M : I’m a black male. Pretty heavy hearted person. I like to enjoy myself and see other people enjoying themselves. I try to take each day at a time. Currently, I’m on my 8th month of my new year’s resolution.
M: Being straight forward and upfront with people. Because if you don’t tell people what you want or feel it makes thing hard and I want to make things as easy as possible.
B: Are there any projects you’re working on currently?
M : I have a story in the works about superheroes. Which is still in the genesis stages, the main character is black and his squad is multi-cultural. There’s definitely a lot of action involved. Then there’s the script I’m working on, that’s very near to my heart. It’s about a young man whose been dating a girl for a few months and she’s dealing with the fact he hasn’t gotten over his last girlfriend that died. Because his not over that, then can’t be happy together and she’ll have to leave him.
B: So everything is going smoothly?
M: The hardest part for me is not being lazy. Like I have an entire story, I’ve already played it one thousand times in my head. But for me to actually in on the couch and write it, it feels time consuming. I rather grab a camera be like “alright guys let’s do this” basically expecting everyone to know what to say and that’s horrible. * laughs*
B: Do you plan on directing and filmmaking in the future or is this a onetime thing?
M: Umm, just like with my podcasts I’d like to have a few different mediums in my corner. I’m not per say a director but I know what I want to be in this film. Sometimes I’ll see other people and sometimes I’ll see myself unless the person has had my same thoughts and situations they cannot express the feelings that I can. I’m not trying to “spike lee” everything but I’m definitely trying to direct and be a part of some of my works but I will write all of my pieces.
B: Are there any Black filmmakers you can accredit you’re work to or serve as inspiration?
M: I cannot give anyone in particular because I’m not familiar with many but as far as inspiration goes, Quentin Tarantino….even though he isn’t black. I can give him credit for my dialogue, he has great dialogue I’ve ever seen in any time of movie. Spike Lee has the best cuts and still frames I’ve ever seen in a film. I can attest all the ideas I’ve had to movies in general. Fun Fact! The minimum amount of movies I’ve seen was 150.
B: What kind of movies are you into? Action movies or are we talking an epic battle between the two evil forces of the world?
M: *Laughs* First off, something that not a lot of people know about me… I love a good romance movie. I think it’s the most beautiful thing to see. Like the other day I was watching the movie “Her” by Spike Jonze. That movie messed me up. I’m like how is he having a better relationship with a computer than I’ve ever had with a woman my entire life. Even though it’s written the fact that it’s an imaginative thing I’m there are people who have that. I watch action films like you said, expendables. But you really can’t much from that, it’s just testosterone pumping on a screen which isn’t bad. I think every movie has its place in the world. I watch historical films sometimes, like “12 years a Slave”.
B: 12 years a Slave. How did you feel about that?
M: I don’t really like to watch films about slavery and oppression because I’ve already read and seen it all. So it definitely gets tiring. I saw it was critically acclaimed so I watched it and I thought it was very well done…What’s the black girls name that’s really famous with the short haircut?
B: Her character [Lupita Nyong’o] was Patsy.
M: Yeah! I thought she did great. I was completely heartbroken because it added the elements that “this not a fairytale” which is something I love about movies. So whether that story was fictional or not, which it wasn’t. But if it was fictional I liked the scene where Solomon leaves the plantation and Patsy doesn’t go with him. He couldn’t take her and there was nothing he could do to take her and that is life. Like you can’t save everyone, things don’t always turn out happy. So I think that’s the best things about some of the films I watch and create. My stories aren’t going to end up happy because they are real life. There will be happy endings but ultimately they can’t always happen.
B: So there’s a phrase often used, “The love of Black culture but not of Black people”? What do you take from that?
M: It’s crazy cause I talk about this stuff just about every day even though I don’t want to… I have to. I think the love of black culture is a good thing. However, you have to attest soul music, r&b , hip-hop, rap and even rock and roll to the people that created it. But when it comes to the actually struggles are happening to the people that are always listening to this and the people who have predominantly made it , you’re ( white people ) nowhere to be found. Umm, now that I get to talk about this on record…let me state Taylor Swift’s “ Shake It Off”, Katy Perry’s video where she was wearing these long nails, braided hair and eating watermelon, Iggy Azalea’s entire being. Like this whole trend of “I want to be black and I want white people to feel cool listening to this” it’s disgusting. It’s cultural appropriation and you can rap and be Eminem per say and not have any of that shit in your videos. It doesn’t make sense to ultimately to like black culture then misrepresent it and now that you’re so submersed in it when something happens in the black community, you suddenly have nothing to say at all.
B: Do white people acknowledge their privilege?
M : So the other day I had an argument with this guy ( white male of course) and I asked him, Do you think white privilege exists? He says, “I feel every culture has a privilege”. I then said, last time I checked there is no black privilege. I personally haven’t seen or experienced any of that. He then says “well how do you know you haven’t experienced it ?”. I said to him, well how do you know you haven’t experienced the same thing? I continue to say, my black privilege is going to a store and getting looked at no matter how well I’m dressed. My black privilege is people suddenly walk on the other side of the street as me or won’t look me directly in the eyes when talking to me. If they are talking to me, they will make sure to be so careful about what they say because they think I’ll be offended. His white privilege is the fact that although Jesus was Middle Eastern his perceived as White in society. His white privilege is his ability to complain about affirmative action. This society is definitely based upon a white, straight, male domination. White privilege does bother me but, what bothers me more is the fact they [white people] aren’t willing to accept its existence. Because dealing with a problem only happens are we accept that it actually exists. The fact that you will sit there in my face, lie and say it doesn’t that’s just ignorant.
B: Do you identify as a Black creative and if so, how does that affect your mark on the world?
M: I don’ t think I’m a black creative. I can be creative but I’m not sure if can put myself in that box. I do like to create things and as far my impact on the world I am not the person that you’ll see marching or holding pickets. Certain people are made for that and those people are needed but I’m the person, who reacts to something outrageous on social media. If black people are seeing this outrageous thing and aren’t saying anything… I’ll be the one to say something. Overall, I will speak up if there is something wrong. That’s my impact. As a substring of that, hopefully as I’m saying this, it will change someone’s thought process. They’ll start thinking a different way and it gets shared to someone else, basically a domino affect.
B: As a people are we progressing or regressing?
M: I think the best way to say that is, all my homies are woke *laughs*. That’s the best way to put it. I haven’t seen “black on black crime” as much ( I honestly hate that term because if two white people kill each other it’s just double homicide ). I see that we are still in poorer neighborhoods and I know gang violence is still a thing but overall we are progressing. Personally, I don’t feel as a people we’ve ever taken a step back. In all honesty, I enjoy seeing the uprisings sometimes. When it came to Ferguson, no one was killing anyone. These were angry people and I think that’s progression. If the unification of black people is to have common enemy, and that enemy be systematic oppression. I think that’s fine, it’s progressive. For everyone to together for cause and although it has happened before, the more it happens to stronger it gets. Also, black people are more accepting than before of everything granted we still have our older generation to hold on to certain stigmas like “I don’t like gay people or mental illness isn’t a thing for black people.” As far as our generation is concerned, this group is more accepting and I always say, “Struggle is the biggest factor of people accepting one another.” Tons of black people are for gay rights even if they don’t believe men should be together but they stand with them because they understand what’s like to be ostracized. The same goes for Latinos and Asians, the common factor is a struggle. From that you accept and band together. So to answer you plainly, I do believe we are progressing and at a fairly good rate.
B: If you can, it can be more than one answer, but tell me what blackness is?
M: That is definitely a hard question. I’ll put it like this. I am a Black man. I know I’ m a Black man because I’m treated like one. I think blackness has to do with solidarity, it has to do with soul. Blackness is creativity in forms. Forms that show black people can make something of themselves even in a hard situation. There is nothing genetic or biological about race. It is a man-made construct, right?
M: By saying that, someone like Rachel Dolezal can be black if that’s the case. However, I would say that she not. Even though I just sat here and said race is a man-made construct. Because not once has she been treated like a black person. She grew up as a privileged white women with white parents. She nor her people had to face any type of struggle. I think it’s great you [Rachel Dolezal] want to be on the “struggle bus” with us. Although I’m not sure why you would do that when you have first class flight to Maui but you WANT TO BE on the struggle to Detroit, okay fine. However just know, in that back pocket of yours, you can always take that flight because it will always be there with you. At this point race is solely a social construct then being black means having it [life] a bit harder. But the same time there’s the good in it, we’re just creative. We dance great, we have the best songs, everybody wants to be us, we have the greatest sense of style…we are just cultural icons. Plainly put, everybody wants to be our friend. They want to tan, they want their hair like ours but they will never say I’m black or anything of that nature. Blackness is struggle, it’s making “the come-up” in life. Its solidarity and the ability to make the most of the cards you’re dealt.
