What happens if you burn down the empire?
Last night, courtesy of Higher Heights, I got to see the new Netflix film Shirley in an auditorium filled with Black women in New York City. What a privilege!
The film focuses on the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, a No. 1 immigrant daughter.** Shirley was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and the first Black candidate for President.
The film is a complex portrait of Shirley’s personal life and political ambitions, with the backdrop of identity politics and the first election in which 18-year olds were allowed to vote. The family and marriage dynamics contribute to a powerful and compelling narrative.
Without spoiling anything, I can share this — in one scene, Shirley, played by the amazing Regina King, tells Huey Newton, the founder of the Black Panther party, “…if you burn down the empire, all that’s left to rule over are the ashes.” This sentence haunts me, especially in a moment where many of us are exploring whether we need to burn the house down or keep trying to fix it while we live in it. What do you think?
Check out the film and read this cover story in Harper’s Bazaar about Regina King by my friend Salamishah Tillet.
Sayu
**Barbadian American, of Guyanese and Bajan descent, she spent her early childhood in Barbados.