Treme - Thoughts on Episode 5 and @LolisElie's teleplay

Halfway through the first season of HBO's "Treme" and the show still does not disappoint. This week's ep was written by Lolis Eric Elie, a columnist for Da Paper, and he done good.

So far, Big Chief Lambreaux is still the character I enjoy the most on the show. Clearly he's the Voice of the Black Diaspora in terms of the show's plotline.

(click "Read More" to continue, so as I don't spoil anyone's show-watching)

Lambreaux confronts a fictional version of Oliver Thomas, out in Da East, as the councilman is showing his support to the Vietnamese community. The pol knows he needs to show deference to a Big Chief, but he also knows that he has to blow Lambreaux off. The Chief, however, isn't a man to be ignored, and that's going to be interesting as his pressure points build up.

We're approaching Carnival in the show's timeline-references made to five months post-storm. That means ep 5 is set in late January/early February of 2006. The Krewe du Vieux meeting is interesting, as it shows more of Creighton Bernette. He's embarrassed at his newly-developed fame for FYYFF, something that the late Dr. Morris would have always worn as a badge of honor, even in a Upperline-style restaurant, even if Roy Blount, Jr., called him out on it. The scene where Creighton talks about his publisher coming down to get the advance back is also telling--he's going to have to "monetize" his popularity on YouTube if he doesn't get off his ass on the book.

Toni--she's definitely becoming Susan Sarandon's character in "The Client" in many ways. That's not bad, mind you. The scene where she goes to the precinct to confront the lieutenant about Antoine's 'bone is telling. Even in early 2006, it's clear that NOPD is systemically dysfunctional to the point where it needs to be burned down and built up from the ashes. The cop's got a very valid point-when they're out doing incredibly stupid shit. what's a trombone?

Antoine...Antoine...Antoine...the man is something. Dancing in the second line with the stroller because baby-mama has to go see about a job. The whole interaction with the Japanese guy is significant. There are stories from most big US cities of conflict/tension/argument between asians and black folks, and here's where it came to "Treme." There are a LOT of jazz musicians and even more fans in Japan. My brief direct experience (three weeks in Tokyo) was telling, when the jazz combos playing the Tokyo Hilton during that time heard from bartenders I was from NOLA, they would come over and introduce themselves. I automatically greeted one piano player as "Professor" (proper respect, of course), and the guy was extremely flattered. The analytical/book-learning/Internet jazz of Koichi Toyama hit head-on with the Sixth Ward reality of Antoine Batiste. The Japanese gentleman's sense of honor, even in the face of Antoine's hot temper, wins out and Batiste gets his new 'bone. Only to find his original trombone in another pawn shop later, as he spends the cash Toyama gave him after playing for him.

Davis. Yes, it was dumb of him to say "n*gger" in a bar, even if he was quoting Antoine. (The quote is accurate and spot-on, however.) Maybe dumb isn't the right word, though. Davis honestly didn't realize he was doing something wrong.

And that's the whole problem with the word since the 1990s. The word has gone through three phases. First was from the time the first slaves were brought from West Africa until the ascent of Richard Pryor as a comedian. The word was "owned" by white folks as a way to classify black folks as a lower class of person. Offensive? Yes. As a result of that, younger generations began to move away from using the word. Richard's comedy stylings more-or-less gave white folks license to use the word again. After all, if Richard could make an album called "That N*gger's Crazy!" it can't be all that bad, right? Chevy Chase and Richard did the "word association" sketch on SNL, you get the idea. But Richard recants in the 1980s, and the word falls totally out of favor at that point. By the 1990s, it's the "N" word, and that's the third phase we're still in.

Not all white folks have given up their license to say the "N" word, however. In the 1970s, a lot of white people felt OK with continuing the word's use, it having been blessed. Once it became the "N" word, however, liberal/educated/"non-racist" whites felt they now had the right to use the word, in certain contexts. I remember an episode of the old Fox TV show, "Boston Public," where the stereotypical white English teacher lets the kids choose a book to read/discuss. Not being able to resist screwing with the guy, the kids pick Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy is a Harvard professor, and the book is a legitimate overview of the word's history. When the black members of the school's faculty get wind of the lesson plan, several of them freak. One in particular, the choir teacher, is such a complete asshole that it's hard to be sympathetic to her complaints, but when the black principal of the school backs her up, you realize that the word's usage is more than just a sore spot with a kook. (In that show, the black principal takes the English class for the day to discuss the book.)

The English teacher was NOT happy that he had to back down from his lesson plan, to the extent that he was not allowed to lead the discussion. His attitude is identical to Davis' - White Privilege. Both men feel they are "post-racial," and can be afforded the same Rights and Privileges as the black folks around them.

It don't work that way.

Yes, Barack Obama is President, but no, we're NOT post-racial. It can be argued that the black guy that decks Davis is suffering from post-storm PTSD, as most certainly a lawyer would had the man been arrested. Davis doesn't press the issue after being decked, leaving the bar with a painful reminder that, yes, he's a white man. No matter how much he's down with his neighborhood of Treme, he's still white, and attempts to exercise White Privilege in a mostly-black environment are going to end badly.

In the end, it's really not that big of a deal. The hothead black guy who hits Davis may never cross his path again. Davis learns an important life lesson. Best he said it to a younger guy who will just smack the crap out of him than someone whose respect actually means something to him.

Bravo, Mr. Elie and the "Treme" ensemble!