The most important courses I took in college in my first year were two that are required by anyone seeking any kind of degree: English 101 and 102. Those two semesters of classes were designed to prepare us to write a 15 page research paper that was 70% of our English 102 grade.
Why were they the most important? Here's the descrips:
English (ENGLISH) 101
Composition
Development of critical and analytical skills in writing and reading of expository prose. Writing assignments, as appropriate to the discipline, are part of the course.
English (ENGLISH) 102
Composition
Continuation of English 101.
Introduces methods of research and writing of investigative papers. Writing assignments, as appropriate to the discipline, are part of the course.
So basically it teaches how to critically analyze information and also teaches how to properly present one's own assertions in such a way that it's not just your personal opinion but something backed up by reputable literary sources. It requires one to provide direct quotes and to document the sources of those quotes including who the author was and including the title and date of the publication as well as the page and the paragraph where that quote is found.
It. prepares. individuals. to. critically. analyze. information. and. be. thorough. and. complete. in. presenting. information.
This is the foundation of good journalism as well as good documentaries. This is what separates great documentaries like Ava Duvernay's, "13th" (on Netflix) from what Tariq makes and calls "documentaries".
It's not enough to just give a narrative about history. You have to provide the sources in a way that represents good journalistic integrity. For example:
- In his book, "African World Revolution", Dr. Clarke writes, "______"
- In a January 5, 1989 Washington post article entitled, "______", Erin Miller writes, "_____"
If one of the experts makes an assertion- especially a controversial assertion that is supposed to support the narrative of the documentary, it should ALWAYS be followed up immediately by detailed information to back up that exact point. Otherwise it's just one person's opinion.
What I saw in Buck Breaking was a film full of people giving opinions and narratives that were supposed to be taken as fact just because they said it- but provided either weak support or most often no support or proof of what they said. In fact, the very concept of buck breaking itself as a systemic method of controlling communities of enslaved people might be fiction. I was unable to locate any reputable sources or any historical accountings proving that anything like how he described as buck breaking taking place was done on anything resembling a systematic level. For that matter, I found no reliable evidence suggesting that such violations occurred publicly in front of not only all the enslaved people but in front of the white folks too. So his whole foundation for making the film just might have been based on rumors than established fact. I would invite you or anyone else to find any evidence of systemic public buck breaking as a tactic of controlling communities of enslaved Black people during times of chattel slavery.
More notes that I took including my research on some of what was presented:
- Phil Valentine lied when he said that California’s SB145 meant that a 19 year old could have sex with an 8 year old as long as the child gave consent. That is incorrect. It applies specifically to teens age 14-17. More specifically, the measure doesn’t apply when a minor is under 14, when the age gap is larger than 10 years or when either party says the sex wasn’t consensual. California’s Police Chiefs Association also pushed back on false claims about the bill circulating online. “Despite misinformation, this bill does not legalize ANY crime against a child – SB 145 still maintains the SAME criminal punishments under current law,” the association tweeted.
- Tariq said it has led “some people” to call it “the pedophile bill”. Who are “some people”, Tariq?
- Activist Erica Leshai claims that the “strong, independent” descriptive is only used to describe Black women. Bullshit. That ignores the whole American Feminist movement started by white women in the 60s. Where is your proof of your assertion?
These things, plus the first 20 or 30 minutes of the film assaulting the viewers with illustration after illustration after illustration of Black men being raped and sodomized by white slave masters. WTF? It feels like actual respected Black intellectuals and scholars avoid him hence his having to rely on alleged female "activists" that no one's heard of or Lord Jamar or Joe Brown to throw out odd combinations of fact, unsupported personal opinions and outright lies.
Reputable newspapers and magazines won't allow erroneous, unsupported opinions to be both the foundation and sum total of the point of view of an article. The same goes for good documentaries. Even though it might have a focus and point of view, it will present the viewpoints of both sides of an argument, take the time to analyze the facts of those sides and then allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions.
Truth doesn't have to hide opposing viewpoints nor hide from them. Truth has the courage to tell the whole story without fear.
I say all this to say that our true history, our true stories, our current events deserve to be documented in the best, most detailed, most accurate and most complete way.
I agree with you that Black history museums are a great thing that I'd love to see more of. It's so important RIGHT NOW to keep our history in the public discourse and in the public schools, because a MASSIVE paid for campaign is being waged to deny the existence of systemic racism, erase us entirely from the social studies books and roll back the clock and replace it with a white nationalist telling of history.
... However, Tariq's volatility, years of internet beefing and trolling, throwing out erroneous opinion as fact, constant regurgitation of white supremacist talking points and their wild conspiracy theories and his own record of a very loose handling of history and a general lack of any kind of scholarship makes me not trust him to be sincere, responsible, mature and thorough enough to do a museum.
Two cents.
www.explorebaltimore.org
