Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Sideny Poiter stars in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" as an accomplished Doctor who just met the love of his life. The problem he encounters is that he doesn't think meeting his girlfriend's parents is going to end well.

Movie poster 

I didn't talk about the race of either character in my quick synopsis above because if you just read that it wouldn't sound like too good of a movie. The fact that race is so deeply ingrained as a difference-maker in people's eyes is sad.  

On the other hand, I didn't enjoy this movie directed by Stanley Kramer because I thought it was slow and had a boring plot. I guess it was interesting and weird for viewers at the time to see a scenario like this on the big screen but I thought it was ehh.

I enjoy Sidney Poiter and thought he did a very good job as well as his beautiful co-star Katharine Houghton who played his girlfriend. Also, the whole idea of how they wanted to get married while only knowing each other for 4 months or so was kind of dumb. 

Dr. John Prentice and Joanna Dayton

The message displayed is a good one, but it's still an important topic today. Interracial marriage was different than other parts of integration because it dealt with the powers of love. Therefore, it was an important decision for the parents to make.

One line that struck me was when Joanna's father was in the car with her mom and he says to himself "I never thought that this would happen." That stuck out to me because it made me aware that he was never prepared to make this conclusion. 

 

Who was Hazel Scott?

Sadly, schools today don't teach about amazing people like Hazel Scott and I felt bad that I didn't even know who she was either before Professor Smith taught us. There were so many black figures during the civil rights era that have gotten forgotten because of the superiority of white people.

Hazel Scott was a pianist prodigy from when she was just a little girl. She was born in Spain in 1920 but eventually moved to New York at the age of four. In New York, she lived only with her mother who was also a piano performer. 

Hazel tried out for the Julliard School of Music at the age of eight which was very popular and well-credited at the time. She was admitted and the rest was history. She attended the school and was a thriving musician by the time she was thirteen when she was playing in her mother's jazz band. 

A young Hazel Scott posing for a picture

Hazel Scott eventually was the first African-American woman to host her own TV show. Aside from her brilliant piano skills, she was also a key part of the Civil Rights Movement.

TV poster for The Hazel Scott Show

She was the type of person that would never abide by the rules of segregation even if it meant losing her job. Considering she was a huge star in her twenties and thirties she got treated much better than the average African-American but it was still rough for her at times.

She moved out to LA where there was a large sense of racism in the rich-profiting Hollywood industry. She also was offered many roles when she first moved out there but declined a lot of them because the studio wanted her to pose as a "singing maid". 

Hazel always declined those sorts of roles because she believed it was demeaning to her and to black people. She eventually starred in some movies where she played herself but her time in the movie industry eventually came to an end. It ended after Hazel was in a scene where other black ladies were dressed in raggedy clothing saying goodbye to her and she made the studio put them in nice clean dresses. The studio head eventually blacklisted her because of this and the many other stances she held toward racial discrimination. 

Not only that but she also would never perform in segregated audiences. She could have just done these things like play at those audiences and perform in those movie roles but she didn't because she knew that declining was more important than fame and money. 

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Bakke v California Mock Trial/EOTO Reax

Considering I already wrote a blog reiterating the details of the Fair Housing Act I thought I'd give my opinions on Bakke v California. During the mock trial, both sides had some very convincing points but it all sounded more research-based and not from their own point of view.

I can see both sides in this case because it would make sense to just say that both of them are right. However, that's not how court cases work. 

Bakke grew up in the 50s when racism and segregation were still happening around the country. He also grew up with money therefore he was able to obtain a good education. He also was a white male which was the most superior of all races and genders at the time.

Considering all this he already had a jump on the competition for a successful life than other minorities. These are some reasons why I think UC Davis should be allowed to admit less intelligent minorities over white people. 

As well as this Bakke had the grades and test scores to get into medical school but he got denied. There were still 84 students that were smarter than him which makes me think that it's not entirely the school's fault for not enrolling him. Who know that he would still be allowed in over 16 other students if the racial quota wasn't in place. 

Front page of the LA Times stating Bakke's victory

Seeing all of this, I still believe that the racial quota system Ideas should never be considered when dealing with processes like college acceptances. The Equal Protection Clause was written because of the discrimination towards black people but it is not just one-sided, it is written for all races.

Obviously some of those minorities who were a part of those 16 out of 100 didn't have the opportunities like the white people but I still believe that you should admit the most qualified. It's not about race it's about who puts in the most work to get in. 

Protests defending Bakke

In today's world I fully believe that things like this happen, it may be crazy for me to say it but I believe people will accept minorities over white people in some instances. This country always loves to preach diversity and condone racism but I think that's the reason it still doesn't happen. If people teach their kids about how much different the races are then they're going to grow up thinking that they are which leads to more differences. The way to solve this is to raise your kids right and to stop preaching differences altogether.

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Klansville, U.S.A

Klansville, U.S.A. was the name given to a town in North Carolina booming with Ku Klux Klan members during the 1960s. After a dramatic fallout during the 1920s, it was a matter of time before the KKK made their much-awaited return.  The time that made the most sense was during the Civil Rights Movement. 

Once the Klan settled down after booming in the reconstruction era it was only a matter of time before they made their way back into the spotlight. The Klan responded to the acts of progression made by African-Americans during this time by rebuilding the Klan to be larger and more influential than ever.

Bob Jones was born into a family of two former Ku Klux Klan members and was raised to be one. He was a member of the military as well until he refused to salute a black officer and was immediately discharged. After that, he lived and worked to make a somewhat decent living until he decided to organize a rally in August f 1963 in North Carolina not expecting many to show up.  About 2,000 showed up which was far more than grand dragon Bob jones expected.

A young Bob Jones in his Naval uniform

After Jones found out that there was a community that would follow him he decided to take it to another level. He would drive around the state having rallies and setting up new chapters to build the population. Eventually, the Klan in North Carolina grew to 10,000 members. This was shocking considering North Carolina was considered one of the few southern states that made a lot of progress in the field of civil rights. 

One of the many marches Bob Jones (Middle) held throughout the cities and towns of NC.

These Klan rallies were not all about preaching white supremacy and racism, it was almost like a town fair because of all the attractions and events they had going on during them. With such a large following Bob Jones and the leaders had so many donations to really get people involved. Following the end of the rallies, they would burn a cross almost thirty feet tall!

Ending ritual of a burning cross during a KKK rally

The Klan in North Carolina was so successful that it actually gained political involvement. However, this began the downfall of the Klan because with their growing popularity the FBI started to investigate their dark secrets like the finances of the group. The FBI started to bribe one of Bob Jones's closest acquaintances George Dorsett and he started to expose them. 

Bob Jones was eventually arrested for contempt in congress and this started the downfall of Klansville, U.S.A. Members started to lose faith in Bob Jones because of his fishy tactics, and even President Lyndon Johnson warned the people of North Carolina against it.

The Klan is still around today even though it is nothing like what it was then. In 2017 it was reported that there were 42 active groups spread throughout 22 states. In the end, it is legal to be a part of the Klan because of the First Amendment but with the dirty history and horrible racist values, the Klan holds it is hard to believe people still want to be members.

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Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1968: The Fair Housing Act

Before 1968 it was still very legal for a white real estate agent or property owner to simply refuse a person of color's offers to buy a piece of land or home. Therefore housing segregation was in full force with blacks living in one neighborhood and white people living in another one. 

Also during this time were the horrible acts of redlining. Redlining was a horrible practice of racism where certain helpful services would be denied to people who lived in certain areas. The name redlining came from the maps that were viewed by wealthy loan issuers that had the neighborhoods of colored people outlined in red. This meant that this circled section was a very low-income area. Also, it was almost always full of colored people. One of the main issues was that people in these red areas could not receive various types of loans from banks.

A map of Brooklyn with certain areas in red signaling low-income black neighborhoods 

Some of the examples of discrimination before this act were passed mostly consisted of race reasons. Reasons like a white man didn't want to do business with a black man or they would lie to them and say that the house was not for sale when it very well is. Another common practice was when the white male selling the house or property did not want a black person in their neighborhood they would direct them to an area with other black people. 

This halted the movement of colored individuals in the never-ending journey to be equal with white folk. The discrimination in housing made for black people to have to raise their families and live their lives in much poorer areas than white people. This made for much tougher paths for a black man to be successful in the booming U.S. economy at the time.

Fair housing protests

All of that started to come to subside in 1968 when title VII was added to the Civil Rights Act and it ended banned discrimination in the housing market. Which evidently banned the idea of redlining. The Fair Housing Act it is called and it prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, financing, or advertisement of housing. Not only to a racial extent but to gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and more. 

President Johnson signing the Civil RIghts Act of 1964 which eventually added title VIII the Fair Housing Act

This was a huge stepping stone for non-white Americans because it allowed them to live in the same townships and neighborhoods as white people. Many sellers in the south or in large cities still refused to sell or finance black people. Not until 1988 did the U.S. decide to enforce this rule by assigning certain organizations to take charge if there is still segregation going on. Associations like the Department of Urban Housing and Development (HUD) and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) really helped in making a real change. 

Housing discrimination is still very prevalent today. The poor communities in and outside of major cities are largely populated by minorities. This is an effect of hundreds of years of racism and segregation and also redlining. 

My opinion is pretty obvious and it's that America constantly tries to fix its problems from the past. A whole war was fought between the north and south of this country over slavery where hundreds of thousands of Americans died we are still facing the consequences. With segregation following it African-Americans have always had a tag of inferiority in this country. It feels like in today's world both sides are equal but white people can never seem to escape their brutal past of discrimination. I would say that in a hundred years things would be much better but I bet that's what the citizens of America said in 1922.

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Housing discrimination causes generational wealth gap between White and Black Americans (YouTube Video)

The Beginning of Powerful Black Men in Cinema

One of the movie posters for In the Heat of the Night

 In the Heat of the Night was very moving to me and definitely my favorite movie we've watched so far. Not just because this was the most recent film produced or the best acting so far, but because of the plot and the various twists and turns that had me on the edge of my seat. 

The movie takes place in the small southern town of Sparta, Mississippi in the 1960s. This town very clearly hasn't changed much since the slavery/segregation era and it takes a toll on the main character. Detective Virgil Tibbs from Philadelphia is an African-American homicide specialist played by Sidney Poitier. 

Detective Tibbs is waiting at the train station for his ride out of Sparta as officer Sam Wood racially profiles him and detains him as a suspect in the murder of Phillip Colbert, a beloved wealthy businessman. After he's proven innocent from a phone call to his boss from Philadelphia he is assigned to help out the police in Sparta to solve this murder.

Detective Tibbs and Police Cheif Gillespie

Tibbs was very on edge about helping them because of their racist tendencies but it ends up working out. Seeing how Tibbs brushes off all of the prejudiced judgments about him was fascinating to watch. 

The scene that really stuck out to me was when Tibbs and Police Chief Bill Gillespie investigate a plantation owner because of his known objection to the murder suspect. Tibbs gets into an argument with him and returns a slap to his cheek after the plantation owner slaps him first. 

This was really jaw-dropping because his African-American butler behind him is in awe and following Tibbs and Gillespie's departure, the plantation owner began to cry. What I ended up learning with follow-up research was that that was the first time a black man ever slapped a white man in movie history.

This just goes to show how drastic the change was for so many people during the time of integration. That plantation owner probably thought the last person to ever physically hurt him would be a black man.

In the end, this movie played a great role in the movement for civil rights in the country after all of the controversial scenes like the one I just explained above. Finally, it was also a very well-directed movie with great acting and an interesting spin at the end.

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Reax of Brown V Board of Education

 I always knew that there were so many different parts of slavery and segregation in American history that stunted African Americans. Now learning how clearly different people and court cases correlate with each other is truly fascinating. Although it is fascinating it is also upsetting learning about how many times the U.S repeated history

The Plessy V Ferguson case is a perfect example. How it took the U.S's greatest minds fifty-eight years to figure out that separating the two races was unconstitutional is mind-boggling. Obviously, it was a different era and things were much different, but in the end, it was the same constitution. 

Even though the effects of segregation still affect black people today it seems like things have gotten better. Though it makes me wonder how there are still areas in this nation filled with black people that are much less meager in opportunities. 

I think about places near my home in Philadelphia, PA like the town right outside of Philadelphia called Kensington. It is located in North East Philadelphia and it is a horrible place to live because of the crime opioid problem, and low opportunities. Some people in the city even call it zombie land because of the number of insane drug addicts walking around. 

One of the most prolific homeless spots in Kensington, PA 

I also learned that in 2021 African Americans made up 13% of the population however they make up 40% of the homeless population. That is a prime example of generational racism and systematic racism. As well as the horrible idea of redlining which placed African Americans in these already poor communities with no choice. 

In the end, the Brown V Board gave a great advancement for the black community however the racism never ends, and the hate never ends. It's not like this is solely for black people though, it happens to every race today because people in this world don't know how to treat everyone with respect and they never have. It is hard to even imagine a world in the future where no one gets mistreated because of the color of their skin. 

Homelessness statistic link