by Izzy Kalman (November 2003)
Wanting to increase my familiarity with the inner city mind, I declined the urge to watch a mainstream movie last night and instead rented A Miami Tail. This is a comedy with a terrific social message. I strongly recommend it, but the content is highly sexual (mostly verbal) and may not be appropriate for all of my readers.
I assume there is a bit of exaggeration in the movie, but these are some of the facets of inner city life that it reflects.
1. You have to be tough because life is dangerous. Even the women are tough. (Much more than white folk.)
2. Inner city people are much closer to basic nature. They are comfortable with both their aggressive drives and their sexual drives. Even the women want sex as much as the men do.
3. Despite the macho mentality of the inner city (or is it an element of the macho mentality?), you don’t hit a woman. Women can hit men, but it is a no- no for a man to hit a woman back.
A Miami Tail is about a women’s revolution in a gang- infested Miami neighborhood. The women organize to take back their neighborhood by refusing to have sex with men until they relinquish violence. One of the female elders affirms that women are the true underlying force of the community, and they must reclaim it from the violent men who have taken over. And their efforts work beautifully. Touche.
I wish I would have thought of such a clever way to reduce violence. Like me, this movie believes there are simple solutions to achieving peace and respect, even in the inner city, and that an entire subculture can benefit from an attitude change. I wholeheartedly agree with Martin Luther King that if we meet physical force with soul force, the physical force won’t stand a chance.
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