Northwestern University/NUBAA: A Conversation about Violence in the USA in the Summer of 2022

This a recent exchange that reminded me of Invasion of The Bodysnatchers, the February 5, 1956 version, where the hero is treated politely and patiently and as if he was losing their minds-not the other way around, since in the film, otherwise sentient human beings with a variety of emotions became very polite but insistent zombies. I felt like the emotional hero in the serious conversation below. And clearly the NUBAA/NU respondent was quintessentially polite…

Re: Northwestern University — Black Alumni Changing the Entertainment Industry: For whom and For whose Freedom and or Benefit?

Good morning MaryAnn Marsh:

Your prompt reply to my email is noteworthy and appreciated. It also brought to mind an accepted canon among Behavioral Interventionists: The more any bad/ violent/ inappropriate behaviors are rewarded/ praised/ justified the more difficult it is to extinguish those specific behaviors.

As an example, I will never forget the infamous Donald John Trump Presidential inaugural, not because of torrential rain and crystal clear Internet reception at the top of Mt. Washington, an area notorious for intermittent to no service, but for the incidents of bullying, teasing and ugly racial slurs that spread like a viral plague across our small pre-k to 6th grade campus that day. Our beloved Principal delayed much of the morning resolving these myriad examples illustrating :The more any bad/ violent/ inappropriate behaviors are rewarded/ praised/ justified the more difficult it is to extinguish those specific behaviors. The epicenter: the normalization of D.J.Trump’s intentionally bombastic and bullying behaviors.

On this Sunday in the aftermath of the watch party, Will there be Daniel Day Lewis chaos release 2.0?

Best

Vernon Nickerson Schoolcoach.

© VernonNickersonSchoolcoach 2022. All Rights Reserved.

On Sun, Aug 21, 2022, 6:10 AM MaryAnn Marsh <miricorporation@ameritech.net> wrote:

Good morning Vernon,

Your opinions are well noted and will be shared with our Board members. With regards to the film itself, our Board provided a warning to those with sensibilities to the violence and language; and in no way meant to offend any of our members or attendees.

We, NUBAA, only support and encourage others to support each other. Even when we do not share the same opinions or approve/disapprove of content, we recognize that it is not the specific work of the Alum that we promote; but the Alum him/herself.

We certainly appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts and assure you that it will be kept in high regard.

Again, thank you for being a valued member of NUBAA!

NUBAA President

On Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 12:06:07 AM CDT, Vernon Nickerson <qwschoolcoach@gmail.com> wrote:

GOOD Saturday EVENING to everyone:

Because I am an Educational Consultant in my 50th year in education and this is the first week for LAUSD + UTLA, I will not be able to attend tomorrow’s event. But sadly, that is not the only reason I am writing to Northwestern and NUBAA and respectfully requesting they consult with a broad sample of all current BIPOC faculty at the Evanston and Chicago campuses ahead of tomorrows event.

I am an Amazon Prime member, so I sacrificed time that I typically spend with Drs. Karen Hunter ( Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, NY radio/ podcast personality and Journalism Professor at Hunter College) and Dr. Gregory “Greg Carr (tenured Professor and Director of Africana Studies at Howard University), and, on average, over 1000 mostly PanAfricanAmerican human beings from all ages, stages, classes, and walks of life in the USA and around the world. The issues attempted to be explored in The Last Revolutionary have been “front of mind” since before the COVID pandemic.

I was appalled at the sheer number of deadly force weapons were featured from start to finish. As a former NCE member, officer and Bass/ Baritone Section leader, a Beginning Voice student under the tutelage of Dr. Ann Alderson, and post-Northwestern, as an formerly active GMWA member, Men’s Chorus founder and Director and Co-Director the Mass Choir at Citizens of Zion Missionary Baptist Church, as well as a Black, Gay, same gender loving credentialled SPED educator since MN licensure in 1993/4, Broadway, Classical, Jazz, Country/folk, and opera fan, I was imsulted and disturbed at the mixing-of-metaphor and meaning by the main characters associating vocal legends and iconic songs with deadly force weapons! Furthermore, the derogatory, chauvanistic, and stereotypical Black Panhellenic traditional pejorative tropes of hypersexuality among the elite historically Black fratternities and sororities was 1.) not nearly as well parodied as in Spike Lee’s School Daze, if parody was the intent, 2.) Made no meaningful attempt to emphasize the community service component that was constantly promoted and observed consistently by the Black Greeks I knew with from 1977 until my graduation in June 1981, and 3.) does nothing to ameliorate the chaos and violence emboldened by Lincoln Log Cabin Republican GOP members (mostly) in the most recent four years of US History ( 2019- 2022).

Did anyone preview this film? It is not in any way shape or form changing anything in the USA ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. Violence Begets violence begets violence is simply not sustainable any longer if the human race is to survive. If there is to be a Race War in the USA — THERE WILL BE NO WINNERS. PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS. UVALDE TEXAS, in my considered opinion, was a classic KKK-type Domestic Terrorist provocation / intentional genocide of BIPOC students and educators. The message as to what those in power can and will do was made crystal clear. Having sown the seeds of fear, hate, and prejudice based soley on skin color, we “reap the whirlwind/ harvest of shame” TOO MANY PanAfricanAmericans have miseducated too many …Pan African Americans across this nation and around the world. Frankly, I wish it had never been released at such a profoundly inappropriate time.

However, in closing, please do not ever take my considered opinion as canon — study and make up your individual minds.

BEST,

Vernon P. Nickerson, MA

BSIE, McC 1981

aaa–bbb–aaaa

PS: Although I am no longer a volunteer film reviewer with, The Art of Monteque/ Dreamweaver Arts, I would invite you to go there and review the film reviews i have written on those sites From 2014 to Winter, 2022

On Mon, Aug 8, 2022, 10:51 AM NUBAA <NUBAA@alum.northwestern.edu> wrote:

You have registered for Hosted by NUBAA: NU Exclusive Watch Party and Panel: Black Alumni Changing the Entertainment Industr. The details are below.

The Zoom link for both the Virtual Movie Watch Party and Talkback Industry Panel will be sent out a few days before the event on 8/21 in a “Know Before You Go Email,” to all registrants. Should you have any questions please contact