Independent Lens

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Black memorabilia spans centuries of American history and works to reinforce notions of white supremacy. Meet the people who create, sell, and reclaim these racially-charged objects. I've had people turn away from my booth because they thought that I was insensitive. I usually don't get upset with anyone until they start with some sort of hate speech. Filmmaker Chico Colvard brings you the tale of "Black Memorabilia." I'm trying to take ownership of it and control and power away from those that were using it to hurt us. It's being produced in this contemporary climate and I think that's one way of speaking automatically to what's happening in our society right now. "Black Memorabilia," now only on "Independent Lens."

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male narrator

Black memorabilia spans centuries of American history... and acts to reinforce notions of white supremacy, dehumanize blacks, and commemorate the atrocities of slavery, the Civil War, and Jim Crow. I grew up with these cheerful designs of black memorabilia. And Buck. They were on cereal boxes, bottles of syrup, and Saturday morning cartoons.

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Now run along and play, honey child, but watch out for that bad old--

narrator

I never knew how harmful and mocking these images were until later in life. Then I thought, what if... What if I could remove all of the racist Memorabilia that exists, curb people's appetite for these collectables? But I was naive. Flea markets, antique stores and online auctioneers are all in the lucrative business of buying and selling Black Memorabilia. I wanted to move beyond people's absolute objections and perverse attractions to these objects, and meet the people who manufacture, consume, and reclaim Black Memorabilia.

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speaking Mandarin

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dog barking

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speaking Mandarin

horns blare

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speaking Mandarin

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birds chirping

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cheers and applause

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rooster crows

chatter in Mandarin

dog barking

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"Where We Meet" by Maike Rosa

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Where lies are true And hunger is forgotten And darkness makes us free And night and day they cannot be Is where I want you to look at me And everywhere else we will not meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we meet Where we...

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, that end as opposed to this one. Oh, sure. Sure. Lots of antique dealers kind of have a complex, and they want to know that you respect them and that you don't just think of them as a junk dealer, even if they are a junk dealer.

chuckles

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Yeah. Got the old date on it. This most certainly is a reproduction.

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People sometimes ask me, you know, "Why do you even sell black history?" I've had people turn away from my booth because they thought that I was insensitive. It is a bit of a shocker, and I guess it's sort of meant to be. I don't feel a connection to the KKK Memorabilia. I just sell that because I sell black history, and it's real black history. This is how you order your KKK robe. You have the measurements you take and-- Now, if you want to order a robe for your horse, there's a different form for that. The horses had robes too.

chuckles

Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries"

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Because of the kind of things that we sell, we have met real Nazis. We have met real KKK guys. Hey. I usually don't get upset with anyone until they start with some sort of hate speech. I'm not here for that. Let's see. Two tablespoons. This is the room that all the company always likes to see when they come here to the house. This is my personal collection. There's really not a whole lot of things here that are real valuable. These are artifacts from the fellows from the Hunley, which was a Confederate submarine that sunk a enemy ship. And this is a Confederate flag that flew over the capitol in South Carolina. This past weekend we bought this book, a Remington book from 1903, and it has fantastic prints in it. Confederate things are usually at least five times more valuable than things from the North. All righty. This room is my office. You know, almost all antique dealers are depending on the computer to either buy or sell. A lot of antique dealers have eBay stores or their own websites. These pieces of personal history were on sale on Joy Shivar's website. Guns from the Revolutionary War, a sword from World War I, a lot of photos, a yearbook--

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This is where we store everything. We have three groups of things. This is the A group, the B group, and the C group. It's real important not to take the same things to shows all the time because people get bored of seeing your things, and they assume that you don't have anything new. I'm from Kentucky, and in Kentucky, you do everything fast, even if you do it wrong. George, he's the methodical one. He doesn't move very fast. We need both sides of this to make it work.

engine starts

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Well, I was raised in the antique business. My parents were entrepreneurs. They taught me that there's always a way to make a living. My dad was--God, he was-- he really was tough. Take exit 14 on right to I-95 South.

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Right now, black history is probably the hottest collectible going. There's just a growing appreciation of the items. -

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But the shows like that have not even come close to what their potential is. It seems like if it's anything that relates to a black person at all, somebody brings it out to that show. But there's very few dealers who actually, really seem to, you know, capture the essence of black history. After the black history show, I was talking to another dealer and he had kind of a very pained look. He said, "Joy, why, at this show, "are the most important "historical black history items-- you have them and I have them when we're all white?" You know, we've thought this through more, and it's incumbent on us to make other people see the world through our eyes. You know, I spend so much of my time trying to bring people to see the full dynamics of the South. I want to use the artifacts to take the wall down between the races. We can't change the past, but it's our-- it's our goal to take the past and make it a positive, growing, victorious thing, which is the way it actually is. Well, that's my question. You asked a really, really, really good question. You acknowledge that there's anger over the Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman thing. Why isn't there anger over all of the murders there-- mostly are black on black? You cited the incident that happened at Stone Mountain. Why isn't there anger about not just-- Hey, man.

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Okay. Hi, girl. - Hi, how are you? Doing great. How you doing? - I haven't seen you for-- All of us are very active in the American Legion. A lot of parties and a lot of drinking and a lot of fun. Listen, I hope you do good in the raffle, but not too good, okay? Sounds good. All right, here we go.

whistling

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First ticket. The first ticket's Ross D. Powell. Southern pride is not necessarily like it was during the Civil War. People are not necessarily anti-black. But there is Southern pride. And it's associated with what the South did in the Civil War. Okay. - See you. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Didn't have a hug.

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Love you. - I love you too. Love you, babe. - Hey, hey, wait a minute. That was a little bit too close, I think. George?

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We used two hands this time. Well, y'all have fun. Oh, it's this door. - Okay. This door was beeping. I thought it was your phone. I am in the antique business to make money and to have my hands in the artifacts. It's very hard sometimes. Setting up and pulling down can be very, very hard. We were in a tornado last year, all of us trying to hold the tent down. Lightning struck.

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You can see it's like a lightning flash. It is down. I let loose of the tent, and it immediately blew away. We lost about $10,000 worth.

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Most antique dealers could make a living so much easier a dozen other ways, but this is what we're compelled to do. Okay. This is our first Massachusetts venture here. Did somebody get in our spot? Hmm, they kind of did. It'll be all right, he can get out. Huh? - He can get out. Besides which,

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00. I sure as hell hope we make some money down here. Have we got it turned the right way? Hell, I don't know. - I don't either. Dealer parking to right rear. Is that where we parked? Huh? - Are we legal? Did we park in the proper place? Who cares? We're back here with the skeeters. Ain't nobody gonna come back there and bother us. Okay, the mosquitoes are gonna protect us.

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I want the little one. You're too cute. Yeah, I know. It's kind of a tough time for-- Do you have to wash your hands?

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Wash your hands and let's go. -

laughing

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Oh, God.

laughter

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Oh, my God. Man, this is not New York. All right, let's get going. All right, see you. Yeah, okay, we'll see you. - See you guys later. And good luck tomorrow. - All right, same to you. All right-- - Come on, George. So this is really where we're supposed to park? Dealer parking to the right rear, yep. If you got back here,

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. Okay.

insects and birds chirping

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Right.

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Have you got World War II books? World War II books, yes sir. That's his. Um, here. World War II books, oh, yeah. Thank you, I appreciate that. What do you guys collect? Cool. Do you paint 'em too or...? No.

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We are drawn to certain things, and we're not all drawn to the same things. There's a reason we feel compelled to collect them, to protect them. Certain artifacts really reach out and touch you. When I first started doing this, I had this little slave document. It was about like that, and all at once I realized that it was a slave bill of sale for a ten-year-old child. He was being sold by himself. Alone. And so I transcribed it and then I laid it in my paw, and I broke down and started crying. It's these people's lives that were important. It's what they have endured to get to where they are, and they have to appreciate it. Interpreting it as a victorious history is-- is an option. We have to do it right here. So we have to-- You seem to be dissatisfied with everything. Just what do you want? I'm not dissatisfied with everything. What you are able to see with your analytical mind is that everything that is offered doesn't produce what it's supposed to produce. We've come to just an amazing spot. It's exciting and dramatic, and it's just amazing. And you've just got to assume that good things are gonna happen going forward.

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bleep

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! I don't think that things are rosy and perfect in America, but to say that they're no better? We've made all kinds of efforts to improve race relations in this country. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, Affirmative Action. We have bent over backwards. Is it all perfect? No, it's not. Tonight, I feel a little better than I thought I was going to. George and I, you know, if we have a chance, you know, we'll be playful, and our way is to, you know, to-- to be bad too. Ready to go dancing.

band playing "Wipe Out"

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cheering

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I wish I was in Dixie Away, away Another thing that I predict in black America is that there will be some group of black young people who reject the value systems of all the generations before them and they'll simply say, "This is not gonna have a negative effect on me anymore. "I'm gonna look at the positive side, "and you old people that want to talk and complain, you're out the door." Look away, look away

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Look away Dixieland Glory, glory Hallelujah Glory, glory Hallelujah Glory, glory Hallelujah... These two girls are the same character. This is Marjorie. She's a young girl that I've been drawing with a pillowcase over her head. Racist imagery infiltrated my psyche as a kid, and they haven't gone away. Thinking about all these things that have happened to us in the past, that are happening now, and it's all filtering in. There's some underlying messages and underlying feelings that are coming through in the work, and by reclaiming it, I'm trying to take ownership of it, and control and power away from those that were using it to hurt us. Jazz is usually the music of choice for me. Coltrane. Probably gonna put on some Coltrane now.

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Just that it-- without the words, it just eliminates a lot of distractions and allows me to just kind of get into a zone. Last year-- this is my secret-- I guess my secret body of work that no one has seen before. So it's just Marjorie playing in the playground. Kids I thought were going to be creeped out. Actually loved it. I think what's painful is when I take this stuff off. It's actually not as painful as putting it on. It's like you're trying to erase your skin. The first time I did this, it really disturbed me. It's really intense. And it just wouldn't come off.

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Marjorie came specifically from dressing up as a ghost for Halloween. I loved--you know, I loved the idea of being hidden. I think that is a lot of overlap in the ways that Marjorie feels and desires a sense of belonging. And that's definitely where her desires overlap with mine. I always think about Zora Neale Hurston's essay and when she said, "I feel most colored when thrown against a sharp white background." When I dress up as Marjorie, it's very different from drawing her on paper. I'm not comfortable dressing up as her, and I think that discomfort of having to be in blackface instantly makes me feel uncomfortable. It makes me feel really uncomfortable. -

beatboxing

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What you mean, something like this?

Die Antwoord's "Fatty Boom Boom"

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Yeah, that's perf. Yolandi, do that thing. Eh Fatty Boom Boom Hit me with the ching-ching Not

bleep

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thinking, dollar eye twinkling Just a bit of junkie

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Yeah, that's perf. Yolandi, do that thing. -

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When I'm on the mic it's like murder, murder, murder Kill, kill, kill I do think a lot about the history of blackface and cultural appropriation. They want to adopt all the things that we've created for ourselves. But then when it comes to being on the front lines and standing up for injustices, no one's around, because at the end of the day they can walk away and they're not black. They don't know what that feels like....have been uprising in Baltimore, in Ferguson, all around the country. I don't want to hear any more about how far we've come. Tell that to Eric Garner. Tell that to Sandra Bland.

radio tuning

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You are listening to ART Radio, only on 89.3 on your FM dial. I'm your host Jeffrey Thomas, and joining me today is Brooklyn-based artist, Alexandria Smith. Welcome to ART Radio. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I wonder if you can speak to how your work reclaims notions of blackness and cultural differences? Whew. I think by drawing on a specific aesthetic, a cartoonish aesthetic, and drawing on my own viewing experience as a kid looking at racist imagery in those cartoons, I started to understand more about why I was doing it and then used that to my advantage. Reclamation in the way that people reclaim certain things that are hurtful, and I think that by trying to negate those tools, it's also negating history. The little girls we often see, who are they and what can they tell us about ourselves and about our times? I don't have an answer about who the girls are. It's you, it's me, it's everyone. It's being produced in this contemporary climate, and I think that's one way of speaking automatically to what's happening in our society right now with all the injustices that are being inflicted upon us by police. What sense do you make of the protests in the last couple of weeks? It's only the beginning, and it's gonna get really ugly before it gets better, and I think that it's necessary. Do you see a role for your art in shaping the public discourse? Definitely. I struggle with that, wondering and trying to make sense of whether this even matters. Making art in this period with all the strife that's going on, if that even makes a difference. Alexandria Smith, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Oh, yes, can I have a cab? How much to LaGuardia? 28. - $28? Fasten your seat belts by inserting the metal fitting into the buckle, adjust the strap, and pull it tight around your hips. To release, lift the metal-- Every now and then, I have these moments where I'm paranoid, or I think that what I'm doing is pointless, or that I'm wasting my time. I definitely fear being misunderstood.

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Here we go. February 25, 1988.

chuckles

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My mom said, ever since I was five, I was proclaiming that I'm going to be an artist when I grow up. It's all I've wanted to do is be an artist. It's the only thing that makes-- that's ever... Stayed with me.

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I don't feel like myself when I'm not creating. I feel restless, anxious, and angry when I don't do it. It just doesn't feel right. When I'm making the work I think about history in general and our role on this earth.

jazzy music

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Listen, Mammie, that ain't no way to wash clothes. What you all need is a river. -

stammers

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What do you all mean, river? There are all these contributions that black people have made, but there's no evolution in terms of the way we're treated, and there's no real evolution in the way that we get to exist on this planet. You know, you use the tools that you have to try to make the biggest difference that you can, and it's all important, and it's all critical, and it's all part of the recreating, rebuilding the landscape.

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speaking Mandarin

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Oh, maybe this one is mine.

speaking Mandarin

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Do you want me to say maybe this person is mine? Or is it just-- it's this one? This one is mine? Yeah, just--I thought the way you did it is fine. This one? - This one, yeah. Okay, yeah.

speaking Mandarin

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Okay. Sometimes I see the black bowtie man on eBay.

speaking Mandarin

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Maybe this one is mine.

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Because you're the one with the mic. Okay, okay, I'm gotta stand real close to you. Yeah. - Okay, but you know the kind of things I sell, and some of it's been kind of controversial, you know? I mean, like, remember when I had the bus sign? Yes. To me it's not controversial at all. It's just the history of my people. I really think that maybe black people don't really know how to define their history in an extremely positive way. It's easy for us to do as white people because we look at it, and we see an obvious history of travail, and a victorious history, actually. There's this idea that because it's not as overt and in-your-face as blackface was done in the past, that it's not happening.

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There's still these stereotypical imagery being perpetrated in different ways. A lot of times we cringe at reclamation in the way that people reclaim certain things that are hurtful. By trying to negate those tools, it's also negating history. How may I help you? -

beatboxing

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What you mean, something like this?

Die Antwoord's "Fatty Boom Boom"

we're getting up at 5

Yeah, that's perf. Yolandi, do that thing. Eh Fatty Boom Boom Hit me with the ching-ching Not

bleep

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thinking, dollar eye twinkling Just a bit of junkie Let's not get too funky - Ohh-ohh When I'm on the mic it's like murder, murder, murder Kill kill kill! Wat se Suid-Afrika

bleep, bleep

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Like a smack in the face Rappers are

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pouring into passenger planes What happened to all the cool rappers From back in the day Nowadays all these rappers sound exactly the same It's like one big inbred

bleep

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