Van Peebles, Melvin (Vol. 2) | Van Peebles, Melvin 1932–
Van Peebles, Melvin 1932–
Black American playwright and filmmaker, author of Aint Supposed to Die a Natural Death.
[Aint Supposed to Die a Natural Death] ends with an old woman singing "Put a Curse on You," which is an indictment not of whites per se but of a whole rotten establishment that can compel a segment of the population to exist in such foulness.
The problem with all this is that, although its stark truth is instantly recognized by black members of the audience, most of the whites find the action so foreign to their way of life that, without denying its probable reality, they cannot laugh at its humor the way they did at the late Langston Hughes's Simply Heavenly or weep at its underlying tragedy the way they did at the late Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. They can only watch in distaste these intense flashes of daily ghetto squabbles and misfortunes and be thankful that their lives are less...
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