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What Had Happened Was

What Had Happened Was: 10/3/16

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    Dallas Cowboys v San Francisco 49ers
    Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys changes a play at the line of scrimmage during the second quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on October 2, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
    By Ryan Cortes Rhiannon Walker

    GAME. BLOUSES.

    So many fun, compelling moments this weekend as college football and the NFL dominated once again. The absolute best of what you missed this week, you ask? The most outrageous, unbelievable moments? Coming up.

    BLESSINGS!

    Top-notch selection by the University of Southern California on asking Olympian Allyson Felix to be the first woman to ever lead the Trojans out of the tunnel. Tack this onto her list of accomplishments. Congrats, Allyson!

    SOCIAL STATUS

    If you missed the news Sunday night, while performing at the Meadows Festival in New York City, rapper Kanye West gripped the mic during the middle of his song Heartless and said he had to stop the show because of a “family emergency.” In the hours following the abrupt finish, it was reported that West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, was held up in a Paris hotel by masked gunmen. French police said Kardashian West was tied up and that “several millions” worth of jewelry was stolen.

    FOR THE CULTURE

    She’ll be the first Latina senator … if Latinx voters can rally to send her to Washington, D.C.

    FX orders a first season of Snowfall, a TV series set during the crack-cocaine epidemic in 1980s Los Angeles.

    For The FADER’s upcoming America Issue, the first lady of the United States argues why higher education is the most major key.

    A Seat With Us: A conversation between Solange Knowles, Mrs. Tina Lawson and Judnick Mayard.

    A 34-year-old African-American man in Wisconsin brought three different documents to the Department of Motor Vehicles and still couldn’t get a voter ID.

    Washington football team wide receiver DeSean Jackson wore pregame cleats with caution tape design as a social statement on police relations with the African-American community.

    TOP THREE TWEETS

    Every morning we’ll hit you here with the best of what we saw on social media the previous night. Why? Why not?

    1. ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

    https://twitter.com/fentyy/status/781938229704552449

    2. FACEMASKS FOR EVERYONE!

    https://twitter.com/OfficialValeriB/status/781863699590029312

    3. NEVERRR

    #ICYMI

     

    Our sis Soraya Nadia McDonald took a look at the troubling gender politics surrounding Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation and how the show has been sidelined for nearly two years:

    The problem with The Birth of a Nation‘s female characters are symptomatic of larger problems within the film industry when it comes to women: They are underrepresented on screen and behind the camera, below the line and above it. The result is that flimsy female characters are so commonplace that they tend to get written off as a sort of benign, expected level of filmic sexism hardly worth mentioning. In considering a Very Important Film About Race such as The Birth of the Nation, they become collateral damage. Early on in The Birth of a Nation, Parker establishes himself as a savior by convincing Samuel Turner to buy Cherry Ann in an effort to save her from other leering white would-be owners, who would most certainly rape her. The Birth of a Nation follows the typical arc of a classic hero’s tale, which is unsurprising given how much influence Braveheart director and star Mel Gibson had over Parker and the script. But Braveheart, however much of a classic it may be, was released in 1995. The Birth of a Nation exists in and benefits from a media culture that’s been heavily influenced by Black Lives Matter. In fact, it’s arguably because of Black Lives Matter that a film that tells the story of Nat Turner’s 1831 revolt is welcomed as vital and important in the first place. But the first iterations of The Birth of a Nation — a passion project that took Parker at least seven years to make, and for which he raised the money himself to ensure creative control — predated the 2014 death of Michael Brown and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. That also means the script predated the birth of a new intersectional civil rights movement, which is defined in part by its deliberate emphasis on the rights and contributions of women and queer black people.

    PICTURE PERFECT

    Ryan Cortes is a staff writer for The Undefeated. Lemon pepper his wings.

    Rhiannon Walker is an associate editor at The Undefeated. She is a drinker of Sassy Cow Creamery chocolate milk, an owner of an extensive Disney VHS collection, and she might have a heart attack if Frank Ocean doesn't drop his second album.

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