film making? first of all, i grew up on that film. it meant i was, you know, learning about editing. we were learning about acting. you grow up in the melvin van peebles by any means necessary film making family, you learn it all. that s actually good because dad said, i don t play ball well. i m going to try to teach you how to own the team. when he did sweet back and i was there as a kid, i saw hollywood look at this and say, this is a movie about a black sex worker who becomes a revolutionary, who gets a consciousness. they didn t want that, but they wanted that revolutionary money. so they had a film about a white detective, and they just did it in black and called it shaft. after that came soup uperfly, bt did sort of make drug dealing look hip, and that was hurtful to us as a community, but it was too late. we were now seeing ourselves on-screen with afros and black
with him. he slept on the bed. i put a cot next to him, and 2:30 this the morning, something told me to wake up, don. i put my hand on his chest. i told him i loved him, and he had passed. and i felt that i was, as a kid, able to see this man, know that good allies come in all colors, teach me how to be the boss but also how to be the assistant and have respect for everybody. i got to see him live his life well and i got to see him exit it well, you know? we think of a life well lived. we think of birth is a miracle, death as a tragedy. it s different sides of the same mortality coin. to see your dad and brother s laying there peaceful like a buddha and let it go, i was like, may i be so lucky, don? in his bed with his kid right there. yeah. your dad did not age. you do not age. and i m so grateful that you re here, that we can honor your dad and talk about his legacy. thank you very much. well, brother, he s right