fences
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Fences Reminds Me That Loving My Son Means Rejecting Fatherhood
“Your firstborn son gots to be a junior,” my barber ordered. In the weeks before my son’s birth, the person who regularly gave me a razor lining insisted that I bestow my full name on my child. Nodding men in the shop unanimously agreed. “Man, you’ve got a great name,” he added, meaning that I…
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Mykelti Williamson on Fences, Acting While Black and the Power of the Mind
When you’ve been handpicked by Denzel Washington to sign on to a multimillion-dollar film that he’s directing, you know you’re doing something right. And for actor and director Mykelti Williamson, who plays Gabriel in Washington’s rendition of Fences, this is indeed the case. It’s safe to say that as a director, Washington was judicious in…
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Join Us #AcrossTheFence: A Day Of Family Healing, In Connection To August Wilson's Fences
Today, the #AcrossTheFence interview series with my dad culminates with two segments — one where I explain how and why I began to think and write about race, and one where my dad shares a story about his Uncle Wilbur, the first Black fireman in New Castle, Pa (and the man my dad is named…
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More #AcrossTheFence (This Time, Damon's Parents Start A Race Riot)
Couple things about this video: 1. I’ve heard this story somewhere between 40 and 640 times, and it gets better every time I hear it. 2. I actually do incorporate it in my book. (My version of the story is much, um, different though.) 3. If this happened today — a Black couple and a Black…
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Introducing #AcrossTheFence: A National Conversation Between Family (Based On August Wilson's Fences)
The screen adaptation of August Wilson’s iconic Fences — starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis — comes to movie theaters on Christmas Day, 2016. This is a historic moment, the first major August production on the big screen. The play (and the movie) of course, centers on a father, a mother, a son, and their extended…
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Those "I'm Not My Grandparents; You Can Catch These Hands" Shirts Are Disrespectful As Fuck (And Wrong)
I was invited to New York City Friday evening for an advance screening of the screen adaptation of Fences — August Wilson’s iconic play. Afterwards, the cast — including Denzel Washington (who also produced and directed the film) and Viola Davis — took part in a panel discussion about the story the film told, August Wilson’s genius, Pittsburgh…
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7 Black Movies to See if You Can’t Bear to See Birth of a Nation (or Even if You Do)
Ever since Nate Parker’s film The Birth of a Nation earned a record $17.5 million distribution deal and walked away with the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, the movie has been positioned as the film most likely to solve Hollywood’s #OscarsSoWhite problem. But Parker’s past…