European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Words amp wit by Claude Brown. Spa Rifal to los Angeles times san 8-year-old in Harlem i lived a a around the Corner from what was con. S i d e red the mos t no to Riou sly violent Julock in Mew York City West 146th Street Between 7th and 8th avenues. The weather permitting on saturday nights my a a a a drum Wannabe friends and i would hang out on 146th Street waiting to see who would get killed we were rarely disappointed. Urban negro ghettos of the 1940s and 1950s were so Rife with violence resulting in death and maiming that it was regarded As a Normal aspect of inner Rity life and nothing to become alarmed about unless of course the victim was a Friend or a relative. Television the most addictive drug in America had not yet been introduced to the country a underclass and therefore could not be biased for inspiring or encouraging the violence. Neither could the cause of the bloodletting be justifiably attributed to the fact that every three or four weeks the local movie houses showed films of Douglas Fairbanks or. Errol Tenn and Tyr a e Bower Ramm in g swords through deserving villains. In All probability the common occurrence of violence in Black inner City America of the 1940s had Little or no connection to the coldblooded movie murders committed by Humphrey reunion of kids growing not up a Tony k0rnhe1ser a cantly i attended my 25th High school. Reunion. Your 25lh reunion is the run on where when people come Over and m say Quot gee you re looking Good a it sounds like they were expecting you to be wheeled in. At the 3.0th reunion phrases like a Well preserved creep in other a conversation and at the 40th, you hear the word  the 25th is when you come face to face with the fact that if you re standing by the Side of the Road and a Beautiful girl in a sports car drives up she does not Stop and ask a excuse me Are those Bugle boy jeans a in fact she does not Stop i went to High school on suburban Long Island a there most of inc kids were Rich and the others were extremely Rich. Their idea of hard times was when the family Pool had to be drained. Over the years id been Able to keep up with a lot of my former classmates by Reading the Wall Street journal. They were in the stories about insider trading a typical greeting at my reunion was a gee you re. Looking Good. How Jong have you been out a in the afternoon before the reunion some Guys in my class organized a basketball game which was  a. 20th Century Fox Wesley Snipes and Theresa Randle in sugar Hill Bogart James Cagney George raft Edward g. Robinson it a. Even we children could discern film fantasy from reality. When today a outraged and appalled parents condemn he Medid and filmmakers for having spawned or influenced americans current horrifying violence epidemic it is not an utterly false accusation. People under 24 have never lived in an America where movie dialogue was hot liberally laced with profanity. Most filmmakers done to know it but profanity is the language of violence. Movie makers gradually introduced profanity Dis pulsed As Black  the period now re a feared to As the Era of a dbl exploitation films from 1969 to 1974. Cotton comes to Harlem Black Cave thetic nobody could actually pay basketball anymore. But it was memorable for two things 1. Every. Body but me drove up in a new Mercedes. I explained that both my Mercedes were in the shop and id borrowed the Honda from my live in maids son 2. My Friend arties comment a boy would t. Love to have the Romaine Concession at this run a a ion.�?�. Though i was excited about the reunion i had some trepidation. I wondered if id accomplished enough or if my classmates had left me hopelessly behind. We had All reached that age when life was no longer filled with limitless Opportunity. Our vistas had narrowed like our cholesterol clogged arteries. What if i was too fat or too Bald and people said something about it worse what if nobody recognized me at All i arranged to go with an old Friend a girl id lusted after in High school actually so each of us would have an ally for the frightening Quot Walkin Quot a a a a i bought the shortest tightest dress i could a Nancy said As i drove up. A i wanted to show peyote that i still had it a Quot had what a i asked. Luckily enough people recognized us that we could babble away and not stand there like we vere in a spotlight dance. Most of the conversations were monumentally profound so you la forgive me if i just mention some highlights a great to see your face cleared  a wow did she go to our High school a Quot really you had a crush on me really Why did no to you say so a Quot look i spent four years there. Trust me id re 1 member Hen All in All it was a pleasantly relaxed reunion unlike the 10th, when people Are still on a forced March to make something of themselves to acquire to compete. By the 25 the what you Are and who you a Are is pretty much decided. You re resigned to it and in a self selecting event like a reunion the people who show up Are comfortable with themselves. There a no a lot of preening or posturing. There a a. Sap Shaft across 110th Street and super Fly a. Which was probably the most anti Black film made in. America since . Griffith a birth of a nation a. Represent the Era. In the Early 1970s, cursing of film accelerated with the popularity of the daring profane humor of Richard Pryor s a in concert a films. An later with Eddie Murphy a from there profanity furtively crept into movie and television scripts As a bold and hip embellishment. A a new movie sugar Hill is an exception. This is an artistically eloquent and powerfully dramatic Antidrug film about a tragically drug ravaged family \ struggling desperately to maintain its tenuous grip. On life. It is also a Radical departure from the stereotypical warring dig gang films. The violence is graphic but minimal. There is profanity but Pney Iii sufficient amount to give credibility to the characters and their environment. In modern Day America profanity is used More frequently than conventional English by Mahy intermediate High school and College  also by City dwellers Ages 6 to 60. Profanity appears to be making rapid Progress on its Way to replacing English As the official language of tire american people. It has been irrefutably established As the official language of hip american teen agers for at least the past five years. Many inner City High school and intermediate school students who comprise a significant faction of new York City s bus and subway passengers appear to have vocabularies that Are pathetically deficient. It is saddening to hear them punctuate sentences clauses and phrases with the four letter word for fees. Is it too much to Hope that sugar Hill is the beginning of a new genre the humanized action thriller Short on violence and evoking optimal compassion. Inspiring Triumph Over oppressive Tiiman conditions a. A Quot a a ?na�rbvr0j of Waneta we Tho put Mead. Land is working on a Book about the in Neasa in violent Cirne. A a a it a sincerity to the greetings. You have the sense that you Veall been to the same movie. We did no to look like kids anymore. I was struck by How eerily most people had Tome to resemble their parents who 25 years ago were the same age we Are now. We did no to act like kids anymore either. We acknowledged unashamedly that life was hard parents die. Marriages break up. Kids let you Down. Most of our faces showed not so much age As weathering. One thing i noticed was the difference in conver Saigon Between men and women. In groups women tended to talk about real things about car pools about cellulite about the Glass ceiling. While the men just like in High school stood around checking out the Chicks. One woman in particular whom my Call Diana created abject drooling from the men As she walked around in skintight pants and a Flimsy Gold silk Blouse and red lipstick and High heeled freed boots that came up Over her calves a not that and one would notice. I know i hardly glanced at her at All and was continuing to hardly glance at her when my Friend Nancy kneed me in the leg and said a if apply in pen put a Pino ill Riak Tjw a a Okin ssh cd. She was looking illegal. A lot of us nod to guess what profession Anid be Quot k  end Law and agreed on lambada instructor a a Nancy a i said a let me ask you a hypothetical. Quot liposuction a she  implants a she said.  a quote of the 8itls in he to Quot of a ass a a ooh grow up a she said in exasperation Wuch is where i came in 25 years ago. A. Tho Washington Post. Page 24 sunday May 29, 19g4