A GIFT FROM ALL SONS TO FATHERS

This is my Father, the late Elonzo Watson Sr. He was an incredibly proud man who was naturally brilliant. He tried to go back to school at one point and was humble and secure enough to sit in a classroom in a little chair made for 4th graders. I would accompany him to school as he learned how to read.

My Father was one of the most verbal and articulate men around but he could not read higher than the 5th grade. He worked all his life and raised three Black boys in Bed Sty. He came home every night and went to work every day until he died a week from retirement on vacation in my Mother's arms. He was slightly older than me by months.


He loved his wife and he loved his sons. He never judged me or made me question who I was. I was very proud of me and in the early days a real taskmaster. He was really hard on me as he prepared me to contend with a society who saw me as enemy #1.

I am now the oldest living man in both sides of my family. I have no elder men to talk to. It all now comes from me. I miss him today and the way he always listened to me and I knew that every step I took he was supportive of me. Everything I am stems from the uncompromising love of my parents for their children. Rest Easy Daddy.

AN OPEN LETTER TO JERRY SEINFELD FROM HIS BLACK COLLEGE ROOMATE

Dear Jerry:We made history on the campus of S.U.N.Y. when the resident Black progressive chose a White Jewish Boy to be his college roommate. It was a time of great racial tension and stratification. Black students trained you. You grew, rediscovering your humanity. You were elevated to iconic status, and we Black folk continued to be Black in America. We worked hard and died. We had children scarred and destroyed by school systems once run by your parents, now run by you; endured racist television shows that you now star in and produce; and we watched you reward our young people for calling us Niggahs. Remember that in college we stayed up all night, missed classes, appealing to your conscience. We were confident that when you penetrated institutions still off limits to us, you would remember that training and would do the right thing: using your white Jewish privilege to advocate for social and racial justice, diversity and a world that would affirm the humanity of Black people. Instead you distanced yourself from us and chose to join forces with the most racist Hollywood producers, those who exploit the black condition in the guise of humor and satire relegating Black people back to that comfortable status White folks and Hollywood in particular created for us, the role of the "Niggahs". Jerry, the Jewish Philosopher Joshua Herschel taught us all that some are guilty but all are responsible. You had the power when you conceived, produced and starred in the Seinfeld show to demand that there be a Black presence on the show. You did not. Like Bill Clinton, your most intimate friends were Black. You produced a show set in New York City for nine years and rarely were there Black and Brown people in the foreground or background of your show. You slept at our houses, road through Harlem with us and our Mothers got up in the middle of the night and cooked grits for you, your friends and your dog. And we all watched with horror when you defended Michael Richards /"Kramer" when he reminded America that we were niggahs. When you defended him, you betrayed all those Black folks who saw you as a symbol, an example that white folks possessed the capacity to look beyond race and affirm the humanity of Black folks. You made it clear, as slave drivers and plantation owners did on the eve of the Industrial Revolution, that profits justify enslaving men or deducing us to something, 3.5th human. White primacy rules . White America camouflages it, naming us Niggah! I guess your financial advisors suggested that you come on the Letterman show and defend The "Kramer" character you created for the Seinfeld Show. After all, you have got to sell those recently released DVD's of the Seinfeld episodes. I now realize that what we Black folk thought was a genuine friendship was some form of White voyeurism. All those hours we spent training you led to you creating a principal character on your sitcom that during the run of the show dressed up in "Black Face," burned the Puerto Rican Flag, and reminded all African Americans in this country that not so long ago we could be lynched if we angered a white man. After all Jerry we know that as a Supreme Court Justice once wrote." A Black man has no rights a white man is bound to respect." At our last meeting in 1997 at Morton's in West Hollywood, I asked you what kind of philanthropic activities you were supporting. You responded by saying, you had not given it much thought. That response ended the dinner for me. Jerry, you now have an opportunity to use some of the profits from the DVD sales of Seinfeld and work with me in educating young Americans. Everything Michael Richards said was historically accurate. His commentary on American History can stand as part of your legacy, or you can respond with your better self by reconnecting with what you learned back in your college days. Help me create and expand programs and resources for High Schools, Colleges and the general public that can catalyze reflection on the power codes of racism, and result in the retirement of the term "NIggah" for the American Lexicon.
Richards used the term "NIGGAH" as part of hate speech with intentions of inflicting harm. You became complicit with this. You used to know better. You now have a choice: that of complicity,or involvement in creating educational programs that help America come to grips with her racist past. The choice is yours.


Sincerely yours,

Lawrence "Larry" Watson
SaveOurSelves Productions L.L.C
www.lawrencewatson.com
617-825-9600
saveourselves@aol.com


Lawrence Watson is the Founder of SaveOurSelves Productions L.L.C. The Company is committed to using African descent artistic expression as a vehicle to advocate for social justice and the accurate portrayal of the image of people of African Descent in the Electronic and Print Media. Watson is an educator, activist and international singer. He is currently completing his next CD American Fruit with African Roots, scheduled for release in March 2007. GO TO www.lawrencewatson.com for more information.