Occupy Red Tails organizers joined others to push film
Judge Kevin Ross and friends
Kevin Ross (“America’s Court with Judge Ross”), the former California Superior Court judge, along with TV writer/producer Michael Ajakwe and Project Islamic Hope’s Najee Ali, took the support of “Red Tails” to the next level with Occupy Red Tails, a movement designed to raise awareness and encourage support for the feature film.
According to Ross, Occupy Red Tails sprang from the mind of Ajakwe during a conversation they had about the movie. After seeing an interview with “Red Tails” executive producer George Lucas, Ajakwe became intent on getting the word out about the movie. The men eventually joined forces and worked to promote the film, which tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Taking a cue from the Occupy Wall Street movement, Ajakwe came up with the name Occupy Red Tails. Despite the film’s predominately African American cast, Ross is quick to point out the success and promotion of “Red Tails” is more universal than what many would perceive.
“I think it’s bigger than that,” he explained. “This is a general market issue.”
Released the week following the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, “Red Tails” finished second behind “Underworld: Awakening.” The film, which stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ne-Yo, netted with $19.4 million over that weekend. Last weekend it added another $10.4 million.
Ross confessed that the good fortune encountered with Occupy Red Tails is a testament to the power of social media and exposure on websites such as EURweb. Days after setting up an official page on Facebook, more than 30,000 people were invited to join the campaign.
The producers and marketing team behind “Red Tails” also took notice by posting links to the EUR story on their web page, Ross added, while also noting how the movie’s good showing in its first week should be a wakeup call to those in the film industry.
“It wasn’t about it being a Black thing as much it was about making a statement that these are the type of stories we want told,” Ross said.
Clapping and yelling at the sights of African American heroes on the screen, viewers on the opening night for “Red Tails” did not hesitate to voice pride in the movie at a local Baldwin Hills theater.
Yes, indeed we are at war—with Hollywood. It’s our call to arms. Make history at the box office on opening day and/or weekend for “Red Tails.” A major email campaign has been on the way since December, and honestly, any and everywhere Black folks are gathered, including church, they should be asked to go to the theaters to see and support it.
“Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness.” —Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) American abolitionist, anarchist, and legal theorist.
Najee Ali, founder and director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere), a leading Los Angeles advocacy group, recently announced plans to step forward and fill the void left in the American Society of Muslims leadership that has existed for nearly three years since the Sept. 9, 2008, death of Ali’s former father-in-law, Imam W.D. Mohammed, who was the national leader of more than 1 million African American Muslims.
Tony Wafford, the West Coast coordinator of Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and president of Wafford Consulting and the Palms Residential Care Center, will have to pay former National Action Network program administrator Sharon Song Byrd damages for sexual harassment and battery. A continuation hearing was held Monday to determine the amount of damages Wafford must pay, but no amount has as yet been specified.
