Sunday, November 25, 2012

JR Ewing, A Black Panther?

For those of you who read my blog, which might mean two of you, you may know by now that I consider myself a Neo-white abolitionist. I abhor white privilege and the Americanization of said privilege in our political and social structures. So, to be rather plain, I have nothing but love and solidarity for white PEOPLE. For me these are the individuals who are cognizant of their privilege, while at the same time use their privilege to challenge the powers of domination not just in matters of race, but also gender, sexual orientation and economics and so forth. At an attempt of being comical while still proving my point, in the tone of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, it's the other 47% of white FOLKS I can't really be concerned with. Well, let me rephrase that, I have to keep an eye on them, because they unfortunately control routes to access in this country. Sure, we have an African American president, but that said, Obama is one out of 44 white presidents who have had white raced ideologies. Yet I digress.
Those who know me know I love Dallas, particularly because of the character JR Ewing. Larry Hagman portrayed the character so well, that to the layperson they would never have guessed he was an uber-liberal. In researching his political stance, I never would have guessed he was also "down by law" with the Black Panther party. Check out the link.
Larry Hagman’s Radicalism
His political ties were with the Peace and Freedom party and their first presidential nominee was Eldridge Cleaver, a Black Panther party spokesman.
In fact, Hagman and his I Dream of Jeannie co star Barbra Eden threw Black Panther Party fundraisers at her house. When I read this I was thrown. When you hear that America's favorite public enemy (JR Ewing) was actually a suffurageist (Black, feminist, environmentalist) it's a pleasant surprise to know that despite his meteoric rise to fame, he parlayed his star power to political activism. Not only was Larry Hagman an excellent actor, but he also was a man of high moral fiber and character... A rarity in today's culture of celebrity.

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