While I was growing up on Chicago’s near South Side, there were several movie theaters within five minutes walking distance of my home. There was The Joe Lewis Theater, The States, The Grand, The Terrace and the Park. A five minute bus or streetcar ride gave me access to the Regal, The Owl, The Met, The NRA and The Tivoli.
All of them had one thing in common. They featured movie after movie starring Tarzan the Ape Man. Tarzan was our hero.
When Tarzan talked to the animals and gave them commands, we thought he was amazing. And the way he treated the so-called natives we thought was funny, although we covered and hid our faces in shame. We learned what we thought were two African words, “Bwana” and “Uumgawa.”
Nearly every week we would watch Tarzan, Johnny Mack Brown, Buster Crabbe, Wild Bill Hickok or other white heroes. We were bombarded with these negative stereotypical images and loved it, not recognizing the damage it was doing to us.
We didn’t know of the many black cowboys and black women who pioneered and shaped the West. Nat Love, a.k.a. Deadwood Dick, was portrayed as a white man in a John Wayne movie. We didn’t know of Mary Fields, a.k.a. Stagecoach Mary, Cranford Goldsby, a.k.a. Cherokee Bill, and a host of other courageous men and women.
“The Black West” by Lauren Katz tells amazing stories about slave runaways during the colonial era, the journeys of Lewis and Clark, and the charge at San Juan Hill. Katz vividly recounts the crucial contributions African Americans made during scores of frontier encounters.
Since the early days of mass culture, newspapers, films, and early television shows, blacks have been vilified and painted us as savages, ignorant, stupid, violent and a threat to the white social order.
“Slavery characterized and shaped America more than any other institution” said John Fleming, the executive director of the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio. “When movies became popular, racism permeated throughout the American society.”
How do we free our minds from past and present effects of racism, prejudice, and discrimination? Learn your history. Read books by black authors and other historians that will tell the truth. It is not that hard. Visit black bookstores and participate in cultural events that relate to you and your history. It is really easy and rewarding. I hope you will have a Happy New Year with a resolution to learn more about you and me.
Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on NLEC-TV Ch. 24.2. I can be reached by fax at (314) 837-3369, on e-mail at berhay@swbell.net or on Twitter @berhay.
