FEATURE FRIDAY, JANUARY 6th EDITION

     Predictably, within 24 hours of the arrest of four Chicago thugs who kidnapped and tortured a mentally ill young man, the Corporate Media is downplaying the story, and diverting it into all kinds of racial distraction. CNN host Don Lemon---a multimillionaire and homosexual---caused some controversy by rebutting a statement that the thugs' actions were evil. "I don't think it's evil, I think that these are young people and they have had bad home training...you wonder at 18 years old, where is your parent? Where is your guardian?" Apparently, Lemon doesn't realize that 18 year-olds are adults; but this is unsurprising. Lemon's writings elsewhere indicate that he is still psychologically fixated on his own upbringing. Unfortunately today, neurotics are fairly well represented in the Corporate Media; journalists, not so much.

    But it wasn't always so. Once the ranks of Black American men were filled with good men doing good things. Because of the racial dynamics of earlier times, Black men had an especial obligation to protect and provide for their families and communities. Punks like Don Lemon were despised and thugs like these Chicago Anarchists were put down by Black men.

    America's media, too, used to reflect those attitudes. Our feature for this weekend is a good and action-packed crime drama that displays the masculine leadership of earlier generations of Black men especially. It is from 1972 and stars Raymond St. Jacques and Godfrey Cambridge, and is titled Come Back, Charleston Blue.

    This film was a sequel to a 1970 film called Cotton Comes to Harlem wherein two streetwise Harlem detectives, 'Coffin Ed' Johnson (St. Jacques) and 'Gravedigger' Jones (Cambridge) take down a race-hustling charlatan and recover a lost fortune belonging to the community. In the sequel, our heroes return to solve a strange series of murders. Harlem drug-dealers are being killed; and the MO is a blue-steel antique straight razor left at each scene. The problem is that MO fits the legendary Charleston Blue---a sort of Prohibition Era Harlem Robin Hood who disappeared during the 1920s. The community believes that Charleston Blue has come back; including the 'Duchess' Charleston's girlfriend who's loyally been awaiting Charleston's return for over 40 years.

     Coffin Ed and the Gravedigger, though, have their suspicions; and a group of Black militants seem to know more about these activities than they let on. The duo is also hampered by their new police captain---an Affirmative-Action type who wants a nice, peaceful tenure on his way to promotion. Unfortunately for the captain, Coffin Ed and the Gravedigger live up to their nicknames and put plenty of unsavories into coffins and graves along the way.

     Has Charleston Blue really come back? The story, like its predecessor, is full of surprises.

      Come Back, Charleston Blue belongs to a film genre that postmodern White Hollywood Liberals call Blaxploitation. They give it this name to cover up certain politically-incorrect truths about how earlier generations of Blacks respected American ideals and often exceeded their White counterparts in living up to them. Most of the films of this genre were written, produced, and directed by Black Americans.

     As of this writing, Come Back, Charleston Blue is available for free viewing on Youtube. Viewers may want to invest in the DVD set, which also has Cotton Comes to Harlem. On a cold January weekend, why not make it a double feature? And on the news shows, you'll see the Don Lemon types in a whole new light.