Red Tails is a celebration of the African American contribution to WWII.  It is a movie that was reportedly over 20 years in the making for George Lucas who eventually funded this project himself.  The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is a story which once again resonates the sound of opportunity.  It sharpens the focus on the goal of equality and perhaps encourages optimism to the idea of overcoming oppression and racism.  Yes indeed, all of these rays of sunlight burst from the seams of this film before any one set of eyes were ever placed upon its big screen projection.  Some people are thankful for the re-creation of this era in time and encourage support of the film.  On the other hand there are those who are not as welcoming to the idea of the Lucas production of the black man’s conquering of a military that was not so accepting of his black skin.

I’m not sure what we are upset about.  Is it a problem that it’s George Lucas?  Are we angry because Spike Lee or Tyler Perry were not responsible for the film instead?  And when I say we, I mean black people, because we seem to somehow feel the need to find some obscure flicker of reasoning to feel as though the Red Tails movie somehow undermines our journey of overcoming.  I’ve seen bloggers everywhere insisting that it is imperative to support this film.  I’ve also seen bloggers suggesting that we need not support the movie or all the black actors who lent their skill to teach a generation of young black children just exactly who the Tuskegee Airmen were and how important they are to the history of America.  I’m still not sure why that is.

For those of us who do not agree that this film was a necessity for our younger generation and deserves the support of the black community, I have just one question.  What’s the problem?  Why would you not want to celebrate a film that celebrates you? Okay, I guess that’s two questions, but I just had to ask that one as well.  I wonder if we had the same gripes about Roots, would it have had the impact that it did some 30 plus years ago?

Of course, I’m just ranting, but sometimes its just upsetting when it appears that the only thing holding us back is us.  I won’t complain about who made the movie,  I am encouraged because it was made.  I won’t complain that the movie was marketed using the race card because race was a major player in the whole event that inspired the movie.  I won’t complain about things that were missing in the production, because I will not allow myself to be educated about history through a movie when books and written documents still exist anyway. So quit acting like a movie is going to include every detail.  Finally, I won’t let complainers prevent me from supporting a film that deserves the support of the community in which its struggles created the events that inspired the production in the first place.  Catch ya’ on the FLIPSIDE.