‘Something I Said’ Archives
Something I Said: Oct ’23
Black Books Matter By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes I remember 20, 30 years ago a cheerful proprietor, Pat, owning and operating a black book shop over by the old Dome stadium in the industrial section. Not the best location for foot traffic, but the shelves held some beauties. Books by Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight, Chester Himes, Maya Angelou who came through for a signing, and the rewarding opportunity to discover authors you hadn’t known about. And there were culturally specific knick-knacks, greeting cards, that sort of thing. It was a little treasure tucked away. One that didn’t see a lot of appreciation as a rule. Except, of course, that Angelou signing which saw a line clear down the block and, if memory serves, across the street. Eventually, Pat couldn’t keep the doors open.Imaginably, Strive Bookstore (www.strivepublishing.com) will see much support since it’s smack dab in the middle of downtown, on Nicollet Avenue right across from Target Store and, for [...]
Something I Said: September ’23
Black Women Changing the Narrative on Film By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Perception may not be all but it is important, and black girls need to perceive as positive a self-image as possible. Not that they are any more special than anyone else. They just face their own set of circumstances. You’ve got reality shows about as far from real life wives as here to the moon, attitudinal self-absorbed glamour gals who think they do the world a favor by breathing. You’ve got dumb as a bag of rocks ghetto-style gals on stereotypical sitcoms. At length, entertainment media has a serious lack of role models that inspire personal strength. Those that come along are few and far in-between. For instance, The Woman King is based on Africa’s actual amazons, never mind Wonder Woman. They comprised the Agoji, an elite Dahomey fighting force formed in the early 1700’s. No sooner was it released than nay-sayers carped that it wasn’t wholly accurate. King Ghezo, unlike his [...]
SIS: George Floyd – A Closer Look
By DWIGHT HOBBES A article in the series: Something I Said Dwight Hobbes His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice (Viking Press - 2022) is a strong, Pulitzer Prize winning read by Washington Post staffers Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. One cannot read this book with your mind already made up. The authors neither fit Floyd for a halo nor do they demonize him. Without letting him off the hook, they place the man in compelling context, calling Houston’s and Texas’ criminal justice system out for their part in his unwitting, hellbent self-destruction.Nothing is simple about enduring institutionalized racism, particularly the truism, White folk are responsible for racism, but, we are accountable to deal with it. Like a lot of African American parents, Larcenia warned her son George that he was born with two strikes against him. Some of us make that third strike count. Most don’t. Viking Press George Floyd was a decent sort, [...]
