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Delegates, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, marching into the National Black Political Convention, courtesy of Gene Pesek/Chicago Sun-Times
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I went to see William Greaves’ newly restored film “Nationtime-Gary” at Princeton University. Greaves is best known for his brilliantly thoughtful and funny cinéma vérité film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Part One (1968), and to some extent Part 2 ½ (2006), but he has also made over 100 films and produced 200 in his long career as a pioneer African American documentary filmmaker. I had only seen a few of them besides Symbio…: two episodes of Black Journal and The First World Festival of Negro Arts (1966). He has made docs on historical Black figures (Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X), and reported on various Black issues like middle class Black’s response to the civil rights movement or Black Panther Party. But when I looked for them about 2 years ago, most of them were not available. I thought then that African American young people would benefit from those so much if they are accessible. Despite the accolades Greaves earned at various award ceremonies, it’s really telling of the American society why they are not distributed widely. He made films for Black people, and whites weren’t interested so didn’t distributed them, and it remained that way for a long time.
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| William Greaves, courtesy of criterion.com |
Nationtime-Gary was amazing. It is a film record of the National Black Political Convention held in Gary, Indiana from March 10th to 12th, 1972. It was co-organized by Amiri Baraka of New Jersey (poet writer activist and dad of current Newark Mayor Ras Baraka), Congressman Charles C. Diggs, Jr from Michigan, and Gary’s Mayor Richard M. Hatcher. I had seen Richard Hatcher in Eyes on the Prize: Power! Hatcher in Gary (Indiana) and Carl Strokes in Cleveland (Ohio) both got elected on Nov 7, 1967 and became the first Black elected mayors of a major US city. The purpose of the convention was to gather together the Black leaders across the US and build an independent Black politics because they thought the Democrats-Republican political system of this nation wouldn’t solve the social and economic problems of their people. Wow, it sounds very familiar today. The film is packed with Black luminaries then – beside the 3 Black men mentioned, Jessie Jackson (so young and powerful), Dick Gregory (comedian activist), Coretta Scott King (Dr. King’s widow), Betty Shabazz (Malcolm X’s widow), H. Carl McCall (the first Black Comptroller of NY). I spotted Carl Stroke too. People who know the Black Power Movement would probably spot so many more. But besides the presence of those important people, it was powerful to see 3,000 official delegates and 7,000 regular folks from across the US gathering at Gary’s West Side High School to unite forces and build the political power of Black people, and chanting “Nation time!” in response to Jessie Jackson’s questions. Baraka asked Greaves to film this historic event and Greaves responded even with no budget, with 3 cameras. One of them was operated by his son David and David was there in the audience! Wow~. The film also features musicians and poets popular back then including Harry Belafonte and is narrated by Sidney Poitier and Belafonte, both of who had studied with Greaves at the Actors Studio.
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| Amiri Baraka facilitating the convention. Fom New York Times orbituary article for Baraka, 2014. |
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| Gary’s Mayor Richard M. Hatcher at mic. Courtesy of aaregistry.org |
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| Still from the film "Nationtime–Gary" (1972) by William Greaves |
I first learned about the civil rights movements and Malcolm X in depth when I interned for a documentary project about the legendary Japanese activist Yuri Kochiyama (Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice) in 1993 or 94. It was co-directed by Rea Tajiri, a Japanese American filmmaker, and Pat Saunders, a Black filmmaker, both female. So I learned about the struggles of Black people and other minorities through Yuri’s perspective, who had been put into a concentration camp for Japanese Americans during WWII. I had been in the US for just a few years and Yuri left a huge impression on me. Growing up in Japan (which I dare say is still under the spell of the post-war “peace” education developed in the “War Guilt Information Program” set forth by the US in Japan in 1948), I didn’t even know about the Japanese Americans' experience of concentration camps until then. Schools in Japan don’t teach nothing about them. Thus we remain separated and conquered.
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| Still from the film "Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice," 1993, by Rea Tajiri and Pat Saunders |
It’s been more than a quarter-century since. I remained in the US and my years here became longer than my years in Japan. Japanese American stories became my story too. I gained some more knowledge about the Civil Rights Movement, and how Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in 1968 (along with the massive worldwide political movements around that time) propelled more militant Black Nationalism and Black Power Movement. Because I am pretty poor, I’ve lived in poor neighborhoods in Brooklyn, many of my neighbors are working-class or unemployed Black and brown people including South Asians. But until I watched Nationtime-Gary, my shallow understanding was limited to that the Black Power Movement took either the non-violent approach of Dr. King, or separatist approach of Malcolm X. I had also learned a bit about Garvey, Du Bois, Senghor, Fanon, Baldwin, and have been interested in pan-Atlantic movement building among black peoples in the 60-70s. But I had never thought about the relationship between the Black Nationalism and Separatism in the US, and how Black Nationalism was pursued within the existing US political system. I had never even thought about what kind of political power Black Panther pursued besides legally carrying the guns and providing free breakfast to kids. Maybe I should watch through all episodes of Eyes on the Prize.
As I looked up some facts to write this, I learned about this amazing Black woman leader Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm. According to Wikipedia, “In 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York’s 12th congressional for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first bBack candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, as well as the first woman to appear in a United States presidential debate.” I wondered if she was present at the National Convention in Garry, but it seems she wasn’t there. This page from DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) reports:
“While both the convention and Chisholm’s candidacy represent landmark events, they were not necessarily politically coordinated. Chisholm was proud of her black identity, but she rejected the idea that she was the candidate solely representing the interests of black America. The convention, led by some of her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, did not endorse her. Some felt that Chisholm had run without consulting established black leadership and believed the first African American presidential candidate should have been a man."
Ah…that is disappointing but not surprising. Seeing the convention was moving and empowering, but it was pretty much run by men and featuring men. I suspected that there must have been so many more powerful female leaders on the floor, but only the widows of Dr. King and Malcolm X were on the stage and featured. Macho culture of Black people seems to be still with us, and the cases are similar in my Asian world and other ethnic communities in the US and the world. Nation time or nationalism (if it means solidarity among the oppressed) is important, but intersectionality is the word of the day. It seems there is a doc about Chisholm -
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| Shirley Chisholm's campaign poster from 1972 US presidential election |
How is Black representation today? In 2019, 52 out of 435 House members were Black, about 12%, which is the same as the non-Hispanic Black population in the US. Wow. Interestingly, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center survey, about 38%, which is four-in-ten Black adults, said that getting more Black people elected to office would be effective to help Blacks achieve racial equality, while the number is 24% for whites. Unemployment rate among 16-yr-old or older in America in the 4th quarter of 2019 was 3.0% among white and 5.4% among Blacks (4.0% Latino and 2.6% Asian). How do we see those numbers? New York City still feels all divided by race and class to me and my fellow neighbors of color from the Caribbean, Africa, US South, Latin America, and Asia whom I grow vegetables with as community gardeners are all struggling to make ends meet.
I looked into NYU library’s holdings again to see what titles of William Greaves they have. To my surprise, they now have more Black Journal episodes though some online subscriptions, and several titles are on order as DVD. It seemed more titles have been added although they are in storage as VHS. Something has happened within the past few years! Students of color get more access to those titles now. That is mighty hopeful.
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