- Aug 24, 2001
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LMAO
irst-time filmmaker Erik Gordon looked into the faces of a full crowd of mostly African American females and said exactly what I would have said if I had made his movie, ?Why Do Black Men Date White Women??
?Please,? he told the crowd, ?don?t attack me!?
Fortunately, nobody did. Not physically.
Over the years, I?ve seen a lot of films that have played at the National Black Arts Festival?s Pan African Film Festival. Movies about Mozambique and Ghana, soul-searching documentaries and soul-wrenching dramas (certainly, this year?s violent and gripping ?A Goat?s Tail? comes to mind).
But by its title alone, Gordon?s film, shown on Friday at the High Museum of Art?s Hill Auditorium, seemed like a no-brainer must-see. He dares to look at a cultural reality that while not exactly prominent, certainly does exist and makes us ask who are we and why are we the way we are.
What Gordon did was to take a camera through various parts of Atlanta, thrust it into people?s faces and boldly ask them the title?s question.
What did we learn from his film?
1. Several people say black women are independent, strong and intimidating. When approached in a club, one man says, black women are immediately defensive. Let?s quote him quoting them immediately after his pickup line: ??Why the hell are you talking to me???
2. White women, one man says, will ask you if you want a massage. ?Sisters,? he says, ?don?t ask you nothing. They want to know how much money you got.?
3. ?White women,? one astute young man voices, ?will get up after sex and make you a sandwich.?
Good point.
I don?t know that Gordon, who attended college in Atlanta and lives in California, found definitive answers we can rely upon. Some of the reactions he got cannot be revealed on a family newspaper?s website. But you know what I am talking about.
The ultimate point, he says, was to get dialogue started.
So, what do you think? Why do some black men date white women? Is it relevant? Does it matter? Shouldn?t people date whomever they want?
LMAO