‘Black power mixtape’ to be shown, debated

Roberto Hodge, Multicultural Editor

The members of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity will be showing the film “Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975,” which a documentary made by the Swedish during the Black Power Movement, at 7:11 p.m. Monday in the Phipps Lecture Hall of the Physical Science Building.

Following the film will be a discussion about the documentary at 6:11 p.m. Tuesday in the Phipps Lecture Hall.

The film focuses on what the culture was for African-Americans during the late ‘60s to mid ‘70s, which included scenes from prominent leaders of the movement such as Stokely Carmichael, Martin Luther King Jr. and Huey P. Newton. The film also features commentary from Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte and Talib Kweli.

One aspect of the documentary raises the question of drugs getting into the African-American community, which many would blame police officers and the FBI for doing.

Cyle Colbert, a senior communication studies major who is a member of the Kappas, said the organization chose this specific film because it wanted to help others understand how the Black Power movement was a pivotal point in African-American history and communities.

The Black Power movement was a movement from the mid ‘60s to the mid ‘70s when African-Americans began to feel a sense of pride from where they came from. African-Americans during the movement celebrated their heritage and culture often raising their fists and wearing Afros in solidarity for the African-American identity.

“Malcolm X, Dr. King and Angela Davis, all stood up and wanted to do something for their community and was willing to fight to the death for it,” Colbert said.

Colbert said the overall meaning of the film is racism and how African-Americans during that time rose above the issue as well as discussing the Vietnam War and its connection with African-Americans in the ‘60s.

The goals for the film showing are to raise awareness to the Black Power movement and what it meant historically for African-Americans, and to take note of who the prominent leaders were during that era and how society viewed them, Colbert said.

Colbert said this moment for African-Americans is important to the culture because it allows people to see a deeper context of the movement and how the leaders influenced an entire generation with unity and self-love for the African-American culture.

 

Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].