*Updated Movie News: George Lucas Debuts Trailer for "Red Tails"

Source. 


You all may remember this original post back in August before we had an official release date. Now that we have some additional deets, I decided to repost it. Check the trailer below: 

Some of the finest pieces of chocolate actors Hollywood has to offer have teamed up to work in the new film Red Tails about Tuskegee airmen during World War II. The story centers around the the pilots who famously painted the tails of their P-51 Mustang planes red. If the story sounds familiar to you, its because their story was also told in the 1995 Tuskegee Airmen flick. The movie stars acting greats like Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrance Howard, Tristan Wilds and rapper-turned-actor Method Man. The film, directed by powerhouse George Lucas (who is funding this out of his own pockets), touches on the two wars at once – one against enemies overseas, and the other against discrimination within the military and back home.

When speaking about the film Cuba said,    

"I’ve seen the movie, I’ve seen the special effects, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about that movie and for people to see it. In my career I’ve done a couple of movies that blown up the zeitgeist of cinema and hit social consciousness, like ‘Boyz N The Hood’ or ‘Men Of Honor’ or ‘Jerry Maguire.’ These are movies where people are affected by either a scenario or scene or environment they’ve never been exposed to, or it just hits them and in their everyday life they can identify with.

We actors live for that, and we’ve done that again with George Lucas’ ‘Red Tails.’ The movie is breathtaking, and the thing about it is, visually you haven’t seen the things that George is doing with these fighter sequences. It’s insane. The real people we portray, like my character Major Emanuelle Stance. He took these young black men out of the schools of Tuskegee, Alabama and into the Air Force Base in Italy and turned them into warriors. You fall in love with not just the pilots but these men that helped them along their journey."

"Courage has no color."I am a HUGE fan of Cuba's acting so I can hardly wait to see this movie!  The movie is the first action movie starring an all African American cast. The official release date of the movie is slated for January 20, 2012. Go out and show your support! 


I LOVE their motto: Until the last plane, the last bullet, the last man, the last minute, we fight! we fight! we fight! You gotta say it with soul. 


Check out this video of the Air Force Association saluting the Tuskegee Airmen:



On another note: If you have older family members that have served in segregated wars, LISTEN to their stories. You will amazed at what they can share with you and how far we have come (or haven't come). Last week, I learned my uncle served on a segregated mission guarding artillery where the black soldiers were denied bullets. Wait, you missed that. They let my uncle guard bullets in a warehouse but refused to give him bullets to protect his own life against robbers and the like. Good Ol American history! 

Dark Girls: A Preview

BLACK is beautiful. 

Below are clips from the upcoming documentary exploring the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color---particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture.


Dark Girls: Preview from Bradinn French on Vimeo.

African American women have a unique struggle when it comes to our skintone. It is a struggle difficult to understand and even more difficult to overcome. There are terms like "good hair" and "bad hair" and "light skin" or "dark skin" that add fire to the blazing flame. This is particularly disturbing because these terms are NOT objective. In fact, there are many black women (like myself) who do not fit into either category. Still, there are others who may be put into a different category depending on where they live. A dark skinned person in N'awlins might be considered brown skinned or even light skinned if she moves to DC or Atlanta. Did that just make your head spin?

"She's pretty...for a dark skinned girl"


I can't recall how many times I have heard the above phrase uttered about my sistas but I can say it makes me cringe every time I hear it. It implies so many negative things about women with darker skin tones. As if, a pretty dark skinned girl is the exception. I am a black woman and personally I NEVER knew dark skinned women struggled like this. I am resisting the urge to delve into "shadeism" issues until a later post. My heart goes out to all women who do not wake up feeling beautiful. I cannot imagine how they must feel if their mother or the women in their family made them feel "less than" beautiful from a very early age solely because of their skin color. It is clear the women featured in the interviews have issues with their self-esteem but what bothers me the most is the terrible treatment they experienced from our own people. Teasing someone about something they had no control over is EVIL. I am not sure what it will take for my people to unite and become more supportive of each other but it needs to happen, like yesterday.

Black is beautiful in ALL shades.

Will you be supporting? I'm listening...

Great Movies to watch in honor of Black History Month

Carmen Jones (1954)

It was groundbreaking as one of the only movies with an all black cast released during the 50's, and it would help pave the way for many movies with all black casts to come. It is also the movie for which Dorothy Dandridge earned her historical Academy Award nomination for best actress. You can't miss the on screen chemistry between Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. It is a modern adaptation of the classic opera Carmen and it may become one of the most steamy musicals you'll ever see.

You can watch the trailer below. Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed!