10 Thoughts on Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman
I saw BlacKkKlansman on the anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. So many thoughts. Somehow I got them distilled to ten.
Warning. Spoilers ahead.
- The politics of voice and how it can set oneself in closer proximity to whiteness is complex. One’s voice becomes the center of an illusive identity that codifies whiteness for everyone including white people. To sound “white” (the approachable kind with easier access to systems) is to sound place-less. It’s not to sound class-less, because it does avoid a connection to low socioeconomic status and lack of formal education. It’s a whiteness that Felix doesn’t have, but David Duke does. Not all Klansman sound like Felix. Most sound like Duke. But if you are well-versed enough in the stereotype of whiteness, you access it as Stallworth did through employment on the Colorado Spring police force as an acceptable first Black recruit and (though only through voice) into the Klu Klux Klan. It isn’t clear if Stallworth is unconsciously performing whiteness through his speech, sees this speech pattern as a tool for access in the way many Black people code switch, or he claims his speech pattern as a part of him because we don’t see a drastic change in his voice (like in Sorry to Bother You ) from when he is speaking with the police Chief Bridges and when he is dating Patrice.
2. Spike Lee addresses what he assumes to be Black naivete. Lee’s sometimes preachy approach to storytelling can come just short of condescending. Like the famous “wake up” scream by Dap in School Daze , Lee
implores the audience to become “woke” (or aware of oppressive systems, institutions or social norms) because his characters don’t always reach that place of consciousness. Although Officer Clay Mulaney points out Stallworth’s false assumption that the U.S. wouldn’t elect a racist into the White House, his actions speak more to the trappings of white liberalism than a comment on Black ignorance. Which brings me to my next point…
3. If we keep making white racists caricatures of hate, then we are missing how racism functions on a daily basis. Trump supporters are often characterized as uneducated social misfits that are some contemporary versions of the slave masters’ poor cousins with his same level of entitlement, but with fewer resources. The masters and his cousins are dangerous in their own right. But, arguably, the most dangerous are people like Chief Bridges and Officer Clay Mulaney.
The Chief’s racism isn’t the social misfit kind. He is aware that racism pervades his precinct. He acknowledges it in Stallworth’s interview with Mr. Turrentine. (Mr. Turrentine is played by Isiah Whitlock Jr. who played Senator Clay Davis in HBO’s The Wire . He restates his famous phrase “Sheeeiittt”, connecting the audience to not only corrupt systems, but how Black people can play a role in maintaining them. But I digress…). The chief supported the ousting of Patrolman Landers, the overtly racist cop. But let us not forget Lander’s wasn’t the only cop who was at Kwame Ture’s (Stokely Carmichael) traffic stop and two officers beat Stallworth when he was catching the real attacker, Connie Kendrickson (Felix’s wife). The Chief removing one dirty cop doesn’t change the systems that allowed Landers to be there. Zimmerman and Creek knew of Landers’ actions by stating he killed an unarmed Black boy but pledged a code of silence. Upholding the “blue wall” of brotherhood was more valuable than seeking to ensure another Black boy wasn’t murdered. Nevertheless, the Chief, surely applauded himself (and was applauded by others after Landers was removed). Also, being in a place of highest power, he also has the authority to potentially thwart Colorado Springs burgeoning Black Power Movement by requesting surveillance on Ture.
He is fine as long as the Negros of Colorado stay in their place. He is disinterested in why Ture was asked to speak for the Black student union or how the institution the chief runs is at the center of the Black students’ concerns. In addition, the chief also willingly put Stallworth in danger by having him as David Duke’s security detail and had the power to stop the investigation of the KKK but never worked to dismantle the system.
We must note that Chief Bridges and Mulaney are cut from similar cloth. Mulaney, who pointed out Stallworth’s naivete, is the best representation of the trappings of white liberalism because he is aware of the systems of oppression, but is unwilling to dismantle them from his sphere of influence. He’ll break the “blue wall” to arrest an overt racist peer. He will laugh with Stallworth as he makes fun of David Duke. He will (minimally) support Stallworth’s investigation into the KKK. He will do this as long as it doesn’t negatively impact (or draw negative attention to) him. This type of white liberal can talk at varying lengths about social and political issues affecting minority communities, but their lack of action has them masquerading as an ally. They are just as self-serving as Felix, the Chief, and Landers without being a social misfit. Somehow, we can be ok with hating the Felixs of the world, but the Mulaneys go unnoticed when they, in fact, are the ones that passively let the Felixs exist. Remember, he dismissed the KKKs threats as harmless banter.
4. I’m still processing Stallworth’s cognitive dissonance. He sees the “blue wall” is not there to protect him. Not only because of the overt disrespect and physical beatings he experiences, but also his first assignment was to compromise a movement that had his best interest in mind. Stallworth said he is for the liberation of Black people, but it doesn’t look like he sees his job as kicking out the overt racists on the force, pushing back against problematic chiefs, and critiquing liberal co-conspirators of white supremacy. Even if he does, that’s a long, lonely and emotionally taxing job. It shouldn’t be HIS job alone.
5. I’m still processing this Black-Jewish dynamic and the concept of passing. Passing allows one to convertly stand adjacent to whiteness which means those who pass can opt out of any critiques of whiteness and its effect on, well, anything. Stallworth had to convince Zimmerman to continue the undercover work against the KKK. Zimmerman wasn’t invested in a Black man’s fight for humanity until Zimmerman’s identity was attacked. (Somehow the fight for Black liberation requires white people’s emotions and humanity to be implicated which continues to center whiteness and is another form of Black erasure. But I digress…).
6. Stop gendering racism as masculine. White women can be complicit in all forms of racism. Connie’s desire to be needed by her husband overshadows her brief moment of inner conflict when killing Black people was just a dream, but now might be getting too real.
7. Stop gendering Black liberation movements as masculine. I’m glad Patrice was the president of the student union and she had a gun in her purse (to Stallworth’s surprise). But how else are we to see her? I wanted to hear more about her inner battle with dating a police officer and how she managed threats to her life. Did she keep her friends after they found out she was dating, as they say “a pig”?
8. The juxtaposition of “white power” and “black power” can appear to have equal credibility without even a mustard seed of critical thought. You don’t have to have knowledge of The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Plan, Harry Belafonte’s activism, or The House Un-American Activities Committee, to know the difference in the causes. One shouldn’t need the very real story of Jesse Washington to see these are not simply two extreme organizations.
9. The media begins and ends the film. Propaganda and Documentary? Well, Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard is a doctor, right? Sigh…
10. Not all Klan members wear hoods. Some of them wear suits. Some of them wear badges. And some bring baked cookies to meetings and carry C4 in their purses. The difference is, the ones who wear the hoods are often doing illegal activities that may get them in jail. The ones wearing suits rewrite the laws so they are never arrested.
