There’s a line of thinking that calls out the problem of “slavery movies”—the apparent overabundance of depictions of Black people being enslaved, the way those depictions can too comfortably glide into voyeuristic pleasure at Black suffering. Why not portray other periods and experiences in Black history, this line of thinking goes. It’s an important point. […]
On Sixto Rodriguez – The Sugar Man
Sixto Rodriguez, the Detroit singer and songwriter, died on August 8, 2023. He was 81 years of age. What follows is a short essay I wrote about him in July, 2012, the day after seeing the preview of the documentary film about his life entitled “Searching for Sugar Man.” The article was never published. I […]
A Small Slice of Private Life
For a few years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I had the good fortune to be in a relationship with Clem Maharaj, a former jazz drummer from Trinidad whose mother had taken the precaution of sending him to Europe in a suit made of flame-resistant fabric. This fireproof suit occupied a large space […]
National Past-Time
Let’s just get this out of the way first: Rob Manfred is a weasel. In case you don’t know, Manfred is the commissioner of Major League Baseball, and, while you would think a love or even enjoyment of the game would be a prerequisite for the job, one can only conclude that he hates baseball. […]
Why I burned the Mediatheque…
Introduction On June 27, 2023, 17 year old Nahel Merzouk was driving a car in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, when two motorcycle cops stopped him. One of the passengers said that an officer threatened Nahel, “Don’t move or I’ll put a bullet in your head.” Both officers struck him through the open window of […]
Lessons from Rosemarie: My 25 years in Brooklyn
“Keep going down Atlantic, then hang a left at Bedford,” advised the lot attendant, a white guy in his 60s, as my pal Patrick and I dropped off a U-Haul truck at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic. “But be careful, Fellas. You’ll be driving through God’s country.” It was a white guy’s way of […]