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STAND THE MOVIE - http://www.standthemovie.com/home.htm

A Review of Tavis Smiley’s new Documentary Stand

By Shirley Husar

Tavis Smiley recently welcomed the blog Hip-Hip Republican.com into his guesthouse to see the movie Stand. There are different bloggers here at work. They are in a work mind- frame environment. This is Tavis’s first film and from the look on his face he is extremely proud of it! The film synopsis is based on old friends getting together during the2008 election.

The movie tried to reflect on the national mood as well as America’s approach to this historic presidential election. As the movie went along the dialogue and the debate intensified on issues relating to race relations; politics and the legacy of the civil right movement. This movie is what I call Get on the Bus with old friends”.

It reminds me of the Get on the Bus movie (without the Republicans), reality style movie. The 1996 movie Get on the Bus tells a similar story of a group of men who board a bus headed for the historic Million Man March as strangers, but who emerge, three days and thousands of miles later, as brothers: an estranged father struggling to connect with his teenage son; an aspiring actor who is filled with hate; a cop desperate to end the slaughter he sees on the streets of his city; and a devout Muslim.

The “Tavis Smiley Bus Tour” is his 2009 reality style version of who and what is happening with the movement of African-American People. The men board the bus and discuss the national discourse of America as it is today; again without any of the black men who are Republican. The movie starts by having all of the old friends getting together on a 5 to 6 day bus tour. As they ride, they inevitably begin talking about Black History and the Obama campaign. They begin by meeting in the summer of 2008 in Atlanta, GA. Where Tavis’s creditable and well know friends: Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Cliff West, Eddie Glaude, BeBe Winans, Wren T. Brown, Daron Boyce, Robert Smith and Raymond Ross all board a bus. Also in company is the living legendry Black Activist named Dick Gregory.

The film features special movie appearances by Sam Moore, and more notable, the great late Isaac Hayes who only four to five days later would pass away. The film also included David Porter in the mix. What was interesting and unique about this documentary was that “none of the men” had any idea of where or what was going to happen. All they know is Tavis has called and they came. So the men “GET ON THE BUS” and head to Memphis which is the birthplace of the Blues. Like any group of brothers, it reminded me of a Barbershop Quartet : the way the ideas of Black History the conversation of the past and the present times was interwoven.

The bus tour took the men to the home of Sam Moore who is an American Southern Soul and Rhythm & Blues (R&B) singer who was the tenor vocalist for the soul vocal duo Sam & Dave from 1961 through 1981. Sam Moore is also a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame (for “Soul Man”) and a Grammy Award and a multi-Gold Record award winning Recording Artist. The men sit down to eat an “old school style” prepared BQ dinner, in Sam’s Memphis, Tennessee home. The ten men had a long discussion about Black History. Jessie Jackson, one of the men, shares how Dr. King told Jessie Jackson many times, not to use the word “nigger”; and how Dr. King told Jessie that such a use of that word would get him into trouble in the future.

Fast forward from 2009 to the media blitz of 2008 where he uses that word as well as other ones. In the end of the presidential election he sits on the sidelines of the OBAMA Presidential Year. Over several days, during a special on the bus road trip, the men travel through Memphis and Nashville. While visiting places like Fisk University, The Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated, and Star records, they explore the diversity and complexity of the Black male experience in America past, present and future.

As I watch the movie Stand I wonder,” Where did the Black Republican Civil Right’s Movement “Stand” at that time of History? I would like to have seen more of the whole picture of the Black Republican side of the people. What does the record say about Republicans and the battle for Civil Rights. Specifically, what does the record say about Black Republicans and the battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352)? Since Abraham Lincoln, Republicans have been there for blacks when it counted. Democrats, nevertheless, invariably take all of the credit for the success of the Civil Right’s Movement and invariably fail to give any credit to Republicans. In fact, the Civil Right’s Movement was not about politics.

Nor was it about which politicians did what, and which political party should take the most credit. When it came to civil rights, America’s politicians merely saw the handwriting on the wall and wrote the legislation to make Civil Rights for African-Americans into federal law. There was nothing else they could do. The movement of blacks to the North, as well as their contributions as fighting men in the World Wars, plus the hard work of millions of blacks and their families and churches, along with the efforts of many private groups and individuals made the Civil Right’s Movement succeed.

Civil Rights for Blacks found its historical moment after 1945. Bills introduced in Congress regarding employment policy brought the issue of civil rights to the attention of Representatives and Senators. In 1945, 1947 and 1949, the House of Representatives voted to abolish the poll tax restricting the right to vote. Although the Senate did not join in this effort, the Bills signaled a growing interest in protecting Civil Rights through Federal action. The Executive branch of government, by Presidential Order likewise, became active by ending discrimination in the Nation’s military forces and in Federal Employment and work done under Government Contract. Harry Truman ordered the integration of the military. His Republican opponent in the election of 1948, however, named Tom Dewey, was just as strong a proponent for that effort as any Democrat. As a matter- of- fact, the record shows that since 1933, Republicans had a more positive record on Civil Rights than the Democrats.

In the 26 major Civil Rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed Civil Rights Legislation in over 80 percent of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored Civil Rights in over 96 percent of the votes.

[See http://www.congresslink.org/civil/essay.html and http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/3/82.03.04.x.html.]

It was appalling the other day to watch former Democratic Senator Bob Kerry totally gloss over Republican efforts in the name of Civil Rights. He implied that Lott’s foot-in-mouth statement was representative of Republican views about Civil Rights since forever. Kerry knows better. Yet being a loyal and predictable Democrat, Kerry can create the big lie with the best of them. The media are so in sync with his effort that they don’t challenge him. Kerry also maintained that all the Dixiecrats became Republicans shortly after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which is another big lie. Richard Russell, Mendell Rivers, Clinton’s mentor William Fulbright, Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings and Al Gore Sr. remained Democrats till their dying day. Most of the Dixiecrats did not become Republicans.

They created the Dixiecrats and then, when the Civil Right’s Movement succeeded, they returned to the Democratic fold. It was not till much later, with a new, younger breed of Southerner and the thousands of Northerners moving into the South, that Republicans began to make gains. The climate of opinion had changed dramatically between World War II and 1964. Various efforts by groups of Protestant and Catholic Clergy, along with the Urban League, the NAACP, the Congress of Racial Equality, black activists, individuals both white and black and, of course, Martin Luther King Jr., as well as other subsets of his movement, are what forced Civil Rights to be crafted into Federal Law.

Tavis did talk about Fredrick Douglass and how Fredrick Douglass kept the “Checks and Balances” in place during that time in history. As of today, Hip-Hop Republicans will keep President Obama in check as far as his policies and his cabinet members are concerned. I believe the movie Stand was not created to show the difference of Democrats vs. Republicans It was Tavis account of how America is seen through his eyes and well as through the eyes of the other nine men. It would have been nice for a Republican friend to ride on the bus as well. It may seem to be that Tavis does not have too many Black Republican friends. This may be the beginning of a new era of respect and openness to the voice of Hip-Hop Republicanism. Hopefully, we can see some changes in the Black Media about us and how we see things to come.

Over all, I truly enjoyed the historical part of the movie. I would see Stand again. At the end of the movie Dick Gregory pours his heart out on screen: He talks about how the Black People received news of the Civil Right’s Movement. It ONLY came through the Black Churches that we learned about the Civil Right’s Movement. The Black Churches and The Civil Right’s Movement had to work together to bring change.

As I watched the movie, I did not get the feeling of Black Dems vs. Black Reps. for during the era of The Civil Right’s movement we all worked together. As for today, I feel we have to start talking more, being more open and taking more risk! To our brothers and to our sisters who do not understand the Black Republicans (The Hip-Hop Republicans)we have to stop letting media divide us of who and what we are. There are some issues in America that all black people will unite on; even if we are on different political sides. At the end of the movie, before the credits ran, we are reminded with photos of great Historical Leaders like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois., Washington Carver, and many others. Black Republicans as well as and Black Democrats.

The song “Stand” is played and song by BeBe Winan in
(http://www.dizzler.com/music/Donnie_Mcclurkin) the church. In this movie we see ten black men cry a lot and pour their hearts out by talking and sharing the memory of the past and present. We are the next generation of Republicans and we must stay united. We, as Hip-Hop Republicans, must remember the people who died for us and unite our Republican Party to hear the hip-hop republican voice as well as our people’s voice.

Remembering the words of Dr. King, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle,” I say to you that we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent”.

So you must STAND!

Shirley Husar

PLEASE LESSON TO THIS SONG EVEN IT YOU KNOW IT.

(http://www.dizzler.com/music/Donnie_Mcclurkin)
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/12/13/194350.shtml
http://hiphappy.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/dr-kings-legacy-requires-activism-not-pacifism/

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HHR Note: There was not signal in Tavis Home so HHR had to take notes. However Shirley did do allot of twittering.

Richard Ivory - Publisher