Black Horizons; 2448; Newcastle

You Hello, this is Black Horizons and I'm Chris Moore. Today we'll take a look at our Tanner calendar and the important arts events going on during Black History Month. People in Newcastle are working hard to establish a comprehensive community service center. We'll hear more about that later on today's show. Manette Seed will be alone today to give us a sneak peek at the vanishing. It's a new movie that appears to be an exciting thriller.

We'll see what many things about it in a moment. The Malcolm X Holiday Commission stresses that if we are to honor Malcolm, then we must control how we remember him. Joining me now to tell us more is a member of the Commission, Nyesha Brooks. Brooks, welcome to our program. Good to see you. The Commission really believes that. You're not talking about a federal state or city kind of holiday. You're talking about something that the African -American community actually controls and says how we will remember this man. Is that correct? Right. We're talking about self - determination in the African -American community through consensus of the community to support Malcolm's birth. They may 19th as an African -American holiday. How is that consensus coming? How do you judge it, especially here in Pittsburgh? That's an interesting question because initially when we first started out in 1990, some people said you couldn't do that in Pittsburgh, but each year we've had a program. Each year the audience and the participation has gotten larger and greater. So it's doing fine

in Pittsburgh. In fact, Pittsburgh has had one of the best commemoration of his birthday in the country. So you compare it because this is a national commission. You're comparing notes with other cities, and we're doing well here by comparison. Okay. Now last year I did not get in a chance to attend. I hope I get a chance to attend this year, but I heard you are really surprised some people with a sort of reenactment of what actually occurred in the Ottoman ballroom and no one was expecting. Right. That wasn't actually at the holiday. That was a year ago from the program we're going to be having this February 21st. And we had a videotape of a movie about Malcolm's life. And in the interim, yeah, there was a staged staged assassination was staged and it was quite effective. I guess you won't do it now, especially since we've been talking about it here this year, but what exactly is planned? This year on February

21st, David Lawrence Hall at 6 o 'clock, which is the 28th anniversary of Malcolm's assassination, and also the third anniversary of the founding of the Malcolm X holiday commission. We're going to have a program entitled Malcolm the Man, the Movie, the Assassination. And it's going to feature some people who actually knew Malcolm the Man, Bob Gore, who's a former former Assistant National Director of the Congress of racial equality was an acquaintance of Malcolm. Imam Mustafa Sainte, formerly Robert X, lived with Malcolm and worked with Malcolm to build the Nation of Islam and Detroit. And they're going to speak about their relationship with Malcolm. Dr. Claire Cohen, who's a member of the holiday commission is going to make doing an analysis of the Spike Lee movie Malcolm X. And Rashid Sundyata, a scholar and researcher, is going to make a presentation on the assassination. Sounds like you've got a good lineup.

What has been the percentage of people in your audience that I say under the age of 25, people who are not even I guess born when Malcolm X was alive, because they are the ones who who seem to love the rap music that keeps his name, one of the vehicles that keeps his name alive, they wear the X caps and the Malcolm t -shirts and sweatshirts. Is there a good percentage of people in that age range and do you really think that they understand the complex man that Malcolm really was? Answer your first question. We tried to pay attention to the fact that the youth have limited, some youth have limited knowledge of what Malcolm's slip for. So we purposely try to have a part of our program deal with young people. And so we've had young people participate as rappers, dancers and other things. And each year we've had a good representation of young people under 25, a much younger who participated. I would even say as high as a third of the people attending sometimes or

the young people. That must be very encouraging. It is. I think that the symbolism of wearing the X hats and the sweatshirts and that kind of thing, when it's a reflection of the pride that Malcolm's thought represents for them, that it's a good thing. But that obviously must go further than that. They should read and study and listen to Malcolm's records, message from to the grassroots, baller of the bullet, to become further informed what he's slipped for. And informed themselves as to what kinds of things they could do. I think those are all good suggestions. What about the white community? Do you think that they need to know or does the commission even care? Is this something for self -education within the African American community only? Essentially we focused on the African -American community, consolidating the African -American community around the holiday. There have been white people attending the programs that we've had. But the focus has been primarily on reinforcing the self -concept of African -Americans.

It sounds like that's the important focus. And that's the way you're going to keep it in order to ensure that that kind of education goes on. How do you see this celebration, if I may call it that, or observance growing in the future? I think it's limitless. Actually, I think when you look at it in terms of the particular problems that we face in our communities, in African -American communities today, that the boundaries or limit are limit, don't have a limit to them. In each year, like I've mentioned before, the program is grown by leaps and bounds. So it depends on our ability to do the necessary work to make it broader and have more people participate. When will this occur again? It'll be occurring on February 21st at 6 p .m. at David Lawrence Hall at University of Pittsburgh. Okay, and it'll be free as I understand it. Yes, there's no admission. I think that Malcolm's words certainly

still re -true today. I think of a workshop that I participated in about a week or so ago, where we had young men from all over the city. I'm talking about teenagers and a couple of them saw one guy who was not from the hill district where this workshop was taking place. And they told him you needed to leave because he was out of his territory. We found out about that. The operators of the workshop about an hour after it happened. And the young man called his father and he left. At which time, I found about it. I found out about it. I played a tape of Malcolm at a rally in Harlem. It was taped probably about 30 years ago. And they were sort of taken aback to see actually Malcolm talking about how we separate ourselves, how we fight among ourselves, and do that kind of thing. Do you think more of the actual playing of Malcolm's actually were real words in those old film clips, the actual study of him, the reading of his words, are those the key to get everybody, not just young people,

but folks who were probably his contemporaries, too, to understand what Malcolm really stood for? I think that's a very important point. As you were speaking, I thought back to when Malcolm was trying to organize the organization of African -American unity patterned after the organization of African unity on the continent of Africa. That one of the things that he talked about was that when we come together as Christians, Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, that we should put those labels in a closet, and we should come together as a group to achieve a common goal. And I think that's very instructive and can be very instructive today as well as it was 30 years ago. So yeah, agree with you. What is it that impresses you most about Malcolm in terms of why we need to keep his memory and his ideas alive today? There are a number of reasons. And there are a number of things that I relate to very strongly. I think that one of the main

things was, Malcolm was responsible back in the 60s for a resurgence of our going back to Africa in terms of our culture and being proud of our culture, Black pride, and Black power, and all that revolve from Malcolm's thought. And I think that that connection with Africa, pride in ourselves, the need to struggle for political and economic power, those kinds of things are very instructive and very positive and I relate to all of those. Okay, Mr. Brooks, thanks for being here. We appreciate it. As always, thank you very much. Okay. Malcolm, the man, the movie, the assassination will be presented at the David Lawrence Hall on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, Sunday, February 21st. For more information, simply call 624 -7298. Again, that's 624 -7298. Manette Seat joins us in a moment to review the latest Hollywood thriller titled The Vanishing. We'll see what she has to say about the movie after we look at this clip. Look, I just want to know what she did

with her. I'll tell you, I will keep my promise, but there's only one way to do it. You must experience what she experienced. What do you mean? I mean everything that happened to her, every event from this point on. You must duplicate exactly. You're out of your mind. And if you do, then logic dictates you'll find her. Life. This coffee is drugged, judging from your size and weight, that you take about 15 minutes to take effect, that will put you out for 40 minutes or so. The same like the time that Diane was out. We must remain unconscious for that period in order for us to move on. So she's not dead. Drink.

And afterwards what? Drink? And you would experience exactly what she experienced. What kind of acid is that? You're looking for it to achieve it. Got to be an idiot to drink that stuff. And he was. Well now I don't see it. So tell me, was it a real thriller? Did you like it? Two thirds of the movie were very exciting and thrilling. There was another third of it. It seemed that when you were watching this movie that there were two writers. There was a writer who wrote the heavy duty psychological visceral thriller that you were sitting there watching this extremely methodical maniac plan and plot, the kidnapping of these people. And then there was the writer who handled the domestic squabble scenes. And those were the parts of the movie where you just sat there kind of scratching your head and going, what? So it's not the last third where it breaks down. It's, it's, it's dispersed throughout the movie. So even we can say. Yes. As they say in the business. What kind of accent is that? I think it goes back and forth between Belgian and some kind of

Latvian dialect. I don't know what he's talking about. The basic outline of the movie is Keeper Sutherland is a young man who's obsessed with his girlfriend, Diane, who was kidnapped from a gas station. They went to stop that near Mount St. Helens. They're riding around. The movie takes place in Seattle, Washington. They're driving around Washington state and the big bicycle trip. His girlfriend leaves the car and never returns. Jeff Bridges is the completely insane med scientist who just happens to be a chemistry professor at a nearby university who plots every step of the way the kidnapping and the disappearance of this young woman. He had nothing against his girlfriend in particular. He wanted to see if he were going to be as evil as he was good. So it's frightening in that aspect that someone could treat another human being that badly and have nothing personal against them whatsoever. Nancy Travis plays Keeper Sutherland's new, hard as nails, but with a hard -of -gold girlfriend who tracks him down and ultimately solves the crime. So how do you rate this movie? This movie, well, how I rate my movies is if it's top of the

line, it's worth the full 650. If it's not, you should stay home and watch it on cable for free. This movie, though it is thrilling at times, I would not pay more than 350 for this at the Saturday matinee. Okay, so that's your best advice. That's my best advice in this movie. If you're bored on Saturday and you want to get a little bit of chill bumps, it's a fine thing to go see. How's Mr. Bridges coming along as an actor? He changes amazingly. I mean, he's not even attractive in this movie. I mean, he's... But I guess he didn't want to be. No, he's completely like a repulsive guy, like a very strange foreign repulsive guy. So the fact that he can change himself back and forth so easily, he used to just play like the tormented honk who fell for some day and who was snatched away at the last moment. That was his role every single time. Now he's lots of different things. Kind of like the mad scientist, maybe Michael Jackson must have ran into it. Listen, don't get me started. Did you... No, no, no. Did you watch early of this week that whole thing or were you even worried about watching it? The... Which thing? The thing that's going to be on tonight when we're telling it, but I want to watch it for two reasons. Number one, because I want to

see this, this ranch arrow deluxe that he lives in out in the West. And I also want to see what it's going to be like. He made an agreement, supposedly with Oprah Winfrey, before shooting started that she could ask him whatever question she wanted. Now, you know how Oprah is. She will ask you anything. She has no shame. I can't wait to see this. Just so I can call Eric Sanchez on the phone. He's a genius. He's a genius, they tell. But what do you really think of him? I think that he's incredibly talented. I think he's one of the finest pop songwriters. He's a great dancer. He's insane. Lots of crazy people are very creative. As Jeff Bridges will show you in this movie. Okay, again, go for the rating. Back to the movie. Six fifty for top of the line. The very best movie you've seen in a long time. Absolutely not worth saying. Stay home, watch it on cable. Okay, and this one is... A 350 bargain that name. Okay. Now, anything else coming up down the line, particularly any black movies that you know about that you're going to be on the lookout? There's a movie coming out starring and directed by Robert Townsend called Meteor

Man about an average guy who gets hit on the head by a meteor and becomes a superhero, but he's afraid of heights, so he only flies four feet above the ground. This is a black guy. You don't think that buys into some of the buffoon kind of stuff that we started to see in some of the movies. I can't think of the name of the movie. The movie with a terrible actress with the green eyes in it. Oh, oh, that movie, Mo money. Yeah, Mo money. Because that was kind of buffoonish. I mean, if you look at the men in that picture, you know, they were portrayed as clowns, buffoons, rip off artists. The woman who was supposed to be ugly is dark skin and the attractive black woman is supposed to be light skin and green eyes and all that. If there was anybody else but Robert Townsend, I would have doubts, but because he did Hollywood Shuffle and the Five Heart Beats and he's really conscious of the image that he portrays, I would say if you can trust this to be a funny, sensitive, every kind of movie you might want to see. It's also in direct response to Wesley Snipes who's going to be in a movie called The Black Panther, which is a Marvel comic superhero from the 60s. You might

remember when Luke Cage, Man of Steel and The Black Panther, the first two black superheroes came on in comic books. They're going to also do The Black Panther superhero movie. So you've got to have a sensitive man and the man of action. Okay, well, we'll look for those two, okay? Thanks for being here. We appreciate it. It might not be around. Well, from the art of cinema, we turn to the artistic expression. It's going on here in Pittsburgh and for a look at everything that's happening in the arts, it's The Tatter Calendar. Enjoy an entertaining and rewarding evening with the Halea claims Central State University chorus of Louisville Force. Under the direction of Mr. William Henry Caldwell, the chorus has a repertoire encompassing all periods and styles including African American spirituals and gospel. The chorus has performed with such big names as Lentine Price, Stevie Wonder and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. The program will be Friday, March

19th at the Warren United Methodist Church. For more information, call 241 -0260. Have you ever wondered how to talk about art with your children? Well, Sunday, February 14th and 28th at the Carnegie Children and Adults can have fun looking and learning to understand works of art. Gallery games help to stimulate the imagination of both parents and children. No reservations are necessary, simply call 622 -3218 for more information. Heat up tonight with the passionately energetic dance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, March 12th and 13th at the Benadam Center. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is sure to be the event that will electrify the city with a program of works never before seen in Pittsburgh. Under the watchful eye of current artistic director, Judith Jameson, this company is continuing the legacy begun by Alvin Ailey. Call 456 -6666 for ticket information.

That's the Tana calendar for this week. Remember if you have an art event that you would like to have announced, please send it to the Tana calendar. 480 -25th at New Pittsburgh PA -15213. Out in Newcastle, a group of folks are working to own ways to approach community problems of a wide spectrum and solve them. Two such people join me now. Here are Sally Carter and Desi artists of the Faith Hope and Charity Community Rehabilitation Center. Welcome to Black Horizons. We're glad to have you here. Ms. Carter, you're here despite the pain that you obviously have in your back. You have a backboard there and you just keep on working. Why? Because I've learned a lot of things while I was working and in the Air Force Reserve and raising my children. And I see no reason not to use those things that I've learned to help do something in the community that I've been living in for so many years. And what is it that you want to do in Newcastle? We want to establish on

the west side of Newcastle, which is a traditionally overlooked side of the city, where it has a large population of the African -American, black, negro, colored population, and a biracial population. And we need something there that the young people can be proud of. Some place that adults can feel safe going and participating in events and where we can teach and encourage them to take more of a responsibility for their lives and the things that they've been doing so that they can stop becoming takers in society and become givers. It sounds like a lofty idea, Ms. Artis. How do you hope to help accomplish that? By just assisting Ms. Carter, my job is secretary. I just record notes and do whatever she tells me. She's the boss and the CEO. Well, that's an important job because you can be a boss and a CEO. But if you've got no assistance behind you, you can't get very far because somebody has to look after all the details and everything.

It's one thing to see the big picture, but you need workers and the trenches who can get things done. Would you not agree? I agree wholeheartedly. I always laugh whenever they talk about they just do what they're told because doing what you're told is something that's not readily seen nowadays. More people want to make it their own agenda. That's one of the reasons that when we organize, we put everything on paper because in a situation such as this, it becomes easy to become sidetracked and to try to spread yourself to thin. So we put all of our goals on paper so that we can always go back when we start. We must remain focused. And while we're focusing, I'd like to step back to our name. We are not community rehabilitation center. We are community rehab. And we use the abbreviated rehab because we're not a rehabilitation center in the sense of the word as drug and alcohol rehabilitation or physical rehabilitation. We are trying to rehabilitate a mindset. We're trying to rehabilitate a way that we operate

in society and working with one another. Okay. What are the areas specifically that you're going to work on? We're going to target mainly the centralized multifunctional community center. We'll be working with things such as a tutorial program that will be ongoing. And we want it to go from elementary school right on through doctoral thesis because we want to have a place that you don't have to break it down in order for somebody else to have another event. We'll have a tutorial room where people can come in from schools, from colleges, from universities, and from the community at large to help with the tutoring program because we've had experiences with our tutoring in our area where they meet at either a church or a school and they're always in conflict with other programs. And we'd like to have a facility that will have that. We'd like to have a restaurant with a catering service,

meeting rooms, one about. So you can be self -supporting too. Exactly. You can bring in some money. You're not just looking for grant support all the time. I take it. Exactly not. How much is this needed in Newcastle Ms. Artist? Desperately. Newcastle on the west side of Newcastle, there is no community center. There are things that are accessible but not for that community because that's what a greatest need is for the Afro -American biracial community. Now you're having a number of events that are going to raise funds within the community. You're having some scholarship, a competition, you're having another event that's going to raise some funds. Is that correct? Can you tell us about those? Well the fundraising event is the banquet and that's going to be the 27th of February at Trojo's Restaurant in Newcastle and all of our events are multi -purpose as well. We use them to help generate funds as well as to get

more accessibility and visibility within the community because it's only by showing that you're doing something without the what do you call the hardware that the building will give us that you will justify the fact that you are worthy of organizations giving you grants and of people making donations. Therefore we'll have that banquet. One of the lovely things about it is that we have cooperation from all levels. Our guest speaker will be our new Congressman Ron Clink and our state senator for our area. Jerry Levelle is going to introduce him and one thing that we consider a feather in our cap is that we're going to have a very dynamic young man for our master's ceremony. Oh Dave Clark is going to be there, isn't it? Not Dave Clark. No, no. Someone even more interesting and dynamic maybe. Could well be Chris Moore. I certainly hope it's on your

calendar. I'd better be there. Okay, while I'm looking forward to it and 12 years of living have never been a new castle. So I'm looking forward to getting in the community and meeting people. Miss artist, what will I find when I get there? A community full of vibrant people who want to make a change in their lives in the community? I hope so. You don't sound optimistic at all. Come on. No, no. Seriously, when you get there you'll feel you'll see a room full of people who are gathered there for this sole purpose. Some will be there for just to observe. Some are really dedicated to, you know, the causes like it. Right. Okay, did we talk about the scholarship program? No, we did not. Right, it's not a competition. It's a scholarship workshop that will include information on how to fill out the financial needs forms for both the federal and state monies that are available. Very important. And we will have representatives from colleges and business schools and trade schools, including the nursing schools. And when will that happen? That will be in three separate stages. It will

be the 27th of March will be the first one than the 17th of April and the 24th of April. We'll have it on the 27th of March at Ebenezer Church of God and Christ in Newcastle. And on the 17th of April at Prayer Chapel Church of God and Christ also in Newcastle. And then the 24th of April it will be at second Baptist Church. So much to remember. Just down the street from me. Okay, well we do appreciate both of you being here. I'm looking forward to being with you for the fundraising. We know it's going to be a grand event. Okay. We thank you so much for having us. Thanks for being here. I hope everybody gets out there. The Faith Hope and Charity third annual fundraising banquet will be held on Saturday, February 27th at Trojo's Restaurant in Newcastle, PA. Call 6 -5 -214 -33 for more information. That number again is 6 -5 -214 -33. Well this brings us to the end of another Black Horizons. I'm really glad that you joined us and I hope that you tune in to Black Talk. The Daily Radio

Talk Show that I host on WCXJ Radio 1550 on your AM dial. I'm there every day from 7 to 10 in the morning and I'll either see you here. Wow, here you there.