A month's worth of important reminders of how America got here.
 Every Black History Month, a faction of people still sneer, "What about white history month?" Black History Month is racist, they argue, or tedious, or an obstacle to moving on. And while people joke that the demarcation was given to the shortest month in the calendar, February is also one of the nation's most historic, having witnessed the beginning of the civil rights movement at a lunch counter in North Carolina (1960), segregated respect for America's first veterans (1778), a generational expansion of slavery through a peace treaty with Mexico (1848), the dashed promise of "40 acres and a mule" (1866), the creation of baseball's Negro Leagues (1920), the murder that sparked Bloody Sunday (1965), the election of the first Black member of Congress (1869) and the first to actually become a member (1870). It served the reminder that Black history is not just about big-picture problems like slavery and Jim Crow, but also the day-to-day indignities of drinking segregated water (2017), earning an Oscar for playing a stereotype (1940), or being unable to think of police as protectors (deadly shootings in 1999 and 2019 particularly stung). So here, for every day in February, are 29 vital reminders of our shared history. The shift is cultural and even economic, but also personal, as a new wave of Asian Americans come of age. Celebrate new love—or whatever it is you're feeling—without all the gift-giving pressure. It's not about the sex. OK, it is about the sex. No way we'd still be titillated by Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's home-video tape—let alone be motivated to stream eight episodes of the new Hulu series Pam & Tommy starring an effervescent Lily James and a pugnacious Sebastian Stan in the title roles—without the sex. Now here's the dirty little truth about that now-notorious footage: The sight of two honeymooners screwing for a few minutes while declaring their love for each other on the deck of a private yacht is only the click-bait headline. The deeper story is far more intriguing and pivotal in our vast pop-culture history. The new year is looking bright, all thanks to these releases. It's time to level up your listening situation. Late April 1982. It is a heady time if you are a Lakers fan. The team has done a number on the Western Conference of the NBA, winning its division by five games, bettering the record of the winner of the other division by nine. The team has a few days' rest while also-rans quarrel in the preliminaries of the play-offs. The rest could be all-important. It has been a long season, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has just turned thirty-five. That is a fact the media have been making much of. For Jabbar is at a dramatic point in his career. He has played his "ten or twelve" seasons, but he could play a few more. He may have lost a step or two, but then, he always had a step or two to give. And so his path lies somewhere in the strip of badlands that lies between "veteran player" and "too damned old," and the vultures are gathering above him. |
No comments:
Post a Comment