Have you seen Barbershop? It’s the new hit movie that has led the box office in revenues for the past two weeks. The New York Times applauded it as “a warm, generous comedy,” and E! Online called it “a cut above the season’s other comedies.” Others praise it for its rare predominately black cast, writers and director and the way the film recreates the free debates characteristic of a barbershop. The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have seen Barbershop, and now they want to make their own cuts. Sharpton and Jackson object to comments made by Cedric the Entertainer’s character suggesting Rosa Parks was not the first black woman to sit down on a segregated bus and alluding to Martin Luther King Jr.’s alleged promiscuity.
Sharpton threatened to organize a boycott against the film, and both he and Jackson have called upon MGM, the film’s studio, to edit the scenes out of the film. They find the criticism of Parks and King, icons of the civil rights movement, to be blatantly offensive.
The offending remarks are made by only one character who is promptly chided by his fellows for being wrong and disrespectful. The conversation then continues along its contorted path.
Sharpton and Jackson’s wish to suppress the expression of alternative points of view about King and Parks is ironic and dumfounding. One of the reasons King and Parks are respected is because they were dissenters themselves. They objected to society’s oppression of blacks and were not afraid to stand up (or sit down) for what they believed, regardless of risk to life, limb or reputation.
At the time, their opinions about equality of race were not popular among the majority of Americans. Their willingness to risk themselves by actively resisting injustice was rare. Their dissension made them heroes.
But even heroes are human. They are fallible. They can make mistakes just like everyone else. While Park’s and King’s achievements should be noted and praised, an unquestioning acceptance of the status quo is exactly what oppresses people in the first place. Forty years ago, those who questioned the status quo were assaulted, murdered and otherwise silenced. Today, dissenters are allowed to speak with only a rebuke in return.
One wonders if Jackson and Sharpton are afraid that any criticism of the iconic King and Parks might sacrifice the sanctity granted to their own positions.
Other black community leaders do not see why Sharpton and Jackson object to Barbershop. Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, said the movie is a comedy and reminded people that the comments are made by only one character and were not representative of the film’s message. Walter Lathamm, a black co-producer of The Original Kings of Comedy, said that Jackson and Sharpton should settle their problems with the filmmakers privately.
Barbershop’s environment of freedom of expression without condemnation or ostracization represents an ideal for which all people should strive. No social edifice or image should be accepted without question, and the questioners, right or wrong, should be neither punished nor suppressed.
Jackson and Sharpton disdain the very rights King and Parks fought for, including freedom of speech, by attempting to suppress the views, however unpopular, of others.
Society needs its barbershops, where less than popular beliefs and opinions can be expressed without fear of retribution. As Eddie says in Barbershop, “You know this ain’t nothing but healthy conversation. Ain’t nobody exempt in the barbershop. You can talk about whoever, and whatever, whenever you want to.”
Nathan Alday is a junior aerospace engineering major.