A Tribute To Dwayne McDuffie

Dwayne McDuffie attends the West Coast premiere of
“All-Star Superman” at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles Feb. 17. (Warner Bros.)
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110226/ENT05/102260307/Comic-creator-Dwayne-McDuffie-s-legacy-is-work-for-diversity-and-kids--friends-say#ixzz1FLvXW4Gs

Last week comic Dwayne McDuffie passed away of complications from emergency heart surgery. He was only 49 years old.



The first McDuffie comic I
bought back in 1989.

Dwayne will be remembered by many for his work at Marvel and DC comics on titles such as Damage Control, Justice League of America, Fantastic Four. He’ll also be remembered for his s writing and producing most of the episodes of the animated series Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and Ben 10: Alien Force and direct-to-video movies such as Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and All Star Superman. He was a brilliant comic book and Television writer with a vivid imagination, tremendous creativity and a great attention to detail.

But what I’ll remember him most for is his work as one of the founders of Milestone Media and his efforts to create positive images of Minority comic book characters.




A small sampling of the Milestone Comics in my collection.

 

I used to buy Milestone comics every Thursday back when I was attending college. McDuffie’s work at Milestone was a huge inspiration to me back then. His work at Milestone Comics made me believe that it was possible for African-American superheroes to be intelligent, complex and multi-dimensional. For the first time at the comic shops and at the newsstands I not only saw heroes of color on a regular basis, but a diverse array of viewpoints within the African-American community. Hardware was the angry man in the corporate machine, Icon was the disconnected alien who was forced to reconcile his place in a world he didn’t understand, Rocket the girl from around the way, The Blood Syndicate was a gang that fought to protect its own turf from predators of the outside world, and Static was the kid from the neighborhood. Milestone comics showed me that superheroes came in more than one shade of brown and that there was more than one black experience.



Back in 1994 after I graduated college, I was so enthusiastic about Milestone Media Comics that I actually sent them a resume and cover letter in hopes of getting a writing job. Unfortunately, I got no response. And much to my chagrin, a year after my college graduation, the comic book industry imploded. Milestone went belly up in 1995 or 96 along with my dreams of being a comic book writer.



But Even though Milestone went out of business, those comics McDuffie wrote had a huge influence on me years later. They were one of the driving forces that made me want to become a serious novelist. The Icon series heavily influenced my writing of Isis back in 1999. Reading about the Agustus Freeman IV, the brotha from another planet inspired me to use Egyptian mythology to make a commentary on race and culture in my tale of a lost woman who discovers her heritage and history as an Egyptian goddess.



I’ll also remember McDuffie for creating Static, one of my favorite superheroes. Static was a character who was a lot like me growing up in the South Bronx as a kid. A comic fan. A good kid who dealt with bullies, peer pressure and racial identity along with his super powers. It was a story that was rarely told in comics. I was eager to buy every issue when it hit the stands back in the day.

And even though I was 27 I always made time to watch Static Shock when it came on Saturday mornings back in 2000. I even taped every episode for four seasons straight. For an African-American comic fan like myself, Static Shock was a ground breaking series; The Cosby Show of Superhero programs. Not only was the show the first to feature an African-Anerican superhero in the lead, it won its slot for each of the four years it was on, and won awards for its tight writing of episodes like “Jimmy”.



Dwayne McDuffie’s work in comics and Television shaped the way a generation saw DC Comics Superheroes in the media with Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.  Static Shock  proved an African-American character could anchor and carry an animated program and hold an audence nationwide. He will be missed. I only wish I could have met him face-to-face and told him how his work influenced me as a writer and my mission to create positive stories about the African-American experience.

This Saturday I'll run down a list of what I believe are some of Dwayne's best work in comics and Television.







Afrika Owes Is NOT A Victim

Reverend Calvin Butts continues to state that Afrika Owes is a victim of the streets and her situation is similar to Patty Hearst. Sorry, but I wholeheartedly disagree with his interpretation of events. From what I’ve read, Afrika Owes was not taken against her will, nor was she under any duress when she acted as a member of the “137th Street Crew”. While I empathize for this girl, I also understand she must be made to take responsibility for her actions and face up to her crimes.

Afrika Owes is No Patty Hearst. Not by a long shot.

Nor is she a victim. Victims are people who have no control over what happens to them. Afrika Owes was in complete control of herself. While she was probably under a lot of peer pressure, she was acting of her own free will.

 

Don’t let Reverend Butts fool you, Afrika Owes had choices. She could have stayed the course at Deerfield Academy. She could have focused on her studies and stayed in The Church. And if she wanted to have a boyfriend, there were probably plenty of fine young brothas for her to date in the Youth ministry of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the Student Leaders at Deerfield Academy.

But she chose to get involved Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne. And she chose to be his boyfriend.

It was also her choice to get involved with the 137th Street Crew.

She chose to be a gun moll. No one forced her to carry Jaquan’s 9 millimeter pistol in her purse.

And it was of her volition that she willingly accepted gifts from Jay Cash knowing they were purchased with drug loot. Again, no one forced her to take the bling, clothes, and other stuff from this dude. Afrika Owes was no poor desperate chick from the hood that needed the money. This was a girl from a hardworking middle-class family that lived right across the street from the Abyssinian Baptist Church. In between her parents, the Church, and the prep school, she had a network of people who probably bought her anything she wanted.

It was also of her own volition that she chose to run drugs for the 137th Street Crew. Remember, she actually declined to sell drugs for Layne and the 137th Street Crew at her prep school at first, and then decided to do so later on.

Ultimately, it was the sum of her choices that led to her winding up in Rikers Island today.

Reverend Butts, Her Mother Karen Owes, and many in the Black community probably feel guilty. They feel like they’ve failed this girl. They need to stop feeling guilty because they haven’t done anything wrong. They didn’t fail anyone.

The only person who failed Afrika Owes is Afrika Owes.

From personal experience, I know peer pressure is rough. And I know a kid’s head can get messed up listening to the lies, false teachings and twisted propaganda preached by their friends and the media as truth while they search for their own identity. And in the ghetto those messages are not only telling a teenager that they not only have to “belong” but they have to be “Real” as they search for a true “Black” Identity.

But making excuses for Afrika Owes’ behavior isn’t gonna help her grow into a responsible young woman. She chose to get with this crew and sling the rocks and carry the nine. Now she’s got to face up to what she did and pay for her crimes, either with youthful offender status on probation or prison time.

While I support the future rehabilitation of this sista and I want to see her succeed in the future, I refuse to make excuses for her. Enabling her is only going to make her think she’s a victim of circumstances when she actually created her own tragic turn of events. 

What are you looking at? A Commentary on Eye Contact in the Black Community

In most western cultures, eye contact is a social cue that a person is confident and sincere. For many in America someone looking them in the eye is often a sign that a person is honest and telling the truth. However many African-Americans in the inner-city don’t see this social cue the same way as the rest of the world.


African-Americans avoiding eye contact has a history that goes back to slavery. It was socially unacceptable for a slave to make eye contact with a white man in the Antebellum South. Many whites back then felt if a Negro “eyeballed him” it was a sign that they thought they were equal to a white man and had no respect for him. In Jim Crow America, making eye contact was a social crime that could lead to a black person being lynched. And during the Civil Rights period and afterward, a black person could be arrested just for looking a police officer in the eyes.

Today African-Americans still regard making eye contact with a negative connotation even when interacting with each other. On the streets in inner city neighborhoods making eye contact is often seen as a sign of aggression and hostility. Any eye contact with a stranger in the ghetto can easily turn into an argument, escalate into a fight and lead up to murder. So many African-Americans, out of fear for their saftety, keep their eyes down and look away when they communicate with other brothers and sisters in the neighborhood.

Some may see this behavior as a sign of deferment. But it’s a social skill many brothers and sisters must practice to survive in a predatory environment controlled by gangs, drug dealers, junkies, the mentally ill, and hardcore criminals who can become violent at any provocation.

Unfortunately when African-Americans, especially black males from the inner-city practice the social behaviors they’ve learned out of safety and survival in the in the White community those social cues are often misinterpreted. Many Whites who don’t understand the social culture of the inner-city often believe that a black person is being insincere or lying when they look away when this isn’t the case.

These misunderstandings about nonverbal social cues have prevented African-Americans from getting jobs or keeping jobs, networking effectively in school, or socializing outside of the black community. Moreover it has prevented brothers and sisters from succeeding in the world of work. While social cues like eye contact and smiling are considered normal in White society, they can get someone killed in the inner-city.

So the next time An African-American person isn’t making eye contact or smiling, please don’t take it personal. Many Blacks were raised to communicate with a different set of social cues and do not mean to offend. In the inner-city actions often speak louder than words about truth, honesty, and trust, and eyes don’t necessarily tell the whole story about a person.

Afrika Owes- From Prep School to Prison A tragic story I Know All Too Well

I was reading the paper this Sunday about Afrika Owes, a 17-year-old who was arrested as part of the 137th Street gang that peddled drugs and ran drugs in the shadow of Reverend Calvin Butts’ Abyssinian Baptist Church. The media is painting her as a victim who was led astray by the street. But I don’t see it that way. I feel Afrika is another unfortunate sista who made the choice to walk away from religion and education and "Keep it Real" by following  the false doctrines of “Thug Life” and is now paying the price for her actions.

Reading about Afrika Owes, she had the potential to be anything she wanted to be. She was a gifted Harlem girl who earned a scholarship to attend the prestigious Deerfield Academy a $43,000 a year private school in Massachusetts. She was a member of the Youth Ministry and Choir at Calvin Butts’ Abyssinian Baptist Church. A Student Leader in the Deerfield Black Student Coalition. A smart charismatic girl who was on her way to an Ivy League College. The world was her oyster.

But she chose to walk away from that opportunity to get with 20-year-old Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne and join up with the “137th Street Crew” as a gun moll. Miseducated by the gang about the "realness of the streets", she probably thought it was cool to carry his gun in her purse and exciting to watch him get over on the cops with a smug smile when they found nothing on him. She also probably thought it was fun when he spent money on her buying her stuff like sneakers, clothes, and jewelry with his drug loot. Even though she was scared when he proposed it she probably thought it more exciting for her to make her own money selling crack rocks on the Deerfield campus. And when he talked about taking head shots only to her on the phone it was like something out of a movie like Scarface or a street lit novel.

Unfortunately real life isn’t like those street lit novels where the slippery heroines get away with their crimes. When the members of the 137th Street Crew were busted last week, Afrika wound up in Rikers Island and another story of a promising sista wound up with a with a tragic ending I know all too well.

I’ve run into a dozen Afrika Owes her during my time as a student in at Park West and Taft High school back in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the height of the Crack Epidemic. I even knew a few personally back then. Like Afrika, many of those sistas were pretty, smart and had a lot of potential. But when they wanted to have a boyfriend they didn’t want the brotha with the part-time job or the allowance he got from his parents. No, those guys were “soft, boring, and immature.”


Instead, they wanted to get with the older dudes who wore the gold chains and drove around in the fly rides like a Jeep, a BMW, or a Benz. The ones with enough money to buy them leather coats, gold chains, clothes from The Gap, Gucci bags, sneakers, and Timberland boots. The neighborhood drug dealer. The gang banger. The Thug. The guys who slung rocks on the corner and carried a nine, a blade, or a boxcutter. When other girls saw him on her arm or riding shotgun in his car with the booming speakers they got jealous.

Until tragedy struck and that poor deluded sista wound up another statistic.

Afrika Owes should count her blessings. She should thank God she just wound up in Rikers. Because she was truly lucky she got busted so young. At 17 she still has an opportunity to turn her life around. She can get her diploma, work towards her degree, and have a life after prison. There’s still a chance for her to have a happy ending.

Many of the sistas I used to know like her in Park West and Taft who had the drug dealer boyfriends back in the day probably weren’t as blessed as she is. Most probably suffered a series of tragic fates worse than anything Afrika will ever experience.

Some of the luckier ones probably wound up in prison doing time for his crimes because they followed the nonsensical codes of the street preached by fools like 50 Cent that state a woman has to take the fall for her man when he’s busted. But the truth is more like: He made a deal with the District Attorney and implicated her so he could avoid the mandatory minimum sentence. So SHE winds up having to do 20 years in a lockup for riding shotgun in his car while he continues running his game on the streets with another woman.

Many more of those sistas I went to school with probably wound up having babies by these thugs and drug dealers and now have no way to support them except welfare and food stamps. Why? Because most of the fathers are doing 25-to-life mandatory minimums in a Federal lockup like Leavenworth or 20 years in a state penitentiary like Sing Sing. And many more of those fathers were killed in drug deals gone bad or by a rival gangs over a beef. Others are running the streets and could care less about the children they abandoned.

And quite a few of those unfortunate sistas wound up alone as they became addicted to their boyfriend’s product. It was probably fun when he offered them a hit of weed in the staircase or at a house party. Over the years they probably got into harder drugs like crack, heroin, cocaine, and crystal meth. As a sista’s habit became an addiction that destroyed all her promise, potential and good looks, he moved on to the next ho, because that’s the code of the street.

And another handful of sistas wound up taking bullets meant for him. Those poor sistas were caught in the crossfire of drive-by-shootings or walked into ambushes from rival drug gangs where they got shot in the head or got their throats cut in an attempt to send a message to him. Meanwhile, he moves on to the next ho, cause that’s the code of the street.

And finally there are the sistas no one talks about, the ones killed by their thug boyfriends in domestic violence incidents. One of the tragic ironies many sistas encounter by getting involved with violent thugs and drug dealers for protection is that there’s no one there to protect them from his violence. Sooner or later they become a victim of his fists, his guns, and his rage. And when they leave him, usually it’s in a body bag.

Afrika Owes could have been a victim of one of those tragic fates like many of the sistas I went to high school with back in the day. However, I think God stepped in just in time to save her life. Even though she’s in Rikers right now, she still has a chance for Him to use her for His purpose. From here on in it’ll be up to her to make the choice to either turn it around, or continue down a road to self-destruction.

Black Men in Dresses: Entertainment or Emasculation?

This year there will be three movies released featuring five African American men in dresses this year. Big Mamas: Like Father like Son, Skank Robbers and Tyler Perry’s Madea’s big happy Family. I have to wonder: Is this entertainment or Emasculation?

Many may see these images of brothers in dresses as something humorous. However, I see an insidious conspiracy by the media to strip away the manhood and male identity from the Black Man. Over the past two decades, the image of the black male has been slowly feminized. Little things like Athletes wearing earrings, Hip-hop stars wearing braids and sagging pants may be presented in the media to look trendy and stylish, but I feel it’s part of an effort to effeminate the Black male identity.

When a Black male is presented onscreen in a dress or with feminine attributes it sends a message to the world. That message is he is weak, soft and can he can be broken and subjugated to a submissive position. It destroys the image of Black Male authority and power in the eyes of Black women and causes the Black Man to lose face in front of her and his children.

And when Hollywood presents three movies featuring Five Black men in dresses I feel it’s sending a CLEAR message to the Black Community: It does not see Black men as MEN. They see black men as their BITCH, a castrated asexual role where they are weak, docile and submitted to their will. It’s less than a man, less than a woman and less than a child. It’s a Joke.

The way Black men are represented today in the media is the most dangerous thing since Wille Lynch’s speech on how to make a slave.

What’s so dangerous about so many movies featuring Black men in dresses? The messages within these films have a subconscious impact on the psychology of how Black men and Black boys are conditioned to see themselves in society. Presenting so many images of African-American men in effeminate roles is part of an institutionally racist plan to humiliate and degrade the image of the Black man in society. And because most young black males don’t have their fathers in their lives they have no idea what an example of manhood truly is. So they think these images are what they should emulate as Black male behavior and their Black male identity.

Worse, young brothers who don’t know any better they incorporate this feminine behavior into their own behaviors. Because the media presents these effeminate images as socially acceptable and even trendy brothers have no idea that their gender identity is being corrupted. Imbibing this media for long periods of time can leave a black male confused to their sexual identity.

I notice that currently in mainstream White media there are no images of White Males in dresses on a regular basis. I mean, how many top White movie stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale are starring in movies where they’re wearing dresses these days? How many top white male athletes and entertainers have their hair done up in braids with ribbons and bows? How many white male athletes and entertainers are presented in the media are dressed in feminine colors or presenting effeminate body language or expressions on a regular basis?

Not that many. But Black men are presented this way on a regular basis nowadays.

I’m urging brothers and sisters to really take a look at the media they’re watching a bit more closely. It’s not just entertainment. The media we watch and listen to influences the way we think and the way we act. It models of what someone else in society wants us to act like. And someone wants to destroy the image of the Black man in America in the eyes of the world.

Putting so many Black men in dresses can't be  entertainment. It’s emasculation.

The Black Church Needs A Revival

The Church used to be the cornerstone of the Black community. Once considered a moral center for Black American and the social hub for African-Americans, it was the backbone of Black America during slavery and emancipation, a shelter in the time of storm during Jim Crow, and the heart and soul of the Civil Rights Movement. But after the post-Civil rights period, The Black Church feels lost its direction. As a result of this the community has become more and more disconnected from its relationship with God, and brothers and sisters have become disconnected from themselves.

In a community with a 80 percent unemployment rate, 70 percent dropout rate and 60 percent abortion rate, it’s clear that the traditional Black Church is out of touch with the needs of the community, which is why so many brothers and sisters are abandoning Christianity in the African-American community. From what I’ve experienced with the Black Church, I feel it’s their outdated approach to Christianity that’s repulsing people. The “old time religion” of our forefathers doesn’t focus on the needs of helping brothers and sisters today develop a close, strong personal relationship with God in the 21st Century.

Here’s a few suggestions for improving The Black Church experience:

Cut service down to 45 minutes or an hour. Let’s face it Black Church is just TOO LONG. Most services in the Black community clock in at a minimum of 2 hours, while some go on to as long as 3 or four hours, and some go on for five hours! In the past Slaves would spend half a Sunday or a whole Sunday in Church but in today’s world that’s just not feasible. A well-organized service to me should take no longer than 45 minutes to an hour. If the Muslims, Catholics, and White Christians can preach their message to their followers in an hour, why can’t The Black Church?

Focus teaching not preaching. The Black Church is full of emotion and drama, and spectacle. After the Choir sings and then the Pastor gives a raucous performance in the pulpit. People come out The Black Church feeling good on Sunday morning, but wind up participating on the same sinful behaviors on Sunday afternoon. Why? Because they’ve been entertained, not because they’ve received information that helps them develops a closer relationship with God. I feel Church is supposed to be a place where Christians can learn things that help them grow in their relationship with Christ. Teaching to me helps people learn how to apply the Word of God in their lives every day, not just Sunday.

Focus more on Action Oriented Christianity. For me, Christianity is about doing, not hearing. Actions define a Christian’s character more than words to non-Christians. It’s the example we show through what we do that influences others and has an impact on their lives. To me, a good Church service on Sunday focuses on teaching people things they can do to apply the message of Christ in their lives in the community Monday through Saturday.

Make the House of God more open to everyone. When Jesus came, he sat with the Publicans, Tax Collectors, and Harlots. He encouraged people to come as they were. However in the Black Church members are often judgmental and rude towards newcomers. I feel more welcome at a bodega in the ghetto than in most Black Churches in the same neighborhoods, and that shouldn’t be. Church should be a place where everyone feels welcome to hear the Word. In some churches there are rigid outmoded standards for how long skirts are, whether or not shoes should have open toes (scandalous!) or slingbacks (enticing to men!) or what color stocking a woman can wear to attend service. Other Churches throw people out for having sex, being homosexual, having tattoos, or having jobs in fields the Church doesn’t find “respectable”. Hey, aren’t these the people the Church is supposed to be reaching? Didn’t Jesus try show people an example? Isn’t the mission of Church about saving souls? To me these kinds of actions are counterproductive and discourage those who desperately need to hear of the Word of God from receiving God’s message.

Stop Judging people. We’re all not perfect and we’ve all come short in the eyes of God. Our righteousness is like a filthy rag to him. But Most of my fellow Black Christians I’ve run into in the Church are extremely arrogant towards people who aren’t Christians or who don’t agree with what they’re saying. I’ve seen Christians put down, insult people and condescend to people instead of showing them an example of what Christ is like. What they don’t know is that their actions defeated their testimony. Christianity to me is about showing people an example of Christ, not telling. Action speaks louder than words.

Make Church an everyday thing not a Sunday thing. For most in the Black community Church service is on Sunday Mornings. To me Christianity is a 24-hour a day 365 day a year thing. I feel Church is a place that should be open every day with services during the weekday afternoons and weekday evenings. Sure a lot of people are working at those times, but there are others who can’t make a Sunday Schedule. I feel if The Black Church were more accessible every day like the Catholic Church and the Islamic mosque are, more people would be open to it.

Make After Church services more comprehensive. To me Church is not just about a sermon on Sunday. And developing a close personal relationship with God requires support once the sermon is over. With all the problems facing the Black community, there needs to be a focus on more after Church services. Things like counseling, networking, and financial help. At one time the first place people could go for help in the Black community was the Church. Nowadays it’s the first place to turn people away. The Church needs to go back to being the place everyone in Black Community goes first.

Focus on messages that can be applied to real life. A relationship with God is not something Church to me should be about teaching people things they can use Monday through Saturday. I’d like to see more messages focused on things people can use in their real life, not entertainment.

Discuss topics once considered off limits. Issues like AIDS, HIV, abortion, and sex are avoided by the Black out of shame and fear. Meanwhile, the community continues to suffer from these problems. The Church has to take a more active role in teaching how to apply the Word of God tin their lives towards these issues.

Focus a series of services to deal with the issues of Black Men. It’s a fact that a majority of Black men do not go to church. Why? Because they feel the church has left them out. The Black Church has become so woman centered these days that it rarely focuses on the issues of men in the black community. As a result, many young men are growing up spiritually lost and disconnected from God. I’ve heard from many brothers who say they feel emasculated in Church and that there’s no place for them there. Many more feel threatened by pastors in their homes when their women come back from service. Church should be a place that brings people together, not splits them apart.

I’d like to see the Black Church focus on making an effort to reconnecting with Black Men. I’d like to see efforts focused towards teaching services that are man centered so Black men can feel more comfortable in Church. I feel Brothers need to sit down with local pastors and air their grievances and discuss their issues with them. I feel once brothers start having a dialogue with they’ll be a bit more eager to pursue a relationship with God.

Embrace Technology as a way to get the Word of God to listeners. As part of teaching people how to apply the Word of God in their lives every day. Most Black Churches who are on the air are still on the radio- AM radio. Those who are a bit more technologically advanced are making CDs. In an age where there’s internet radio, podcasts and mp3s the Black Church is way behind the rest of the world in getting its message to potential followers. The Black Church really has to start making efforts towards reaching brothers and sisters on the web.

If were a minister and I ran a Church, I’d pretty much implement all these points I’m writing about. Personally I feel focusing on a more action oriented, everyday approach to Christianity would improve the quality of life in the Black community and improve its relationship with God. I really want to see the Black Church overcome its issues and reconnect with the lost sheep of the Black community to a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Francine Craft's Review of The Temptation of John Haynes

Author Francine Craft was nice enough to provide an early review of The Temptation of John Haynes. I thought I'd share it with everyone.

 

I thought this was a winner from the time Shawn talked about writing in on his Blogspot blog. I waited patiently and I love the book he came up with.
John Haynes is the prototype for a guy we all want as son, friend, husband, lover; he has it all together and he isn't a bit arrogant about it. He's good with a capital "G." Now we all know about Lucifer and how he feels about goodness; he doesn't go for it, so he hates the likable John and decides to have a little, no a lot of fun bringing this good man down to his level. Enter Lucifer's beautiful, sexy hostage aptly named Esteem. Who best to enchant and bring John down? And enchant Ms. Esteem does with abandon. She has and uses all the wiles, all the tricks that a glamorous, powerful woman backed by the devil has in store. And what's this? She's winning poor John's heart; he's just about putty in her lovely hands. But there is a Heaven and the angels decree that Esteem does have a heart of her own and she finds to her dismay that her heart is flipping crazily for this good man.

Hell no, Lucifer doesn't like it, but what can he do about it? Who wins? Who loses? Read for yourself and see. I can only promise you'll smile a lot as you flip the pages of this winner:)
And hm-m-m, doesn't the name John Haynes sound a lot like Shawn James to you? Well, I guess a writer needs a lot of ego to ply his or her trade. I look forward to many more books by this fine young writer.

My slogan for this book is: Buy and read The Temptation of John Haynes! You'll love it!