New James Brown doc reveals how he helped make black beautiful with his ‘Say It Loud’ anthem

nypost.com:

James Brown: Say It Loud” — a four-part series that premieres Monday and then continues Tuesday on A&E — the Godfather of Soul himself breaks down exactly why his 1968 anthem “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud” changed the way African-Americans saw and spoke of themselves as “black.” “‘Black’ is a [bad] thing that was basically put on …the black man in America,” says an Afroed Brown in archival footage.“And hey, I’m black and I’m proud, but I really don’t want to have to say, ‘I’m black,’ [as if] you had to say, ‘You’re white.’ I want to say that we’re people and that we’re brothers and that we got the same fight.”But after the assassination of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, there was no such equality yet for black Americans. The fight was still very much on to get there.“It’s probably one of the most bravest things and the most political thing that James Brown has ever done,” says Oscar-winning filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson — who executive-produced the project along with Mick Jagger — in the doc.“It’s the original Black Lives Matter.”“That song was dangerous, aggressive and political,” adds Public Enemy leader Chuck D. “But I’m 8 years old … All I know is it’s funky, I’m saying the word ‘black,’ and we ain’t ‘colored’ no more.”Indeed, the black-is-beautiful anthem — which was inspired after the Black Panthers pressured Brown to make a stronger statement as the most popular and influential African-American performer in the US — reframed how his entire race represented themselves to the country.“He changed our self-identity,” says Rev.

Al Sharpton in the doc. “He changed the culture. He changed how white America looked at us because it’s different when your chest is out and you’re proud, ’cause now.