be stumping for her on Friday. BEAUTIES: Don’t forget that the 2018 midterms are right around the corner on November 6. Will you be casting your vote this year? RELATED NEWS: He’s Baaaack! Obama Endorses Stacey Abrams In Bid For Georgia Governor He’s Baaaack…Former President Obama Rips Trump In Powerful New Speech Stacey Abrams Just Made History, Secured Bid To Become First Black Female Governor In U.S. [ione_media_gallery src=”https://hellobeautiful.com” id=”3016322″ overlay=”true”]
Despite Megyn Kelly’s desperate attempts to stay relevant by defending Brett Kavanaugh of all people, her ratings are on death’s door. NBC wants to fire her in order to rid themselves of a $23 million headache. Apparently she’s been confiding in friends that she wants to go crawling back to FOX. Megyn Kelly is said to be the most highly paid television personality at NBC. Her catastrophic ratings during Today ‘s third hour might not warrant it, but she’s said to be pulling down about $23 million per year. But we keep hearing stories that NBC wants to fire Megyn , and apparently Megyn thinks that she knows who is responsible. RadarOnline reports that Megyn Kelly blames Savannah Guthrie for the leaks. And during the 8 hours of live coverage that NBC provided of the Kavanaugh hearings, Megyn and Savannah’s feud reached new intensity. “As the day went on,” an insider says. “Savannah and Megyn got nastier and nastier.” The source goes on to say that the two were “making little digs at each other.” “When the live broadcast ended,” the insider dishes. “The two of them exploded.” Megyn and Savannah were reportedly “accusing each other of talking over one another and interrupting.” While Megyn barely treads water in the ratings, Savannah and Hoda Kotb have skyrocketed in popularity in the wake of Lauer’s firing. Megyn is said to not really be fitting in over at NBC. Earlier this month, more than two dozen folks from NBC watched Al Roker’s Broadway debut in Waitress . Care to guess who was reportedly not invited? Because Megyn was not part of that group outing. “After the show,” an insider dished. “They all went to Butter restaurant on 45th Street with Al and his wife to celebrate.” That sounds so wonderful … for the people there. “One staff member was overheard saying, ‘This family does everything together,’” the source said. “But,” the insider editorialized. “Obviously that ‘family’ doesn’t include Megyn!” Ouch! At this point, there has to be more to it than the fact that Megyn came over from FOX, right? Maybe there’s some truth to those rumors that Megyn Kelly is a nightmare diva . She is reportedly confiding in close friends that she is in talks to leave NBC and return to FOX. “At FOX,” the insider says. “Megyn was a princess.” Of course — she’s attractive, mean, and she makes claims like “Santa Claus is white” as if Santa is a real life person and not a fictional character inspired by a long-dead Turkish man. “At NBC she feels isolated and alone,” the source continues. “She’s not happy,” the insider says. “And something has to give.” We love roasting Megyn Kelly, but here is a genuine question: has she tried … being nice? The best way to make friends is to be nice to people. Not just the people whom you want to befriend, but others. If you’re losing your mind and acting entitled with the people who handle lights and makeup, it’ll get back to Hoda and Savannah. We know that Megyn is probably still unlearning bad habits, like lying and defending terrible people, that she picked up at FOX. A lot of this world’s problems could be solved if people were kinder to one another. View Slideshow: Megyn Kelly Gets Destroyed on Twitter for Rant Against Jane Fonda
Black Tony called Rickey Smiley to tell him he’s not making it to work today. He mentioned that he’s meeting his friend at the airport because they have a new scheme going on. Black Tony will be selling fake quarters for 20 cents. Follow @TheRSMS He has $10,000 worth of fake quarters and when Rickey Smiley asked him a math question he couldn’t answer it. Rickey also spoke about how people don’t really use change like that anymore and Black Tony wants to find college students. He figures they need money to use the laundry, Black Tony ended up calling Rickey ugly because he was making fun of him. RELATED: How Black Tony Is About To Put “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” On The Map [EXCLUSIVE] RELATED: Why Black Tony Is Getting Emotional Over Gucci Mane [EXCLUSIVE] Make sure you listen to “ The Rickey Smiley Morning Show ” 6am ET. RELATED: Why Black Tony’s Son Wants Someone Else To Be His Dad [EXCLUSIVE] The Latest : 5 Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Kenneka Jenkins’ Mysterious Death Register To Win Tickets To See The Predator Sept 14th [CONTEST] From Kamala Harris To Stacey Abrams: How Black Woman Are Saving Democracy Mac Miller Dies At 26 From Alleged Overdose For The Culture: Dapper Dan Wins Lifetime Maverick Award How Rickey Smiley Plays Marvin Hunter Before He Goes On Stage [EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW] Barry’s Back: Barack Obama Slams President Trump, GOP In Epic Speech WYD?: Elon Musk Puffs A Blunt On Podcast, Tesla Stock Drops Read Barack Obama’s Illinois Speech That Called Out Trump Why Bobby Brown’s Sister Is Blasting The Movie & His Wife On Social Media [EXCLUSIVE] [ione_media_gallery src=”https://rickeysmileymorningshow.com” id=”1937264″ overlay=”true”]
A fter Aretha Franklin ’s family paid their final respects to the legendary singer on Friday, attention turned to the unpleasant job of dividing her fortune. It’s unclear how she would have wanted her estate settled because the Queen of Soul died without a will, leaving that decision to state law. SEE ALSO: From Al Sharpton To Barack Obama: Here’s How Aretha Franklin Was Celebrated At Her Funeral Franklin, 76, died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer. She’s survived by four sons and other descendants who must figure out how many millions she was worth. Her wealth included royalties from hit songs, as well as property. “I tried to convince her that she should do not just a will but a trust while she was still alive. She never told me, ‘No, I don’t want to do one.’ She understood the need. It just didn’t seem to be something she got around to,” Don Wilson , Franklin’s longtime lawyer, told the Associated Press . #RIP Aretha Franklin. See these photos, video and other moments from the Queen of Soul's funeral today in Detroit. https://t.co/H3nBGqBcS0 pic.twitter.com/4bdv46r9dr — NewsOne (@newsone) August 31, 2018 Franklin’s four sons will equally divide their mother’s assets under Michigan law. Her son’s range in age 48 to 63. The eldest, Ted White Jr. Clarence , is represented by a guardian because he’s incapacitated. One of Franklin’s nieces agreed to serve as executor. It’s estimated that the singer’s wealth is in the tens of millions. Franklin had ownership of the songs she wrote. Among her top hits, “Think” is the only one that she composed. The lion’s share of royalties for the smash hit “Respect” has gone to the songwriter, the estate of soul singer Otis Redding . She also owned several properties in the Detroit area with an estimated market value of about $4 million, according to the AP. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service is keeping a careful eye on things. The IRS will collect any back taxes Franklin owed and tax her estate 40 percent for assets exceeding $11.2 million. An old friend, businessman Ron Moten , offered advice to Franklin’s sons in his speech at Friday’s funeral. “Remember your family, and friends that have been with you for years because you are about to meet a lot of people who will now want to be your new best friend. You will also meet some people that will have the best investments in the world for you,” he said. “My advice? Go slow, be careful and be smart.” SEE ALSO: Bishop At Aretha Franklin’s Funeral Apologizes To Ariana Grande And The Hispanic Community Aretha Franklin Deserves Respect And A Congressional Gold Medal, Kamala Harris Says [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3824695″ overlay=”true”]
A fter Aretha Franklin ’s family paid their final respects to the legendary singer on Friday, attention turned to the unpleasant job of dividing her fortune. It’s unclear how she would have wanted her estate settled because the Queen of Soul died without a will, leaving that decision to state law. SEE ALSO: From Al Sharpton To Barack Obama: Here’s How Aretha Franklin Was Celebrated At Her Funeral Franklin, 76, died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer. She’s survived by four sons and other descendants who must figure out how many millions she was worth. Her wealth included royalties from hit songs, as well as property. “I tried to convince her that she should do not just a will but a trust while she was still alive. She never told me, ‘No, I don’t want to do one.’ She understood the need. It just didn’t seem to be something she got around to,” Don Wilson , Franklin’s longtime lawyer, told the Associated Press . #RIP Aretha Franklin. See these photos, video and other moments from the Queen of Soul's funeral today in Detroit. https://t.co/H3nBGqBcS0 pic.twitter.com/4bdv46r9dr — NewsOne (@newsone) August 31, 2018 Franklin’s four sons will equally divide their mother’s assets under Michigan law. Her son’s range in age 48 to 63. The eldest, Ted White Jr. Clarence , is represented by a guardian because he’s incapacitated. One of Franklin’s nieces agreed to serve as executor. It’s estimated that the singer’s wealth is in the tens of millions. Franklin had ownership of the songs she wrote. Among her top hits, “Think” is the only one that she composed. The lion’s share of royalties for the smash hit “Respect” has gone to the songwriter, the estate of soul singer Otis Redding . She also owned several properties in the Detroit area with an estimated market value of about $4 million, according to the AP. Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service is keeping a careful eye on things. The IRS will collect any back taxes Franklin owed and tax her estate 40 percent for assets exceeding $11.2 million. An old friend, businessman Ron Moten , offered advice to Franklin’s sons in his speech at Friday’s funeral. “Remember your family, and friends that have been with you for years because you are about to meet a lot of people who will now want to be your new best friend. You will also meet some people that will have the best investments in the world for you,” he said. “My advice? Go slow, be careful and be smart.” SEE ALSO: Bishop At Aretha Franklin’s Funeral Apologizes To Ariana Grande And The Hispanic Community Aretha Franklin Deserves Respect And A Congressional Gold Medal, Kamala Harris Says [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3824695″ overlay=”true”]
S pike Lee ’s BlacKkKlansman delivers more than a brilliantly entertaining story. Officially, BlacKkKlansman is about Ron Stallworth ( John David Washington , son of actor Denzel Washington ), the first African-American police detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white proxy. The film is based on actual events discussed in Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime . The actors humorously and yet believably drive home the film’s strong racial irony. Stallworth’s operation upsets a string of Klan meetings and attacks, including a comically rendered attempt to bomb the female head of the Black student union. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman ( @BlacKkKlansman ) is in theaters now! Read our #BlacKkKlansman review! https://t.co/QuEEwp5xwf — NewsOne (@newsone) August 10, 2018 Stallworth dupes the “Grand Wizard” of the KKK, David Duke (Topher Grace). Stallworth and Duke have a series of phone conversations about Stallworth’s feigned white nationalist beliefs and the upcoming ceremony marking his initiation into the “Organization.” Drama and hilarity abound when Stallworth is assigned to personally guard Duke at the event and Duke is unable to make any connection between his new initiate and the police officer. What makes this film good is not that it successfully delivers the story it promises, but that it also exposes how our racial past has only changed its bell-bottoms for straight-legs. Or put another way, BlacKkKlansman showcases how past racism still operates in the present. Using the past to illuminate the present Spike Lee offers a parody of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s enthusiastic endorsement of the 1915 box office hit, Birth of a Nation . Birth of a Nation , based on a novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and unabashedly titled The Clansman, an Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan , is set just after the American Civil War. Both book and movie were used as propaganda to depict the Klan as saving the white race from the newly emancipated Blacks, rendered in the film as crazed rapists and criminals. Lee successfully uses the past, as he has done in movies like Do the Right Thing (1989) , to artistically quash the anticipated criticism that a film by a Black director that portrays white racism is guilty of being anti-white. In contrast, by integrating the facts about Birth of a Nation , Lee explodes this phoney critique and points to the real racial irony: That films depicting white supremacy are likely to be wildly popular, even praised by presidents of their time, while a film that depicts the personal and professional impacts of racism, particularly on Black people, is subject to petty but popular criticism that the film is inherently anti-white. Lee does not tread lightly, but marches into this racial terrain at the end of the movie by explicitly invoking images of U.S. President Donald Trump’s equivocation that some white nationalists are very fine people . Comic relief; deadly serious To artistically execute this heavy history in a film that runs two hours and 15 minutes is no easy feat. But Lee does not disappoint. Lee deftly offers comedy as a necessary relief. For example, Connie Kendrickson, (Ashlie Atkinson), the wife of a Klan member, Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), is an eager-Jane, reminiscent of a classically uncool, geekish, eager-to-please teenager. She dresses up — rather badly — in a two-piece, too loose, bright red pantsuit to pursue her first terrorist act of planting a bomb. She foils the plan and the result is pure humor. Its good to see #JohnDavidWashington restate what he told me when other interviewers mention he's DENZEL's son like his phenomenal mother didn't play the largest role in his life. #BlacKkKlansman pic.twitter.com/5LNZTRvl4C — The Extraordinary Xilla (@BlogXilla) August 8, 2018 On the other hand, Lee interestingly and expertly weaves together the serious mini-dramas in Stallworth’s life. Stallworth must face personal conflicts in his love life when his (completely fictionalized) romantic interest (Laura Harrier) holds anti-cop views. And he must deal with persistent racism when he is formally admonished and told to accept routine anti-Black sentiments expressed at work or face consequences for complaining. Confronting American racism BlacKkKlansman is, of course, not the first time cinema has been used to confront similar themes of Blacks infiltrating the KKK or using covert police tactics. These themes have been variously treated in popular culture since at least the 1960s. The 1966 film, The Black Klansman was directed by Ted V. Mikels and depicts a light-skinned Black man, Jerry Ellsworth (Richard Gilden), whose daughter is murdered by the Klan. Ellsworth passes as white to become a member of the KKK to take revenge on the organization and avenge his daughter’s death. Another iteration was developed in the 1973 cult classic The Spook Who Sat by the Door , directed by Ivan Dixon and based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. In this film, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) is an African-American who becomes a top CIA agent after being trained in advanced warfare, spy work and subversion. Freeman soon resigns from the CIA and lives by day as a social worker but by night as the leader of a Black nationalist group called the Freedom Fighters. Freeman leads the group in pro-Black both non-violent and aggressive military acts against corrupt police and anti-civil rights efforts. Then there’s David Chappelle ’s famous skit of Clayton Bigsby on Chappelle’s Show . Because Bigsby is blind, raised in an all-white group home, and no one ever tells him that he’s African-American, he develops deeply racist views and joins the town’s chapter of the KKK. He learns he is Black while lecturing at a white supremacist rally when the crowd requests that he take off his hood. Even then, his views don’t change. When asked why he divorced his wife of almost two decades, he responds that it is because she is a n***** lover. So BlacKkKlansman has to be more than just another cinematic episode depicting how a Black subversive is finally sticking it to “The Man.” This story is about much more than one Black police officer who successfully and brilliantly subverted and breached the Klan to assist efforts of Black liberation. And the film certainly does more than chase laughs by exposing the inanity of racist views. BlacKkKlansman is an insightful foray into the neo-passing genre. The neo-passing genre addresses contemporary injustices and asks audiences to consider and distinguish between “classic and popular narratives of passing” where contemporary versions of passing can be about performing resistance and contesting unjust social circumstances. As a neo-passing story, BlacKkKlansman is ultimately about the current reality that African-Americans specifically, and other racial minorities in general, must continue to endure racism; that they must still argue that saying “Black lives matter” always means all lives matter. That Lee is able to highlight this through an entertaining adaptation of the past makes his latest film one to see and discuss. Vershawn Ashanti Young , professor, Department of Drama and Speech Communication, University of Waterloo This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article . SEE ALSO: Review: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Movie Review: Spike Lee Delivers An Instant Classic If Only The Spike Lee’s ‘Drop Squad’ Really Existed [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”2741958″ overlay=”true”]
S pike Lee ’s BlacKkKlansman delivers more than a brilliantly entertaining story. Officially, BlacKkKlansman is about Ron Stallworth ( John David Washington , son of actor Denzel Washington ), the first African-American police detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white proxy. The film is based on actual events discussed in Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime . The actors humorously and yet believably drive home the film’s strong racial irony. Stallworth’s operation upsets a string of Klan meetings and attacks, including a comically rendered attempt to bomb the female head of the Black student union. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman ( @BlacKkKlansman ) is in theaters now! Read our #BlacKkKlansman review! https://t.co/QuEEwp5xwf — NewsOne (@newsone) August 10, 2018 Stallworth dupes the “Grand Wizard” of the KKK, David Duke (Topher Grace). Stallworth and Duke have a series of phone conversations about Stallworth’s feigned white nationalist beliefs and the upcoming ceremony marking his initiation into the “Organization.” Drama and hilarity abound when Stallworth is assigned to personally guard Duke at the event and Duke is unable to make any connection between his new initiate and the police officer. What makes this film good is not that it successfully delivers the story it promises, but that it also exposes how our racial past has only changed its bell-bottoms for straight-legs. Or put another way, BlacKkKlansman showcases how past racism still operates in the present. Using the past to illuminate the present Spike Lee offers a parody of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s enthusiastic endorsement of the 1915 box office hit, Birth of a Nation . Birth of a Nation , based on a novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and unabashedly titled The Clansman, an Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan , is set just after the American Civil War. Both book and movie were used as propaganda to depict the Klan as saving the white race from the newly emancipated Blacks, rendered in the film as crazed rapists and criminals. Lee successfully uses the past, as he has done in movies like Do the Right Thing (1989) , to artistically quash the anticipated criticism that a film by a Black director that portrays white racism is guilty of being anti-white. In contrast, by integrating the facts about Birth of a Nation , Lee explodes this phoney critique and points to the real racial irony: That films depicting white supremacy are likely to be wildly popular, even praised by presidents of their time, while a film that depicts the personal and professional impacts of racism, particularly on Black people, is subject to petty but popular criticism that the film is inherently anti-white. Lee does not tread lightly, but marches into this racial terrain at the end of the movie by explicitly invoking images of U.S. President Donald Trump’s equivocation that some white nationalists are very fine people . Comic relief; deadly serious To artistically execute this heavy history in a film that runs two hours and 15 minutes is no easy feat. But Lee does not disappoint. Lee deftly offers comedy as a necessary relief. For example, Connie Kendrickson, (Ashlie Atkinson), the wife of a Klan member, Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), is an eager-Jane, reminiscent of a classically uncool, geekish, eager-to-please teenager. She dresses up — rather badly — in a two-piece, too loose, bright red pantsuit to pursue her first terrorist act of planting a bomb. She foils the plan and the result is pure humor. Its good to see #JohnDavidWashington restate what he told me when other interviewers mention he's DENZEL's son like his phenomenal mother didn't play the largest role in his life. #BlacKkKlansman pic.twitter.com/5LNZTRvl4C — The Extraordinary Xilla (@BlogXilla) August 8, 2018 On the other hand, Lee interestingly and expertly weaves together the serious mini-dramas in Stallworth’s life. Stallworth must face personal conflicts in his love life when his (completely fictionalized) romantic interest (Laura Harrier) holds anti-cop views. And he must deal with persistent racism when he is formally admonished and told to accept routine anti-Black sentiments expressed at work or face consequences for complaining. Confronting American racism BlacKkKlansman is, of course, not the first time cinema has been used to confront similar themes of Blacks infiltrating the KKK or using covert police tactics. These themes have been variously treated in popular culture since at least the 1960s. The 1966 film, The Black Klansman was directed by Ted V. Mikels and depicts a light-skinned Black man, Jerry Ellsworth (Richard Gilden), whose daughter is murdered by the Klan. Ellsworth passes as white to become a member of the KKK to take revenge on the organization and avenge his daughter’s death. Another iteration was developed in the 1973 cult classic The Spook Who Sat by the Door , directed by Ivan Dixon and based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. In this film, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) is an African-American who becomes a top CIA agent after being trained in advanced warfare, spy work and subversion. Freeman soon resigns from the CIA and lives by day as a social worker but by night as the leader of a Black nationalist group called the Freedom Fighters. Freeman leads the group in pro-Black both non-violent and aggressive military acts against corrupt police and anti-civil rights efforts. Then there’s David Chappelle ’s famous skit of Clayton Bigsby on Chappelle’s Show . Because Bigsby is blind, raised in an all-white group home, and no one ever tells him that he’s African-American, he develops deeply racist views and joins the town’s chapter of the KKK. He learns he is Black while lecturing at a white supremacist rally when the crowd requests that he take off his hood. Even then, his views don’t change. When asked why he divorced his wife of almost two decades, he responds that it is because she is a n***** lover. So BlacKkKlansman has to be more than just another cinematic episode depicting how a Black subversive is finally sticking it to “The Man.” This story is about much more than one Black police officer who successfully and brilliantly subverted and breached the Klan to assist efforts of Black liberation. And the film certainly does more than chase laughs by exposing the inanity of racist views. BlacKkKlansman is an insightful foray into the neo-passing genre. The neo-passing genre addresses contemporary injustices and asks audiences to consider and distinguish between “classic and popular narratives of passing” where contemporary versions of passing can be about performing resistance and contesting unjust social circumstances. As a neo-passing story, BlacKkKlansman is ultimately about the current reality that African-Americans specifically, and other racial minorities in general, must continue to endure racism; that they must still argue that saying “Black lives matter” always means all lives matter. That Lee is able to highlight this through an entertaining adaptation of the past makes his latest film one to see and discuss. Vershawn Ashanti Young , professor, Department of Drama and Speech Communication, University of Waterloo This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article . SEE ALSO: Review: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Movie Review: Spike Lee Delivers An Instant Classic If Only The Spike Lee’s ‘Drop Squad’ Really Existed [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”2741958″ overlay=”true”]
Source: MARCO LONGARI / Getty While the current commander-in-chief panhandles for Russia, former President Barack Obama travelled to South Africa to commemorate the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela , one of his greatest inspirations. Obama travelled to Africa on Sunday where he first stopped in Kenya, the birthplace of his father. It is his first visit to Africa since leaving office in 2017. He delivered the speech on Tuesday a day before the official commemoration at the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. During his speech, he warned against “strongman politics,” emphasized need for global diplomacy, and delivered a message of hope directed at the youth. He began his speech recalling Mandela and his legacy. Obama derived many of his beliefs from Mandela–a man who changed the course of history as the first Black president of South Africa. Their lives, uniquely parallel, were not lost on the committee who asked Obama to speak at the conference. Prior to Obama’s speech Mandela’s wife, Graça Machel , told the crowd of more than 15,000 people that Obama is one of the “finest global leaders of the 21st century” and a “youthful symbol of transformative leadership.” Former Pres. Barack Obama: “Through his sacrifice and unwavering leadership, and perhaps most of all through his moral example, Mandela and the movement he led would come to signify something larger…the universal aspirations of dispossessed people all around the world.” pic.twitter.com/lq5vk3yyDV — ABC News (@ABC) July 17, 2018 Obama pulled from other impactful leaders before him mentioning Ghandi , Martin Luther King Jr ., and Abraham Lincoln –three men who used the art of oration to move the masses. Former President Obama: “I believe in Nelson Mandela’s vision. I believe in a vision shared by Gandhi and King and Abraham Lincoln. I believe in a vision… built on the premise that all people are created equal and they’re endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.” pic.twitter.com/m8lnutnkCH — CNN (@CNN) July 17, 2018 After Trump’s stunning joint press conference with Vladimir Putin on Monday where he refused to acknowledge a known fact–that Russian officials conspired and interceded in the 2016 election, critics and supporters on both sides of the aisle blasted the Trump with calls of treason and incompetence. Obama took a moment to acknowledge Trump’s repeated faux pas and Trump’s commitment to undoing his legacy. Former Pres. Obama: “Look around: strongman politics are ascendant…whereby elections and some pretense of democracy are maintained, the form of it, but those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.” https://t.co/ClI1zYlCd0 pic.twitter.com/eznFGB2kZD — ABC News (@ABC) July 17, 2018 And in true fashion, Obama also delivered a message of perseverance to the youth–the next generation of global leaders. Former Pres. Barack Obama to young leaders, “those hope carriers”: “Keep believing. Keep marching. Keep building. Keep raising your voice. Every generation has the opportunity to remake the world.” https://t.co/spcXtv2mpR pic.twitter.com/kLiLta2XlA — ABC News (@ABC) July 17, 2018 Obama ended his speech with a tone of unity and togetherness. He used a Mandela quote he previously summoned during the Charlottesville attacks in August. Former Pres. Obama concludes remarks in South Africa: “Madiba reminds us that no one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin.” “People must learn to hate. And if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.” https://t.co/spcXtv2mpR pic.twitter.com/krwf9jB16x — ABC News (@ABC) July 17, 2018 DON’T MISS: Trump Administration Reverses Obama-Era Guidelines On Race In College Admission Process These Are The 2020 Hopefuls Who Met With Barack Obama [ione_media_gallery src=”https://hellobeautiful.com” id=”3007343″ overlay=”true”]
