The Trump Takeaway Behind the Movie, Hidden Figures

Ever so often a film comes out that carries more meaning, more weight, more value than any other films regardless of its genre. Such is the case of the movie, Hidden Figures, the true story about three black American women working for the National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA) during the early part of the 1960's. The women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, played respectively by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae, were the women who were in a collective with other black American women in NASA's computer service pool that many of them were support personnel for their white contemporaries. Jackson, Vaughan and Johnson were the exceptional ones. They had become the standard bearers to a whole other world that black women were not suppose to be a part of and that was in the field of science and mathematics. They were the unrecognized heroes during the heyday of the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. But before the film jumped to this time frame, it first took us back to an earlier time of a younger Katherine Johnson nay Katherine Coleman, when she was an eight or ten year old child.

The younger Katherine, played graciously by Lidya Jewett, explores a time in our history and with black youth that is total unrecognizable and foreign to the senses. We get to witness the younger version of Katherine having this gift for math and geometry. 

 What is also remarkable is seeing how the class reacts to her prowess as a mathematician. There was no snide comments , bitterness or pettiness we've come to expect with this generation of Twitter battles over the most stupid and agonizingly insipid things. Of course you also had to accept the fact that it was in the late 1920's and pettiness wasn't born into black culture then. Blacks were dealing with the Jim Crow laws that were oppressing many blacks during that time. But still, the behavior is what I took away from that scene. There was truly a sense of wonder because the vehicle in that scene was about attaining one's education. It was a moment where you would mourn for the loss to knowledge that today's youth just don't have a tolerance for and would rather have the heads bent forward into their smartphones or tablets.

Fast forward and Katherine is a widowed mother of three girls in 1961. She, along with her two cohorts, are broke down on the road to work and a white police officer pulls up and harass them just to flex his authority. Mary Jackson, the more vocally assertive of the three, wants to push back on the authoritarianism but the other two encourage her to restrain her efforts and she takes a more submissive tone with the police officer. And as she does, the tone shifts a bit from a viewer's point of view. This scene represents the first symbol of racism, the bigoted white police officer flexing his power as he laud over three black women. But this racism is diffused by all three women who allow themselves to be humble in his presence and not escalate the situation and they do so effectively by demonstrating their intelligence in very subtle tones. And as I watched this scene, I felt a twinge of moral outrage that even though this happened so many years ago, the impact still hold a weight on your consciousness.

As we start to get into the heart of the film, Katherine is selected to do mathematical computations as a backup to the other NASA scientist just to provide a security backup in the initial limited capacity that was doled out to her. Under redacted reports, her job became frustrating as she could not fully perform the assignment that was given to her. Compounding this effort was the fact that NASA had a policy of segregation within its workforce. Restrooms and drinking fountains were assigned as “colored” and “whites”. The only restroom Katherine could use was a long way from where she was assigned and she had to trek a great distance just to use the “colored” restrooms. This brings up another racist vestige to the forefront, the specter of separating the water fountains and the restrooms has more significance over another. They same labeling was applied to the coffee pots as well with the “colored” one not even being made ready for coffee. But I must remember that these were the times that they lived in.

Mary Jackson, the woman who would become the first black female engineer at NASA had her share of discrimination as well. There were policies in place that stated that blacks, and especially a female black, could not advance to be an engineer without certain qualifications even with a degree and she held a Bachelor of Science degree. She had to sue to go back to high school to earn the course curriculum needed in order for her to become an engineer.

I was getting more incensed by the moment with every racist slight these women endured. And I was generally shocked that these women's story never graced the history pages during my formative years and that other films like The Right Stuff,  failed to give them their acknowledgment and contribution to the space program. Two of the three women have died without receiving any noteworthy praise for their part in contributing to the NASA environment. And my outrage grows.

Dorothy Vaughan role is NASA was just as remarkable. With NASA's introduction of the IBM mainframe computers of the time that were Fortran computer based language, Dorothy had the foresight to learn the language and teach it to the other women in the computer pool. As I watched her story, I couldn't believe that even the public library was segregated. She had to “appropriate”, I will not use the word 'steal', a book on the Fortran language and she learned it all on her own without any assistance or guidance from anyone.

And while NASA was and is a part of the U.S. government, it was the first institution mandated to hire minorities. And even though it did, racism and sexism still rule the order of life. When Katherine made attempts to be included in the proceedings with the NASA program, her gender played more against her than her race. As she had each obstacle removed, the perceptions were also removed when she demonstrated her ability to do the work. She was a pioneer in that regard and every woman in the space program have her to thank for that.

Keven Costner said that his role was an amalgamation of several people so I do not know if there ever was a person who took a crowbar and tore down the colored restroom sign or that this person served as the metaphorical crowbar for Katherine Johnson to get through those doors. If there ever was such a real person, they should acknowledge him as being a contributing agent because one person does not go into battle alone.

So, what does this film about three black American women have to do with Donald Trump? In a nutshell, it has a lot to with with being disappointed and facing stumbling blocks and doing what you have to do and persevering in spite of your circumstances. I find it interesting that mostly the liberal white Americans are losing their mind over Trump's victory in the general election. There have been protests, fights, smear tactics and the like over his election to the highest office in the land. And as I watched this film, I began to put it into a perspective that perhaps the liberal white Americans should accept and acknowledge. For a long time in the history of this country, minorities have accepted the brunt of social ills for generations. It took 55 years for us to hear about this remarkable achievement of three minority women in the space program and yet a film entitled Sid & Nancy, about punk rockers Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, was made five years after his death.

The minority community have come to accept the dysfunctional, apathetic, disenfranchising, maligning approach to what is considered fairness in this country. Donald Trump, a billionaire, won over Hillary Clinton, a millionaire. So why are the white liberals losing their minds over this? Perhaps because they do not understand what it feels like to be on the losing in for so many things. They don't know how to accept defeat in such glorious terms. Everyone ones to point blame at this or that and totally ignore the root cause to their defeat. They need to understand what it means to be a person of color. They need to take a cue from Barack Obama, from Deepak Chopra, from Cesar Chavez, from Booker T. Washington, from Madame C.J. Walker, from Rita Morena, people who understand what the obstacles are from being a person of color in America and what it took to overcome those barriers. And just because people of color have been forced to deal with these barriers, it does not mean that all hope is lost, it just mean that another approach needs to be made in order to overcome these barriers.

President Obama had to prove everyday to the American people and to the conservative arm of Congress that he was entitled to the job and he had to work twice as hard to prove it. This perception and attitude is with every person of color. It is the unwritten rule that is never discussed in polite company but it is always there underneath every thing that is expected with a person of color and this is reflected in quiet tomes in the film.

When Katherine Johnson finally explodes in the film about what she has to do to get to the restroom, it was something her white counterparts couldn't fathom doing and wouldn't do if the situation were on the other foot. This slice represents more than just a bathroom break, it represents the nature of what people of color endure. So Hillary lost and Donald won, get over yourselves. The country wasn't founded on a bunch of whiners. We have other better things to do, to accomplish, as did these women. These were real American women who happened to be black and who faced racism and misogyny and sexism and took it with their heads held high. Why can't we learn from them?

Eulogy For A Princess...

We all have experienced a loss. An emptiness that feels as large as the Grand Canyon and as deep as the mightiest water fall. It ravishes our guts and has a unique pain to it. You begin to feel this thick curtain of grief that begins to suffocate you but somehow, you endure the momentary pain but the loss is significant. We have come to honor a person who filled up life in her own uniquely fashionable way. Never one to follow the path of least resistance, her destiny was to take the road filled with potholes, cracks and an assortment of road hazards that somehow she was able to traverse and learned a lesson from that extraordinary journey. She was a daughter first. Of all the things she had accomplished within the short span of her life, she was always a daughter first, the first born. Being the daughter to Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher had its inherit challenges and as a young child, she bore these challenges by accepting them as merit badges to surviving. And survive she did. Watching her parents go through a period of a tumultuous conscious uncoupling, it was not such an easy burden on a child. But as you know, life isn't fare or equal. Sometimes houses of glass and cards do shatter and fall, it just takes a lot more effort to rebuild them.

But Carrie Fisher pressed forward because she had no other recourse. She wasn't going to be some fragile wallflower trying to pick up the pieces of her yesterday life. She had this wonderful mother who showed her that she could stand up and fight for yourself when nobody else would. She may not have known it then because when you're young your world view is limited to nursery rhymes of puppy dog tails. And it was that spirit that the public witness as she took on the iconic role of Princess Leia. She would not be that damsel in distress tied down to a railroad track or menaced by the big bad while she screamed at the top of her lungs. That's not what she brought to that character. It was a seminal moment in film history, a woman playing a part on the same equal footings as a man and nobody blinked. She would not accept a secondary position next to her male contemporaries. She was fearless when fearless wasn't popular. She became this role model when when women role models were in short supply. She didn't hit you over the head with preachy sermons about being in a film with a strong female role. She didn't have to, instead she led by design. She wasn't that woman with the girl next door appeal. She was that woman next door that would tell you that you are fucking up because you're a doormat if you don't stand up for what you believe, you're still going to be that doormat so you might as well stamp the word “Welcome” across your forehead.

Carrie Fisher wasn't an “in your face” type of a woman. No, she was more of a speak to the truth type of person. She was unflinching in describing her bipolar disorder and the impact it had on her and her mother. Mental illness diseases aren't talked about in many circles. There is a level of discomfort, shame, finger pointing and a host of other negative connotations surrounding mental disorders. It's not like you have a broken arm and it will be healed after a couple of months. It is an illness that you battle everyday and with medication. If someone has diabetes, for example, we would readily accept that the person would have to be on insulin in order to have some sort of sustaining life. With mental illness, it still struggles to be on a socially acceptable level and understanding in relation to other illnesses. Carrie broke through on these challenges. She talked openly about the disease. She made the illness into something human and not some boogeyman monster that could not be spoken. Her words became the ammunition needed to take down this demon. We have talked more about mental illness. It is not the big scary that's only spoken in whispers any longer. We have Carrie to thank for that.

At the time, I don't know if Carrie knew of the impact she had on so many little girls when she made Star Wars. Ah, if only social media was around then. She had come to appreciate the accept her role in fostering this ideal of women's contribution to not just working equally along side men but to honor the humanity in all of us. And it is one of the things that we shall miss the most about Carrie. We will miss a little part from column A and we will miss a little part from column B and we will miss a little part from column C because she gave us something from each area. Carrie herself would probably be amused and in disbelief that she was taken out by a heart attack. She probably would say “Are you shitting me! A heart attack? I thought sure I was gonna go by way of a sex act on a trampoline involving two midgets and a dancing Wookie in a G-string. Heart attacks are for white male Republicans and guys at Fox News.”

And now Carrie has reluctantly move on to the next chapter. She still had more to do on this earth but her presence was requested elsewhere. She left behind too many craters to fill and too many hearts that were broken. It will be difficult not seeing your face around anymore. Memories and love only last seventy-five years in humans if we're lucky. But there is your body of work that will help us remember you and we will smile and we will cry because you meant more to us than you could have possibly know. Goodbye my Princess, goodbye my General, goodbye my friend.

...And to Her Queen

Debbie Reynolds didn't start off a Debbie Reynolds. She was known as Mary Frances Reynolds from El Paso, Texas. Her life became the life of scripted movie specifically written for her. She was from severe poor humble origins when, after winning a local beauty contest, she was discovered by talent agents from Warner Bros. Studios. Hers was a true rags to riches story and no one deserved it more than Mary Frances Reynolds or as what she became to be known as Debbie Reynolds. And soon enough, she was starring along side the likes of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in her first film, Singin' In The Rain. She was groomed in a era where the studio controlled everything about the stars in their stable. No move was made without a publicist knowing about it. Singin' In The Rain became known for its classic sound and for its music and it solidified Debbie Reynolds with moviegoers as this ingenue who's appeal and looks made them feel warm and she had a trusting face that would be taken advantage of as she soon found out. Along the way, she met and married her first husband, Eddie Fisher. Their union brought forth Carrie and her brother, Todd. She would go on to divorce Eddie because he had other “interest”elsewhere.

She would go on to marry two more time with disastrous results that nearly led to financial ruin. But Debbie persevered. She picked herself, she didn't feel sorry for herself, she faced her failures and laughed about them. She won the battle and she won the war. She became a savvy business woman and made the rules up as she went along. Her memories from her past and how she grew up would not be repeated with literally not having a pot to piss in. That fear was deafening and she had two mouths to feed. She knew what she had to do.

Along her film career, Debbie had the foresight to collect many of the wardrobes and accoutrements to some extraordinary films. She amassed this collection and held on to them. She had warehouses filled with Hollywood stars clothing. There was Marilyn Monroe's dress from The Seven Year Itch. There was Frank Sinatra and the gangs tuxedos from the Ocean 11 film. There was Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. That was just a small sample of the many things she had the foresight to hold on to and they sold big. The ruby slippers sold for $690,000 alone and the Marilyn Monroe dress sold for $5.58 million. That was more than enough for Debbie to recoup her initial investment into collecting Hollywood memorabilia.

She had traveled far since those humble days in El Paso, Texas. She never knew how to dance until they taught her. She never knew how to sing until they taught her. She never understood heartache until Eddie taught her. She never knew how to run a business until she taught herself. She never knew how tough grief felt until Carrie taught her. She always understood unconditional love was the most important thing to have a fulfill life and that she had. So long Mary Frances.