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Girlfriends Actress Talks Code Switching and Her New Role in “I Am The Night”

THE AFRO — Golden Brooks spent much of her California childhood acting out plays with her neighborhood friends.

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By Nadine Matthews

Golden Brooks spent much of her California childhood acting out plays with her neighborhood friends. However, acting wasn’t something she aspired to. “I wanted to be Barbara Walters,” she says. “I wanted to interview people.” Perhaps most known for the timeless comedy series Girlfriends in which she co-starred with Tracee Ellis Ross, Jill Marie Jones and Persia White, Brooks is one of the stars of the upcoming TNT series, I Am The Night.

Raised by a divorced mother, Brooks says she is mostly grateful for the way she was brought up. “My Mom worked two jobs to support my brother and I. We struggled but my brother and I were always in private school. My mother always made sure we had the best. She did all she could to keep us busy and exposed to different things.” Not having much left over for toys, Brooks was forced to use her imagination, which helped in her career as an actress.

“Code switching,” she says, was also a big part of her childhood. “I would go to these private schools and assimilate and then when I got back to my block I would be more the neighborhood girl. I learned quickly to navigate both worlds. It was what gave me the knowledge to build my character on Girlfriends.”

I Am The Night is based on Fauna Hodel’s memoir One Day She’ll Darken. In it, Brooks portrays the mixed-race Fauna’s mother Jimmy Lee. When Fauna learns some shocking secrets about her parentage, she sets off on a dark, sometimes terrifying search for her roots. Set in 1960’s Nevada and Los Angeles, it is part mystery, part family drama, part tantalizing film noir.

The relationship between Jimmy Lee and Fauna is complicated and Brooks drew from her experiences with her own mother to create the character. She says, “My mother has much lighter skin than me so there were a lot of things I would do she couldn’t understand. I used some of that for this character’s relationship with her daughter.”

Fauna, though white-passing, has always lived as Black. When she learns more about her family, resentment toward her mother grows and the tension between them escalates to dizzying proportions. Brooks can relate. “I didn’t look like my mom and at 15 you don’t understand why. You think, ‘If I just looked like this, I would have that.’ I went through a lot of that. A lot of that sadness and pain and anger I put into Jimmy Lee.”

Two things happened that began to solidify Brooks’ identity as a teen. “They began bussing kids from South Central Los Angeles and they would tease me that I talked like a white girl. Eventually though, those kids helped me feel more comfortable with myself.” Theater also entered Brooks’ life around that time. She recalls, “I found I felt safe in theater. So I engrossed myself in theater in junior high and high school. I could disappear into the characters and that’s where I felt most comfortable.”

As someone who majored in media representation at UC Berkeley, Brooks has an interesting vantage point from which to judge how Hollywood has evolved. She explains, “I started out on Showtime on a show called Links with Pam Grier and Tim Reid. He actually was doing what Tyler Perry is doing now. Tim had his own soundstage, everything. I’ve seen the exploitation, I’ve played the stereotypes. I remember when the CW was around and it was like what BET is now.”

She shares that  she doesn’t encounter the blatant racism that she did even at the beginning of this century. “I used to get, ‘Can you just sass it up a bit? Yes, there was that code and I don’t hear that anymore. In the early 2000s you’d hear comments like that.”

Brooks credits Girlfriends with helping to create the more welcoming environment for Black actresses that exists today. “I can never talk about where we are today,” she states emphatically, “without talking about Girlfriends. It was the springboard for a lot of things. It portrayed four successful African-American women and I think it led to characters like Olivia Pope and the Cookie. We’re now blockbuster sensations. There’s no conversation about ‘Will they be successful?’ or ‘Are they gonna sell overseas?’ Yeah, we do! We stood our ground and things changed. It’s living proof persistence pays off!”

This article originally appeared in The Afro

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IN MEMORIAM: Oakland’s ‘Man of Steal,’ Baseball Icon Rickey Henderson, Dies at 65

Henderson’s wife, Pamela, said in a statement: “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of my husband, Rickey Henderson. A legend on and off the field, Rickey was a devoted son, dad, friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and a truly humble soul. Rickey lived his life with integrity, and his love for baseball was paramount. Now, Rickey is at peace with the Lord, cherishing the extraordinary moments and achievements he leaves behind.”

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Baseball great Rickey Henderson in the act of stealing one of the 1,406 bases he stole in his 25-year career. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Baseball great Rickey Henderson in the act of stealing one of the 1,406 bases he stole in his 25-year career. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

By Post Staff

Baseball legend Rickey Henderson, known as the ‘Man of Steal,’ passed away on Dec. 20 at UCSF hospital, reportedly from complications of pneumonia.  He was 65.

Henderson’s wife, Pamela, said in a statement: “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of my husband, Rickey Henderson. A legend on and off the field, Rickey was a devoted son, dad, friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and a truly humble soul. Rickey lived his life with integrity, and his love for baseball was paramount. Now, Rickey is at peace with the Lord, cherishing the extraordinary moments and achievements he leaves behind.”

Newsbreak described the player as “a fearless, flamboyant style of play, which thrilled some players and fans thirsting for theatrical energy from a sport known for its staidness and irritated others who believed the iconoclastic approach disrespected old traditions. Henderson broke boundaries alongside reams of records during a 25-year career spent with nine teams.”

Those teams included the Oakland As, the New York Mets, the New York Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays, the San Diego Padres, the Anaheim Angels, the Seattle Mariners, and the Boston Red Sox. A 10-time All-Star player and American League MVP in 1990, Henderson remains baseball’s greatest stealer of bases and was dubbed the “Man of Steal” during his playing time.

Henderson earned the title ‘Man of Steal’ because he stole 1,406 bases during his MLB career, a record that still stands with more than 468 stolen bases by Lou Brock, the next closest all-time base stealer at 938 stolen bases.

His last MLB game was in 2003, and he retired from the game in 2007, coaching in various positions for a few more years. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2009. His most recent public appearance in Oakland was with former teammate Dave Stewart when they threw out the first pitch at the last game the A’s played in the Coliseum in September.

Born in the back seat of an Oldsmoblie in Chicago, Illinois, on Christmas Day 1958, Henderson used to quip that he had always been fast. At age 7, the family joined his father, who had moved to Oakland. He graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1976 where he was renowned for playing baseball, basketball, and football, which had been his favorite sport.

But his mother discouraged his intent to wear the Oakland Raiders’ silver-and-black uniform, saying football players had shorter careers and higher chances of injury.

Learning of Henderson’s death, Stewart was devastated. After competing against each in Oakland’s Babe Ruth League as teens, they got to play on the A’s together in 1989, winning the World Series over the San Francisco Giants which had been delayed by the Loma Prieta earthquake.

“Him having asthma, him being sick, it never stopped him,” Stewart told The Source. “He was always on the go. He had these rental properties in Oakland, and I’d get these calls saying they saw Rickey out cutting the grass. I’d say, ‘What do you mean?’ They told me he was actually out there with a lawn mower doing work on his property.

“He was always go-go-go. He loves to fish. He just took up hunting,” Stewart said.

Accolades poured in from Major League Baseball, the Oakland A’s, where Henderson played for a total of 14 years, and many other individuals, news and sports organizations.

“He was undoubtedly the most legendary player in Oakland history and made an indelible mark on generations of A’s fans over his 14 seasons wearing the Green and Gold,” the A’s management said in a statement.

“For those who knew him personally, Rickey was much more than a franchise icon and a Baseball Hall of Famer. He was a friend and mentor to every player, coach, and employee who passed through the Oakland Coliseum or played a game on the field that came to bear his name,” the A’s statement said.

NBC Bay Area reported that Oakland Interim Mayor, Nikki Fortunato Bas, and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown took to social media to share their condolences.

“Rickey Henderson was 1 of 1,” Bas wrote on X. “An Oakland legend and icon. A multi-sport star at Oakland Tech, a champion with the Oakland A’s and beloved by this community. I am heartbroken for his family and fans. We have reached out to the A’s to offer any assistance the City can provide.”

Brown said he compares Henderson’s legacy to the late San Francisco Giants Hall of Famer Willie Mays. “When he was on base, he disturbed every other player because nobody knew what he might do at any given moment,” Brown said.

But for all his showmanship Henderson often displayed a simple humility. When his childhood dream of becoming a millionaire was fulfilled with a $1 million signing bonus, Henderson framed the check and hung it on his wall instead of signing it, causing the team to insist he cash it and replace the check with a copy.

He is survived by his wife Pamela and his three daughters Angela, Adrianna, and Alexis.

The National Newspaper Association Newswire, The Source, NBC News Bay Area, USA Today, Wikipedia and statements from Henderson’s family and sports associations are the sources for this story.

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#NNPA BlackPress

FILM REVIEW: The Six Triple Eight: Tyler Perry Salutes WWII Black Women Soldiers

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The film features an all-star cast including Susan Sarandon as Eleanor Roosevelt, Sam Waterston as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Oprah Winfrey as Mary McLeod Bethune and Ebony Obsidian (Sistas, If Beale Street Could Talk)) who shows her acting chops by holding her own playing Lena, a bereaved private, opposite Washington.

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Six Triple Eight is now playing on Netflix.
Six Triple Eight is now playing on Netflix.

By Nsenga K. Burton
NNPA Newswire Culture and Entertainment Editor

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The Six Triple Eight tells the important yet often overlooked story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black, all-woman unit in World War II. The film chronicles the battalion’s efforts to clear a massive backlog of undelivered mail meant for U.S. troops, a task that was both vital and challenging. In a show-stopping speech atop a mountain of mail, Major Charity Adams, played fiercely by Kerry Washington, explains the importance of mail during wartime and its relationship to soldier morale. Adams, who is continuously denied promotions despite her impeccable professional performance, leads 855 Black women through 17 million pieces of mail in an abandoned, cold and drafty school rife with “vermin” to raise the morale of soldiers and bring closure to families who haven’t heard from loved ones in nearly a year.

The film features an all-star cast, including Susan Sarandon as Eleanor Roosevelt, Sam Waterston as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Oprah Winfrey as Mary McLeod Bethune, and Ebony Obsidian (Sistas, If Beale Street Could Talk), who shows her acting chops by holding her own playing Lena, a bereaved private, opposite Washington.

Lena is a highly sensitive and intelligent young woman who is distraught over the death of her Jewish “boyfriend,” Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), who is killed in the war. Instead of attending college, Lena enlists in the army to “fight Hitler.” En route to basic training in Georgia, Lena is joined with a group of women in the segregated battalion, all of whom are running away from a traumatic past and running towards a brighter future. What emerges is a strong sisterhood that bonds the women, whether in their barracks or crossing the big pond, which is one of the highlights of the film.

The Six Triple Eight has all of the tropes of a film set during the 1940s, including de facto segregation here and abroad, the mistreatment of Black women in and out of the service by any and everybody, aggressive white men using the N-word with the hard “R,” and older Black women whose hearts are free, but minds are shackled to fear that living in segregation and being subjected to impromptu violence, ridicule, jail or scorn brings to bear.

While the film elevates the untold story of the dynamic, pioneering, and committed Black servicewomen of the Six Triple Eight, the narrative falls prey to Perry’s signature style — heavy-handed dialogue, uneven performances and a redundant script that keeps beating viewers over the head with what many already know as opposed to what we need to know. For example, a short montage of the women working with the mail is usurped by abusive treatment from white, male leaders. A film like this would benefit more from seeing and understanding the dynamism, intelligence and dedication it took for these women to develop and implement a strategy to get this volume of mail to the soldiers and their families.

In another scene, the 6888 soldiers yell out their prior professions, which would prove helpful to keeping their assignment when they come under attack again from the white military men. Visually seeing the Black women demonstrate their talents would be far more satisfying than hearing them ticked off like a grocery list, which undermines the significance of their work and preparation for war as Black women during this harrowing time in history. The lack of emphasis on their skills and capabilities diminishes the overall impact of their story, leaving viewers wanting more depth and insight into their achievements.

While the film highlights the struggles these women faced against institutional racism and sexism, it ultimately falls short in delivering a nuanced portrayal of their significant contributions to the war effort. This is a must-see film because of the subject matter and strong performances by Washington and Obsidian, but the story’s execution makes it difficult to get through.

Tyler Perry is beloved as a filmmaker because he sometimes makes films that people need to see at a particular moment in time (For Colored Girls), resuscitates or helps to keep the careers of super accomplished actors alive (Debi Morgan, Alfre Woodward, Cicely Tyson) and gives young, talented actors like Obsidian, Taylor Polidore Williams (Beauty in Black, Snowfall, All-American HBCU) and Crystal Renee Hayslett (Zatima) a chance to play a lead role when mainstream Hollywood is taking too long. One thing Perry hasn’t done is extend that generosity of spirit to the same extent to the writing and directing categories.  Debbie Allen choreographed the march scene for Six Triple Eight. What might this film have been had she directed the film?

This much-anticipated film is a love letter to Black servicewomen and a movie that audiences need to see now that would benefit immensely from stronger writing and direction. Six Triple Eight is a commendable effort to elevate an untold story, but it ultimately leaves viewers craving a more nuanced exploration of the remarkable women at its center.

Six Triple Eight is now playing on Netflix.

This review was written by media critic Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., editor-at-large for NNPA/Black Press USA and editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on IG @TheBurtonWire.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

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