[lentulusgracchus]

[You, quoting the NYT quoting Mamet] It’s appalling what the government has done to the great African-American community in the last 50 years.

The "black films" of the 1940's depicted an intact "colored" society in the "colored" part of town. It was segregated (in the North moreso, but pretty much everywhere), and Jim Crow was around in the South, but blacks had intact families served by a black middle-class business community, black lawyers and detectives and policemen, and a vigorous black religious and newspapering establishment.

The black part of town was functional.

[arrogantsob]

This was true even of “Amos and Andy” as a TV show. It was a Black version of The Honeymooners and filled with respectable, hard working people (who happened to be hilarious). I don't recall anything really derogatory (outside the bounds of comedy) just everyone reacting to the schemes and shenanigans of The Kingfish. Great comedic actors and actresses whose work has been devalued by the Poverty Pimp commies like Jerkson.