Cocktails with Yvonna

Indiewire.com posted an article by Melissa Silverstein “What Bigelow Effect? Number of Women Directors in Hollywood Falls to 5 Percent” on Woman and Hollywood citing a study by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film on the fall in women directors at the helm of feature films in recent years. We can all imagine the determination it took to kick through the glass ceiling for these talented women of color film directors. Dr.Maya Angelou (Down in the Delta), Euhzan Palcy (Sugar Cane Alley), Sanaa Hamri (Just Wright), Bridgette Davis (Naked Acts), Leslie Harris (Just Another Girl on the IRT), Darnell Martin (Cadillac Records), Dee Rees (Pariah), Gina Prince-Blythewood (Love and Basketball), Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), Nema Barnette (Civil Brand), and Shari Carpenter (Kali’s Vibe).   Actress hyphenate directors include Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me), Troy Byer Bailey (Love don’t cost a thing) and newcomer Sallie Richa

Last year I remembered a documentary I saw produced by Antoine Fuqua called, "Bastards of the Party" about the Bloods and the Crips.  The director, a former gang member felt the gang turf wars grew out of the restless generation that came after The  Black Panther Party who patrolled to monitor police brutality during the civil rights era. I thought it was fascinating it got me to thinking about Huey P. Newton co-founder and Minister of Self Defense of The Black Panther Party. I started reading everything on his life and work. Truly a labor of love one book on  Eldridge Cleaver  ( Eldridge Cleaver author of Soul on Ice and Minister of Information became a Republican ) would lead me to a book on Geronimo Pratt and on to a book about his lawyer Johnnie Cochran and so on. I read Alondra Nelson' book, “ Body and Soul  The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination” for her extensive research on the Party's healthcare activism. Tumbler is a great

You Go Girl!  Octavia Spenser won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Despite only 2% of Academy Award members are people of color and the “controversy” of playing a Black maid in a feature film, she won for us all. In the 1960’s many African American women cleaned homes for a living under the racist practices of the era.  Our people stepped up despite sitting in the back of buses and banned from sharing a meal or toilet with their white employers fortified by faith and hope for advancement of the next generation. We should be able to look at our history with an unflinching eye.  The critics of the film should acknowledge how the film industry operates. Any controversy around the film is a factor positive or negative at the box office.  The commenter’s should take responsibility for the outcome and objectives of their criticism.  Octavia Spencer is a talented actress for hire. Now Octavia’s Oscar Best Supporting Actress win combined with the box office success of “