One might think that I am someone with a sense of entitlement. That would not be true. I’ve never been entitled to much of anything. I earn things like other people. I was taught the value of hard work as a child. So when I speak of something that should require no compensation to experience, I do so with serious thought.
By now, everyone has heard the buzz surrounding Quentin Tarantino’s newest flick. Now in the past, I must admit that I have enjoyed some of his work. Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill come to mind. But I honestly think he has outdone himself with his most recent work. The latest thing coming from him is set admidst slavery. It was my first thought that this movie should be avoided altogether. It will be a blaxploitation film that no one will properly identify. But after doing some thinking, I realized that denying myself this cinematic event will not end its existence. I would always be curious so I think that that seeing the film without paying for it would be a more appropriate solution to the problem that is Quention Tarantino.
Now first of all, do you think that my ancestors went through slavery with its forced manual labor, inhumane living conditions, whippings, rapes, and lynchings so that Quentin Tarantino could make millions of dollars. I really don’t think so. Do you think that he will be donating money to any African American cause to benefit African American people? No. If so, only in a nominal and tokenish way. That was the problem with slavery. It was the exploitation of a people. So you may be thinking this is a man putting forth his creative energy in the world to make an honest living. By all appearances, so was Jacob the Jeweler. If you don’t know his claim to infamy, he was the man mentioned in many rap songs by rappers. He sold them their bling. He also laundered money.
It could be said that Mr. Tarantino is providing his African American employees an excellent opportunity. After all, he has made quite a name for himself which includes awards for his movies. How many African American actors have won major awards for roles in his movies? None to my knowledge. How many African Americans will win awards for his movies? None. I would have thought that they were just not talented enough.
A few years ago, I got a job at a restaurant. I took this job because I needed to provide for myself. I also took the job because he assured me that the job would become full-time in January. This job was for the first Italian American I’d ever met which is odd because I have or have had friends from nearly everywhere and have worked with people from all over the globe. He was immoral in every aspect that I came to know him. The job itself went against my nature and as a requirement of me working there he pushed me harder and harder to go against my nature. I was lucky to get twelve hours a week. I was expected to do the other employees’s jobs. He touched me and it was always unwanted. I had to ask him for my first paycheck. When January came around, he laid me off with the explanation that business was slow. My coworker informed that business is always slow in restaurants in January. He then let me try my hand at another position. It was a position that put me into contact with a solution that gradually ate the skin off my hands leaving open wounds that a chlorine type solution that burned and left my hands bloody. If the owner had provided gloves that I asked for repeatedly, no damage would have been done. On top of that he refused to pay me. After weeks of trying everything including government channels, I was able to get my money when I brought a man in the establishment with me. That picture of racial harmony at that workplace was nothing more than optical illusion.
The topic of slavery explores a wide variety of physical, mental, and emotional abuses. Every African American actor and actress will have to relive what their ancestors went through hundreds of years later. Kerry Washington has already talked about how hard it was for her to take part in the movie.
To sum it up, Quentin Tarantino is one ignorant motherfucker. Like I stated earlier, I’m not saying that I will never see another one of his movies. On the contrary, I plan to see every one he directs from now on. I’ll just never pay for another one.
