Bern Nadette Stanis by Raymond Boyd is the actress known for her role as Thelma in the 1970's black comedy Good Times. It was a hit and a source of Black Pride, but, as many of our thematic shows were at the time, was written by a white man. There were inherent conflicts for me watching the show every week. For one it was funny, and felt good seeing Black folks, and Black issues and emotions on live television, but I could not relate to the struggles of the family in the ghetto. Nor, could I see the relationship I had with my father in the same light as depicted on that show, and many of the shows and movies at the time. What I did do was try to envision myself in those situations to see the world through their eyes without judgement to weigh it and judge it. It was easy with the background of reading and studying I had, and my unique perspective being the son of a Civil Rights leader, and a diplomat.
The big challenge was to learn to not accept the notion that the lives of the show's characters was the Black Experience in its totality. That was hard to do because so much of our story is about struggle, but struggle was not in the context of the ghetto and the cotton fields only. It lived in divers places, and I was a being in the making that took years to become Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories! - Gregory E.. Woods 8.11.13 |
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