Note: I can’t think of a week in the past 12 years where I haven’t written a single post on this screenwriting and filmmaking blog. But that’s what happened in the last week of May. George Floyd died on May 25th shortly after being detained by police. The video of an officer with his knee in Floyd’s neck and Floyd saying “I can’t breathe” is disturbing. We don’t have all the facts at this time, but we do have one dead man, heart’s aching, anger, protests, riots, looting, and physical violence across the country. This is just me trying to process the last week.
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. . . . No, we are not satisfied. And we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
—Martin Luther King Jr. quoting the prophet Amos in his “I Have a Dream Speech” in August 1963.
When I was 22 years old, I directed a student film starring Chip McAllister. I met Chip in acting classes in Los Angeles and knew that a few years prior, he played Muhammad Ali at age 18 in the film The Greatest (1977). He’s one of the most upbeat and charismatic people I’ve ever met. (And I’m forever grateful to him for introducing me to chicken curry at a Thai restaurant in Hollywood.)
Chip went on to have roles in the TV shows Highway to Heaven, Police Woman, and The Facts of Life, and in the film Weekend Pass. In 2004 he and his wife Kim won the fifth season of The Amazing Race.
But back in 1984, one day before or after acting classes I was talking about a setback of some sorts and Chip smiled and said, “Man, you’re white, you can do anything.” There’s a good chance he doesn’t even remember saying that, but for whatever reason, that line has stuck with me for decades.
I remember thinking, what does “You’re white, you can do anything” mean? It was the beginning in a shift in perspective for me. Though I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s in Florida, I did not witness much overt racism around me.
Personally, I wore #42 playing high school football because of Miami Dolphin great Paul Warfield. Playing second base in baseball, Joe Morgan was the player I most wanted to emulate. My favorite and most inspirational teacher in my entire education was Annye Refoe, Ph.D. Warfield, Morgan, and Refoe are all black. My favorite all-time baseball team, the 1975 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds, is a case study in peak diversity: César Gerónimo (Dominican Republic), Tony Perez (Cuba), George Foster (Alabama), Dave Concepcion (Venezuela), and Johnny Bench (Oklahoma) among others.
A brief stop as a walk-on football player at the University of Miami did not expose any racism that I could see. (But I could do a documentary on the differences between Overtown and Coral Gables. I’d call it 7 Miles— the distance between the two areas.) My first 8mm student film used Michael Jackson’s She’s Out of My Life from his Off the Wall album. The 1982 NCAA championship came down to North Carolina beating Georgetown 63-62 and featured three players later voted to the list of the 50 top players in NBA history; Patrick Ewing, James Worthy and Michael Jordan. All black.
In 1984, Eddie Murphy was at the peak of his powers finishing his SNL run and the release of Beverly Hills Cops. In 1984 Prince and his Purple Rain album and movie made him the first person to have a number one album, a number one song, and a number one movie at the same time. The only person even more popular than Prince and Murphy was Michael Jackson. From February 1983 to April 1984 Jackson’s Thriller album sat at Billboard’s number 1 spot. A record 37 weeks. The Thriller music video, the moonwalk, and the Victory Tour cemented Jackson as the King of Pop.
Also, in 1984 the Los Angeles Lakers, lead by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, put together an amazing run where they finished the season as NBA champs. From my limited perspective of sports and entertainment, black people in 1984 seemed to be doing phenomenally well. Chip’s “Man, you’re white, you can do anything” comment confused me.
There were a lot of things I couldn’t do. Be as funny as Eddie Murphy, play the guitar like Prince, sing like Michael Jackson, play football like Jerry Rice, or basketball like Magic Johnson. Heck, in 1984 I couldn’t even afford tickets to see the Lakers and the Celtics play .
But that comment worked on me over the years, and I began to realize that there were more Arthur McDuffies in the United States than Michael Jacksons. Who was Arthur McDuffie? While at Miami during the 1981/82 school year, I became familiar with the events surrounding the 1980 Miami riots.
Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance agent, was said to run a red light on his motorcycle at 1:15 a.m on December 17, 1979, leading police on an 8-minute high-speed chase. A scuffle ensued, and McDuffie died four days later from head injuries. Police claimed it was from his motorcycle crashing, but the coroner said the injuries weren’t consistent with an accident. Instead, he said, it appeared McDuffie was beaten to death. It resulted in manslaughter and tampering with evidence charges for six officers. This was in the days long before cell phone videos, and after a four week trial, the officers were acquitted.
Within hours Liberty City erupted in what turned into four days of violence, over $100 million in damages, and leaving more than 15 people dead. Colin Kaepernick would not even be born until seven years after the Miami Riots.
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
Line from Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner
It took a while, but I realized what I think Chip’s passing comment meant. That after graduating from film school in 1984 I could meander around the country by myself for six weeks and not think twice about being confronted by racial tension. I got pulled over by police in Moab, Utah and Nashville, Tennessee, during that trip in routine and courteous stops for minor infractions. (And maybe both exploratory pullovers since I was driving an out of state vehicle. But never was I concerned that I might never see my mom again.) I could hike and camp freely, or stop in any store in any town, without a single suspicious glance.
If I started a whole list, I might never finish. Like anyone, I’ve had my share setbacks, and believe I’ve worked hard for my successes. And while it’s not true I can do anything I want—I do understand the sentiment behind that comment. I didn’t grow up in a beautiful tree-lined neighborhood, but the roads in front of me were paved in ways that they weren’t for Chip and his friends.
So I’m committed to listening to the experiences and stories of blacks. I will listen to conversations and debates knowing that there are perspectives that are foreign to me. (I am reminded of a 1997 debate between playwright August Wilson and Robert Brustein that touched on should black actors perform work by white writers.)
Here’s a prime example of “You’re white, you can do anything.” You may have heard the account six weeks ago when NFL great Tom Brady accidentally walked into—yes, walked into—the wrong house soon after he moved to Tampa, Florida. Realizing he was in the wrong house he apologized and quickly left. The local press, TMZ, the owner, and Brady got a good laugh out of the situation.
No harm, no foul.
Chip is now a realtor in Southern California and in 2014 when he and his wife accidentally went to (to, not in) the wrong house (because they’d been given the wrong address) in an upscale neighborhood in Yorba Linda what do you think happened?
Several Orange County sheriffs came to the scene.
No harm? No foul? Just a misunderstanding, right? One time, maybe. But if that’s what you and your friends have experienced to one degree or another, time after time, you might think there was a pattern. This is Chip’s video today where he talks about these things from his perspective.
I will gladly stand up when human rights are violated. Every situation has its own circumstances. In time, hopefully, the truth surrounding the death of George Floyd will come to light. Justice can only follow truth. And I do hope the truth prevails, but it’s not going to happen in a few days.
“What I want to see is not a rush to judgment, but a rush to justice.”
—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LA Times Op-Ed, May 31, 2020
May we all take steps toward making this world a place with a little more peace, love, grace, and harmony.
We shall overcome…
P.S. So that’s some of the context behind my 2014 post:
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