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Books by Sam
Greenlee
The Spook Who Sat By the Door /
Ammunition! Poetry and Other Raps
Baghdad Blues: A Novel /
Blues for an African Princess
"Be-bop man/be-bop woman" 1968-1993: Poetry and
other raps
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How the
Riots Might Have Turned Out
By Cornish Rogers The most persistent and painful images of the
urban riots of the 60s that I retain are of young black men
grotesquely lying in pools of blood in the gutters, while
policemen or national guardsmen, looking self-satisfied, hover
above them with drawn guns. Although I deplored the senseless
burning and looting, I nonetheless recall within me a visceral
longing that the outcome of the confrontation might be
different.
And now the materialization of that longing
leaps from the screen in
The Spook Who Sat by the Door. A
motion picture recently released by United Artists, it is a
faithful adaptation of Sam Greenlee's bestselling late-60s novel
of the same name. produced by Ivan Dixon and Greenlee (the
latter also coauthored the screenplay), the film tells the story
of Dan Freeman, a young black social worker trained uncover
guerilla tactics as a CIA agent; he decides to organize a black
revolution in the United States -- a revolution to be carried
out under cover of the urban riots. He returns to his native
Chicago and, using all the guile and deftness taught him by the
CIA, in turn trains street gang members in the art of guerilla
warfare.
Linking into his plan the
"brothers" in other major black urban centers, he is
then ready for the incident that triggers the riots and provides
the signal for his revolutionary cadre to go into action. A
series of lightning forays by the young gang members during the
riots comes off convincingly, and the picture ends while the
fighting is still going on but with the clear implication that
the guerillas will not be defeated. (Freeman, played by Lawrence
Cook, reminds his youthful followers that guerillas win when
they are not defeated.)
The picture, like the book, had a difficult
time coming to birth. Greenlee's manuscript had been turned down
by every publisher to whom he submitted it. -- largely because
of its frightening depiction of the "rioters" as
winning. the book was eventually published in England, where it
became a bestseller before it finally came out in the United
States. Since then it has been translated into Swedish, Finnish,
Dutch, Italian, German, Japanese and French.
For the motion picture, Greenlee and Dixon
first had to overcome severe difficulties in funding, and then
had to film it in Gary, Indiana, because the Chicago authorities
refused to cooperate in securing manpower, as well as the
firearms and other equipment called for in the script. Richard
Hatcher, the black mayor of Gary, cooperated fully and
enthusiastically.
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Spook will horrify many white
viewers for a number of reasons. Some will see it as a
possible incitement to blacks to stage an organized
revolution. Others will recoil from the visual depiction
of what were their deepest fears at the time of the
riots -- fears that the blacks were in fact engaged in a
revolt and were out to kill them. On this point the film
makes it clear that the revolution arose not out of hate
toward whites, but out of love for the black people and
their liberation.
In dialogue with the gang members,
Freeman maintains that the revolution may be joined by
whites at a later stage. Further, he warns his young
charges that some of their enemies are black -- a fact
that is highly significant in the plot's denouement.
The most unfortunate reaction that the film may trigger
for some whites, however, is a confirmation of their
conviction about black intentions and thus a
reinforcement of their support for the future use by the
state of excessive force to put down every minor racial
disorder. |
Viewing what might have
been may lead some to the judgment that the Nixon
administration's exaggerated efforts to quash dissent in recent
years were appropriate and necessary after all.
But the risks of negative reactions to the
film are worth taking because, in a paradoxical way, it deals
more realistically with the terrifying but logical extension of
black response to oppression than did the actual events of the
60s. For instance, during the height of the Watts riots in 1965,
a young white female revolutionary rushed into my church office
shaking her head in disappointment. The rioters had ignored her
suggestion that they go out to Hollywood and knock out the huge
electric power station that provided electricity for the entire
area.
They're not really interested in revolt, as
they should be," she said. "They're only interested in
burning down the symbols of their brutalization."
The real riots did demonstrate black
obsession with degrading myths and symbols, rather than with
reality. Spook deals with what might have occurred had black
rage been channeled in a consistent and disciplined effort to
strike for real freedom. Source: The Christian Century (3 October 1973)
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Greenlee co-wrote a
screenplay adaptation of the novel, and in 1973
The Spook Who Sat by
the Door was released on film. The film was an overnight
success
when it was released but was unexpectedly taken out of distribution. |
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For those uninitiated to this
film, or the book it is based upon, here's a quick summary...
A White U.S. Senator, looking to improve his standing among Black
voters, sponsors a drive for the CIA to recruit Black agents.
However, everyone is graded on a curve, so all are condemned to
flunk...save for soft-spoken Dan Freeman. After going through
grueling training in self-defence, guerilla warfare and underground
operations, he is recruited to be a "reproduction chief" (he runs a
photocopier in the sub-basement), and serves the CIA as a token
Black employee (the term "spook" used here is both a racial slur,
and a slang term for a spy).
After 5 years, he leaves the CIA to work in his native Chicago for a
social services agency...by day. By night, he's using his CIA
training to teach a street gang to be the vanguard in an upcoming
race war...
Understandably, this film raised a lot of fears among Whites when
released, and despite box office success, it vanished from
distribution after only three weeks. The film-makers insist it was
pressure on the film's distributors by the FBI and their COINTELPRO
program against Black Nationalist groups.
Long available only on bootleg video copies and screened only on
college campuses, it became an underground classic. And now, it's
legitimately available on DVD.
The DVD includes the rarely seen coming attractions trailer and TV
spot, as well as interviews with the book's author, Sam Greenlee (in
his 70's and still as vocal as he ever was!) and film-maker Robert
Townsend, who says that this film literally changed his life.
Believe the hype! This film was made against the odds (The producer
struggled just to make payroll, and the outdoor scenes in Chicago
were shot without permits!), and despite the years, has not lost any
of it's punch!
Steven F. Scharff
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Sam
Greenlee—novelist, poet, screenwriter,
journalist, teacher and talk show host—was born 13 July 1930 in Chicago.
He attended Chicago public schools. At age fifteen, Greenlee
participated in his first sit-in and walked his first picked line. His
social activism continues. In 1952, Greenlee received his B.S. in
political science from the University of Wisconsin and the following
year attended law school. He transferred to the University of Chicago to
study international relations from 1954 to 1957. In 1957, he began a
seven-year career with the U.S. Information Agency as a foreign services
officer, serving in Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Greece, and in 1958
he was awarded the Meritorious Service Award for bravery during the
Baghdad revolution.
Greenlee's novel
The Spook Who Sat By the Door, was published in 1968.
Prize-winning its fictionalization of an urban-based war for African
American liberation became an underground favorite. Greenlee co-wrote a
screenplay adaptation of the novel, and in 1973
The Spook Who Sat by
the Door was released on film. The film was an overnight success
when it was released but was unexpectedly taken out of distribution.
Greenlee has written numerous novels, stage plays, screenplays and
poems. He moved back to Chicago after several years of voluntary exile
in Spain and West Africa and is hosted a radio talk show program. He is
presently working on his autobiography.
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update 6 August 2008 |
