THE LONG ROAD TO THE HALL OF FAME
From TONY KING to MALIK FARRAKHAN. Film by Reda Zine (Morocco)
Undervilla Productions, Duna Studio, (Italy) SlamJamz Records (USA)
SYNOPSIS
In the early 1960s Afro-Americans fought for civil rights through figures such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, both from the Nation of Islam. Professional football player-turned New York model and actor- Tony King lived at the heart of these events. In the 1980s, he became a Muslim and member of the Nation of Islam, erasing his “slave name” and becoming Malik Farrakhan. This choice led him to another change - he became the chief of security for the Hip Hop band Public Enemy. This film tells the story of Malik Farrakhan, a.k.a Tony King. A story that will allow us to understand the situation of Afro-Americans, from the days of the civil rights movement through to the Obama presidency. RESUME
The genesis of the film is in Bologna, Italy, where I interviewed Chuck D, the founder of Public Enemy and a very important figure in the World of the Hip Hop culture. Chuck D, as a "black activist" and one of the most respected African American figures, and his “bodyguard” Malik Farrakhan could have an interesting point of view on the historical event of the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States of America. I observed Malik and Chuck-D from backstage and I tried to understand their feelings about this election and its meaning for them. Black History Month event University of California
Mohsin Khan
The documentary chronicles the life of Malik Farrakhan, formerly known as Tony King, a professional football player who later became a Black nationalist and is now heading up security for rap group Public Enemy. The documentary spans from Farrakhan’s origins in Canton, Ohio, to his career as a player for the Buffalo Bills, to his subsequent fame in Hollywood. Farrakhan acted in many famous Blaxploitation films during the height of the genre’s popularity, such as “Sparkle” and “Gordon’s War.” He also appeared in “The Godfather.”
A panel discussion followed the documentary’s screening. In addition to Farrakhan, who was at the event, the panel consisted of Reda Zine, the film’s director, Mark Levine, a UCI professor of Middle Eastern history, Chuck D, the founder of Public Enemy and Greg Tate, who is known for his writings about African American culture. Zine said that a simple interview with Chuck D about Farrakhan’s involvement with Public Enemy ended up becoming the documentary, which took over six years to make, on Farrkhan’s entire life.
“I could have just met Malik one day on tour in Europe, and went on with my interview and report, but I had to go deeper,” said Zine, a Moroccan native.
“There’s a lot of issues and the same struggle in North Africa,” he said. “We didn’t have access to a lot of things, especially culturally. It’s like Black History Month, you can say you have a month for this, you’re okay. But you have to go deeper.”
Zine emphasized the urgent need to tell Farrakhan’s story while the former player is waiting to be instated in the NFL Hall of Fame.
“We need to understand the trials and tribulations we go through in our lives today, still laced with stereotypes,” said Chuck D. The Public Enemy frontman said that Farrakhan was able to connect his experiences, as well as tribulations, in the realms of sports, film and music through the different eras he’s lived through.
“It’s a special thing when you can get on a stage with a microphone, and talk about your occupation, and your life, especially as a Black man in America,” he said.
“I think this is about telling the stories that haven’t been told, or couldn’t be told before,” said Levine, who also contributed to the film. “It’s about writing the stories that no one else is willing to write. The thing that artists have to do is to tackle these stories, be it through music, or film, or journalism.”
Without proper representation in media, Levine said, minorities face the danger of being misrepresented as violent or by other harmful stereotypes.
“We can use these to push the conversations of racism and open a discussion so we can adapt new means and new strategies on how to tackle it,” Tate said. http://www.newuniversity.org/2015/03/news/the-beginning-of-a-long-road-for-malik-farrakhan/
