Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee row over black soldiers A war of words between two of Hollywood's star directors intensified as Spike Lee told Clint Eastwood: "We're not living on a plantation."
By Nick Allen Last Updated: 1:23PM BST 09 Jun 2008
Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee Photo: REUTERS/EPA The increasingly bitter feud between the two began when Lee, America's most influential black director, criticised five time Oscar winner Eastwood for not including black soldiers in his war movies, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
Last week Eastwood responded by accusing Lee of historical ignorance and telling a British newspaper that the younger film-maker should "shut his face".
In round three of the encounter Lee launched a further salvo at the weekend on US television.
Lee said: "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either.
"He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films and a comment like 'A guy like that should shut his face' - come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there.
"If he wishes I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist."
Lee, who has degrees from universities in Atlanta and New York, added; "I'm not making this up, I know history. I'm a student of history and I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II. Not everything as John Wayne, baby."
Lee, who is making a Second World War film about an all-black US army division, said he wouldn't make any further comments about Eastwood, whose gritty acting roles included "Dirty Harry" Callahan.
He said: "Even though he's trying to have a Dirty Harry flashback I'm going to take the Obama high road and end it right here. Peace and love." =====================================================
Clint has responded Spike and told him, among other things, to "shut his face."
CANNES, France - Spike Lee is slamming Clint Eastwood over his two recent Iwo Jima movies, saying the filmmaker overlooked the role of black soldiers during World War II.
Lee _ whose next film is this fall's "Miracle at St. Anna," the story of an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during the war _ said Eastwood's 2006 movies "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" were whites-only affairs.
"He did two films about Iwo Jima back to back and there was not one black soldier in both of those films," Lee said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was a judge in an online short-film competition.
"Many veterans, African-Americans, who survived that war are upset at Clint Eastwood. In his vision of Iwo Jima, Negro soldiers did not exist. Simple as that. I have a different version," Lee said.
Eastwood was in Cannes for his missing-child drama "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie. At a news conference for the film, a reporter tried to ask for his reaction to Lee's criticism, but the moderator cut her off and told journalists to limit questions to Eastwood's own movie.
Due in U.S. theaters in October, "Miracle at St. Anna" centers on four Americans _ played by Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller _ in the Buffalo Soldiers division in Tuscany.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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This seems to be a recurring inaction towards black soldiers during various wars.
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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It seems that Blacks in America were only given more equality and civil rights after they participated in some horrible American war. This worries me, because its like joining the Maffia. First you have to kill to show your loyalty. Now Blacks and muslims in Europe seem to play this same role, and I hate it. I do not like the idea that descendants of Dutch slaves from Suriname will have to go and murder Afghani's, Iraqi's or Africans who want to be free in their own country.
In general this shows that even in 2008 Blacks are just ignored in history lessons. Another alternative is the cooptation of afro centric science by the eurocentrist establishment. This I also notice on this forum where Blacks seem to be allowed only to discuss slavery and egyptiology, endlessly. But not recent history, and the role of Africa and Blacks who were not slaves.
For me the reason is that Blacks and coloured's dominated Europe 1500-1789 as a despotic Blue blooded elite. This is why Black scholars are warned away from this part of history, if they want to have a place in academia. The eurocentric explanation has to do with how Black's are defined as 'SSA' and 'Caucasian Africans.' The Black's and coloured's are simply explained away as Caucasians, though described as black and brown in colour.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: So true. As a result, towards the end of the Vietnam war all troops went on patrol with their faces darkened .
The Vietnese would say; "Soul brothers, we have no fight with you. Go home Soul brothers". The white troops used to hate it and say the black troops weren't patriots because they wouldn't die for them. LOL
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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THE VIETCONG SHOWED MORE HUMANITY THEN THOSE WHO WENT INTO THEIR COUNTRY TO ENSLAVE THEM.
quote:Originally posted by meninarmer:
quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: So true. As a result, towards the end of the Vietnam war all troops went on patrol with their faces darkened .
The Vietnese would say; "Soul brothers, we have no fight with you. Go home Soul brothers". The white troops used to hate it and say the black troops weren't patriots because they wouldn't die for them. LOL
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There is a RACIST CONTRACT in the West if you see how even today Blacks are portrayed in movies, how everything is so carefully arranged to promote White Supremacy. Sometimes I detest these stars, Black or White, who work in this horrible industry.
But regarding racism I would urge people to look for causes. What did Blacks do to make the White’s so angry? I reject the idea of Blacks as perpetual victims and Whites as forever evil. Does not fit with what I see around me. ================================================================
PURPOSE OF THE COURSE: This course investigates the impact of race(ism) on US political development. Hence, the broad purpose of this course is to encourage students to think and write critically about the manner in which white supremacy, as a modern global system of thought and practice, came to function as the keystone in the making and maintenance of America. We will examine the manner in which modern Western ideas of racial superiority and inferiority legitimized the strategies of conquest, colonialism, genocide, enslavement, and land expropriation in the establishment of the United States as a white republic. We will explore how whiteness has operated as the invisible norm in American political culture, a transparent, yet ubiquitous frame of reference so pervasive that even today most whites consider themselves absolved from race matters. We will investigate how white intellectuals have constructed the national identity as white, excluding any direct reference to African Americans and other people of color. We will examine closely how white supremacy operates to protect the power, privileges, profits, and pleasures that whiteness affords. Finally, we will examine critically a number of contemporary public policy issues and the manner in which America continues to deny racial justice to African Americans and other people of color. In the last analysis, we will want to answer the following questions: What does it mean for Americans to speak and write about such lofty principles as freedom, justice, and equality, but then to devalue these values (historically and presently) by denying them to African Americans and other native populations? Does America’s racist political culture call into question the United States as a democratic polity? Source: http://www.nathanielturner.com/raceinuspoliticssyllabus.htmPosts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Clyde Winters: My wife's uncle was there. He told us how when the Japanese over ran their position they only took his gun; but they killed the whites.
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That is an amazing article. And we need more truth out there like that. It is certainly the best article I've read on Mr. Obama so far. The Capitalist/Corporate "Great Black Hope".... Black folks are so silly to have bought into him.
Posts: 7 | From: Atlanta | Registered: Nov 2005
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There is something strange with this article/site. People showing false solidarity with Blacks in order to attack Obama.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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Perhaps I was to hasty. But this article does not offer any solutions. Obama is SOMETHING, but what he really will mean for Blacks all over the world we have to wait and see. But I do not consider him a saint.
Posts: 5454 | From: Holland | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Egmond Codfried: There is a RACIST CONTRACT in the West if you see how even today Blacks are portrayed in movies, how everything is so carefully arranged to promote White Supremacy. Sometimes I detest these stars, Black or White, who work in this horrible industry.
But regarding racism I would urge people to look for causes. What did Blacks do to make the White’s so angry? I reject the idea of Blacks as perpetual victims and Whites as forever evil. Does not fit with what I see around me.
You can thank the Jew for this. They control the networks, write the scripts and select the characters.
Why are they so angry at blacks? Likely due to their being descended from Albinos (Semite) who Africans treated very badly.
Thanks for posting this. This is event is but a few blocks from me. Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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