I've monitored your film reviews for years now and I notice you NEVER give ANY foreign film 4 stars (with the exception of re - releases of world acclaimed classic films at the level of Bicycle Thief or Grand Illusion two of the finest films ever made).
This Is troubling to say the least, so I'm asking you these questions:
1. Is it your policy to never give any foreign film 4 stars ? If not can you name any foreign film debut in the last 5
years that you did give 4 stars in your review?
2. If this is your policy does it carry over into the other arts? Do you refuse to give 4 stars to, for example, a performance of the Russian Ballet, or a-concert by Italian tenors, or a new book by a Nobel Prize winning Spanish author, or a Chinese art exhibit, etc.?
3. And if you have a hidden agenda in the arts section, how do we know you don't have a hidden agenda in your coverage of local issues, or business news coverage, or your front page national and world news and articles? I encourage you to respond. I hope this is not another case in which you feel you can never be questioned on your policies by anyone. Please respond to Tom Hendricks 112374.474@compuserve.com . Thank you.
NAACP WASHINGTON BUREAU
1025 VERMONT AVENUE, NW, SUITE 1120
WASHINGTON DC, 20005
Dear NAACP,
I applaud your upcoming viewer boycott against the TV networks due to the low number of Blacks and Latinos cast in new fall shows. A main purpose of my monthly art publication, Musea is to oppose the monopoly of the Corporate Art 9, the 9 conglomerates that control virtually all the arts and electronic media in the U.S.
But I wonder about your priorities:
In the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, when about 1 million Africans were slaughtered, I heard nothing from you.
A simple thing like a malaria vaccine could save 1-3 million Africans each year. Yet I've never heard you promoting the idea or sponsoring such research.
AIDS has decimated sub-Sahara Africa to epidemic proportions. More than 5,000 Africans die each day. Yet even when ABC Nightly News (July 8) does a report on AIDS drugs, sides WITH the U.S. drug companies, and opposes South Africa's right to license local pharmaceutical manufacturers to produce cheap generic versions of AIDS drugs, you don't speak out and protest.
Why the silence on these issues?
The NAACP's influence on sub-Sahara Africa could turn the tide on all these issues and save thousands of lives. Why then the silence?
Tom Hendricks 1123.474@compuserve.com
Readers: If and when we get a response to these letters, we will let you know.