Brothers and Mommas

Has such nostalgia also sunk to the depths of neocon revisionism? When Malcolm and Sherry finally come together, the nuclear family is restored--it's a love story, what do you expect? But why to the strains of "Oh Happy Day"? In church? In Georgia? Here's a longing for an old South that's worthy of Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home": Small-town black folks are gossipy, a little foolish, and a little oversexed, but still more honest than those Northern city slickers. In this particular pastorale, even the cops are black, but there's still nothing a bigoted white separatist couldn't endorse: If we can't send 'em back to Africa, the film seems to say, maybe we can migrate 'em back south. Manipulating images is a tricky business. At least the Panthers were up-front about their motives. Pop culture isn't always so forthcoming.

Seizing the time: Bobby Seale in Public Enemy

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• Bobby Seale
• Nile Rodgers
• Black Panther Party
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Racial Issues

Public Enemy screens at Walker Art Center on Wednesday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. as part of the 2000 Juneteenth Film Festival, the first week of which also includes a program of shorts by African-American filmmakers (The Short and the Long of It), and weekend screenings of the originalShaft trilogy; for more information call (612) 375-7622.Big Momma's House is playing at area theaters.