Well, it is perhaps understandable why a theater in Memphis, Tennessee, (The Orpheum) would decide not to screen Gone With The Wind. The decision, made by their Board, was probably influenced by the fact that the city is populated 62% by Blacks. Undisclosed to us is the probability that the Board was threatened with boycotts, marches, demonstrations, and riots.

Since the death of Walt Disney and the ouster of his brother Roy Disney from the Board of Directors of the Disney Corporation, Disney has been politically correct. The refusal to release Song of The South is disgusting.

One of the things that I really like about Turner Classic Movies is that every movie they run is complete, uncut and uncensored. I'll admit that I sometimes cringe when I see Black actors in stereotyped rolls about the Black experience back in the 1940s and before.

But, I also remember that Hattie McDaniel won an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind. Other Black actors of that era were beloved in both Black and White households, based upon their movie roles and radio appearances.

Among these were Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lincoln "Stepin Fetchit" Perry, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Dorothy Dandridge, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Butterfly McQueen, Louise Beavers (Beulah), Dooley Wilson (Casablanca), the Nicholas Brothers (tap dancers) and many others who found themselves "typecast" in stereotypical Black roles, but appreciated the financial independence they gained from having the opportunity to entertain others.

One can only assume that the Orpheum board would find Roots objectionable, although it is based upon a book by a Black author who discloses the dark evil of slavery in America from the perspective of an enslaved people.

Censorship stinks.


Carl in Tampa

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