Black magic

There's a Jewish story that says the Earth rests on the backs of 36 saints. And because of their sacrifice, the human race continues to exist. Well, those saints remind me of my last confession of Black History Month.

Confession No. 4: Black folks don't mind saving the world -- so long as we get to save ourselves.

Right before the recent protest of the Nevada Test Site I interviewed Paul Colbert, the program director of Nevada Desert Experience. I told him that this column once described God as being a single mother; the physical plane of existence as her child; and Lucifer as a suitor only interested in a one-night-stand and unwilling to help raise the child.

Colbert preaches in a local church, and he flattered me by suggesting that my concept of God as a single mom might find its way into one of his sermons. However, if by some fluke the concept really took off and the world were to credit Colbert for it, I'd become a "Magic Negro." The term came about after The Defiant Ones depicted Sidney Poitier's character sacrificing himself in order to save Tony Curtis'.

Basically, Magic Negroes are two-dimensional sidekicks whose primary function is to rescue or redeem more fully developed white protagonists. There's Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance and Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile -- but the most obvious example appears in Bruce Almighty, in which Morgan Freeman is first shown possessing the power of God and then shown surrendering It to Jim Carrey.

Don't get me wrong; I like these movies and the actors -- but there's definitely a disturbing pattern forming.

Damon Lee, producer of Undercover Brother, has said: "The white community has been taught not to listen to black people. I truly feel that white people are more comfortable with black people [when] telling them what to do when they are cast in a magical role. They can't seem to process the information in any other way."

And Ariel Dorfman, internationally renowned playwright and poet, had this to say about the Magic Negro: "This phenomenon may be a way of avoiding confrontation. The black character helps the white character, which demonstrates that [the former] feels this incredible interest in maintaining the existing society. Since there is no cultural interchange, the character is put there to give the illusion that there is cultural crossover to satisfy that need without actually addressing the issue."

A real-life example of the Magic Negro phenomenon occurred in May 2002, when national security advisor Condoleezza Rice pulled Dubya's foot out of his mouth -- after he asked Brazil President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: "Do you have blacks too?"

Historical examples include the Moors saving British sailors from scurvy by bringing vitamin C-enriched limes to Europe. And George Washington Carver probably keeping the South from starving, with all of his uses of the peanut.

But wouldn't it be great if -- in exchange for being to whites what Merlin was to King Arthur -- blacks could actually remedy our own ills?

According to the Southern Nevada Minority Health Steering Committee, "African-Americans have the highest death rate of any other group in Nevada." Blacks also have the highest rate of reported AIDS cases in the state.

In Glory, an all-black Union regiment is seen praying and singing in order to gather strength the night before being martyred during its attack on Fort Wagner (a whole army of Magic Negroes). I wonder if the 54th would've still felt gung-ho enough to fight if someone from the future appeared that night and gave them the aforementioned statistics.

In the end, I don't mind being a Magic Negro because Las Vegas certainly needs one. As James Baldwin wrote in The Fire Next Time, "White people cannot, in the generality, be taken as models of how to live. Rather, the white man is himself in sore need of new standards, which will release him from his confusion and place him once again in fruitful communion with the depths of his own being."

And in his essay "Language and Freedom," professor Noam Chomsky wrote: "Social action must be animated by a vision of a future society." And when it comes to visions of the future, it doesn't get any more positive than "Star Trek." Ever hear of a dope dealer? Well, I'm a hope dealer. And all those "Star Trek" references of mine are specifically designed to finally get white America's socio-economic progress caught up with its technological progress.

I'm not a shock-jock, here to rile people up. I'm here to save lives and heighten our standard of living. And that's magical.

Saab Lofton is so against working a day job he once wrote a newlywed couple a short story based on them, in order to pay his rent. The quintessential starving artist, Lofton also self-publishes a comic book and designs T-shirts. He can be reached at saablofton@hotmail.com.