Radio Facts: I can help but to be very proud of this black man and ANY black man or woman who, instead of belly aching and complaining, steps up the plate and DOES SOMETHING to create change. You can’t rally black people to do anything unless its reactive. That’s just our nature. If you want to incite change any other way YOU have to PROactive in your approach AND lead by example. It’s useless to be a multi-millionaire and have the resources to create change but do very little asn ask others with much less to do it. Shut up, Think up, Show Up, Do Up, Be Up and Move up. It’s just like a person looking for a relationship, if you are not viewed as initially appealing to someone else the door is rarely if ever automatically for you, you have to either prove yourself and use some other tactic to let your presence be known.
We already know that Hollywood doesn’t see the value of African American besides moviegoers, if even that. The bigger question is do WE see our value? If we do, what are WE doing to promote it, brand it, build it and OWN IT. It’s not illegal or impossible for us to do many of the same things that Hollywood does when we INVEST IN OURSELVES. I have always pondered, why is it THEIR job to promote US. Don’t we owe that to ourselves?
Nate Parker is not the first African American man to demonstrate what the root of Diversity is… investing in yourself. He financed, directed and starred in Birth of a Nation (2015) a reversal of the original extremely racist movie with the same name made in 1915 that is considered “historic” in US Film history. Nate’s concept of shutting down the original movie’s concept, telling his OWN story and utilizing his skills to build a product is nothing less than EXACTLY what we all need to do.
He spent 10 million from his own pocket and investor money and was offered a record breaking $17.5 Million for the project by Fox Searchlight Films for exclusive rights. Here Parker is talking to the hollywood reporter along with actors from the project that was filmed in Savannah, GA in 2015.
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