The Black and White of Ideas

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2013)

When I was rehearsing my one-act play 'The Arms of Infinity' at the Concept East Theater that used to be on Adams street here in Detroit, the great James Wheeler used to talk about how fashion designers would come here and cruise the streets intently studying what African Americans were wearing this year and that later, you would find the same designs that folks had thrown together selling for top dollar in the most fashionable salons and stores across America. I'll have to admit I didn't put much stock in this, or simply shrugged 'so what', but the movie 'Bring It On' brought this subject up again and seemed to validate my mentor's assertion and observation. The movie also reminded me of something Picasso was quoted as having said; "You either do it first, or you do it better."
'Bring It On' is a lighthearted look at how Western Culture feels privileged to appropriate ideas from other cultural milieus without making proper acknowledgement that it has done so. There was a knowing nod from me and others in the audience when vivacious Torrance is given a 'reality check' that the winning routine her cheer-leading squad is famous and renowned for actually comes from an all-black cheer-leading squad led by the beautiful Isis. This was a tiny glimmer of light emitted from raising up the lid just a degree to see what was actually cooking in our cultural melting pot. Somehow it always seems novel to me when it is revealed that African Americans, Indians, and various other peoples of the Orient such as the Japanese, the Chinese and the folks of India actually did have a better idea and are the source of successful actions that can be broadly applied for the benefit of all.
When I was young, every major accomplishment or idea worthy of note owed its source to some Caucasian mind. At the time, in elementary school, I just wanted my 'A's and the sheer thrill of excelling, though I could have forgone the cookie we got when I would be invited to the Principal's office with a few other students for having made the honor roll. It rarely occurred to me to question how this could be so. That is, how History was basically a collection of success stories about White People. How they were largely responsible for the quality of life in the world, all the major inventions and advances in technology and were presently investigating and plumbing the secrets of the Universe. As long as the cookies and the punch kept coming at the end of each semester, what did I care?
I loved giving reports on the lives of famous men who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and did something with their lives. People like Theodore Roosevelt, the nerd who became a He-Man, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone and the various Indian Fighters. Therefore I was surprised when I did my report on Frederick Douglass at the irritated suggestion of my father asking ("-why don't you ever do any reports on Black People?'); that my teacher didn't know who he was! She stopped me in the middle of my report and called in the Assistant Principal who admitted she never heard of him either! After that, the teacher from next door was called in but she didn't have a clue. So I was told it was great I decided to do a report about somebody who was 'active in the community', but I really better sit down now.
Where I am going with all this is that the one of the most closely guarded secrets is how many non-Western minds are responsible for the shape of the World as it exists today. It's a wonderful thing to investigate and opens up a new dimension on reality that is at once invigorating and exhilarating. I love finding out that Pizza and Spaghetti actually have their origins in China, that the Pilgrims were having a hard time of it through some rough winters until the Indians shared their technology with them, that George Washington Carver played a large role in developing the K-Rations for soldiers in the field, and that a fictional white Cheer-leading Squad called the Toros were best able to win when they modeled themselves after another fictional black Cheer-leading Squad called the Clovers to insure their success.
We can get into the misbegotten idea that 'All Art is a Form of Cultural Theft', but let's leave that can of worms with the moneychangers for another day. All I know is that if so-called Whites can come to so-called Blacks for ideas about Cheer-leading techniques, rock and roll songs and inspiring jazz riffs, does the African and African American influence really end there? Or does it permeate and infuse other arenas of thought and Life as well?
Here beginneth the adventure. Something for Quentin Tarantino to take note about when he is through applying the Three Laws of Fred Williamson.