Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker Review

To be self made is mark of honor. But to be a self made woman, especially in a time in which women are second class, is to make history.

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker premiered earlier this year on Netflix.

Madam C.J. Walker (Octavia Spencer), was given the name of Sarah Breedlove at birth. Born just two years after the end of the Civil War, her early life was difficult. Working as a laundress to take care of herself and her daughter, Lelia (Tiffany Haddish), her fate changes when she meets Addie (Carmen Ejojo). Addie is a successful hairstylist who offers to help Sarah with her hair in return for free laundry.

When Sarah shows that she has a skill for sales, Addie turns her down. This leads Sarah, who will soon be known as Madam C.J. Walker down the path of starting her own business. But, like any new business, there are pitfalls. Sarah’s 3rd husband, Charles James Walker (Blair Underwood) appears to be accepting of his wife’s non-traditional choices. There are also betrayals and Addie’s constant attempts to bring Sarah down once and for all.

I enjoyed this miniseries. It was a history lesson without feeling like a history lesson. As we look to the past and voices who previously have been silenced or minimized, this series highlights the accomplishments of those who rightly deserve the limelight.

I recommend it.

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker is available for streaming on Netflix.

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RIP John Lewis

In tough times, it is easy to hang back and pretend as if everything is normal. It is much harder to stand up and fight for what you believe in.

Congressman and Civil Rights leader John Lewis passed away yesterday. He was 80 years old.

Born in 1940 to sharecropper parents in Alabama, segregation was part and parcel of the world he grew up in. In the early 1960’s, he joined the Civil Rights movement and was one of the original Freedom Riders. Twenty five years later, he was elected to Congress. On both sides of the political aisle, he was one of the most respected men to have walked through the halls of power.

If there was ever a textbook definition of an American hero, John Lewis’s picture would be front and center. He knew what he believed in and fought for those beliefs, even when victory seemed nearly impossible. As both a Civil Rights leader and a member of Congress, he taught all of what strength and courage look like.

May his memory be a blessing and an inspiration to us all.

Let’s Talk About #JewishPrivilege

Antisemitism is a disease that has haunted humanity for thousands of years. Just when we think it has finally died down forever, it rears its ugly head once more.

This past week, the hashtag #JewishPrivilege has been circulating throughout Twitter in response to false and age old accusations. I’d like to talk about my own so called “#JewishPrivilege”.

1. If this privilege includes having relations that were among the 6 million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust, I want none of it.

2. My immigrant ancestors came to America in the early 20th century with only the clothes on their backs and whatever they could carry. No one helped them to become upwardly mobile, they had to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Whatever “privilege” someone thought they had clearly did not exist.

3. I wouldn’t define privilege of having to hire security during religious services. Or seeing the shootings in Poway or Pittsburgh in the news.

4. Privilege is not defined as hearing about nearly 1400 brothers and sisters of your faith murdered in their homeland due to lies and hate.

5. If privilege is constantly watching Israel being attacked in the press and in the UN for so called “crimes against humanity” while other countries receive a slap on the wrist, that is not “privilege”.

Privilege is defined as: special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.

Whoever thinks that the Jews are privileged needs to get their heads out the sand and read a history book.