Washington, DC Filmmaker and Director of Critically Acclaimed Feature Film Residue Merawi Gerima Announced as Featured Speaker, Along With Residue Cast Members at NOIR FEST
New York, NY – December 9, 2020 – NOIR FEST (December 5-12, 2020) has announced Featured Speakers for its event, which celebrates Black life, creativity, and healing.
On Thursday, December 10th, NOIR FEST will be hosting a roundtable with the Director, Cast, and Crew of Director Merawi Gerima’s first feature-length film Residue, which tells the story of a failed screenwriter who returns home to Washington, DC, only to find it overrun by gentrification.
Merawi Gerima is originally from Washington, DC and his origin has a heavy influence on his work, as well as his community-centered orientation. Residue, a community endeavor made possible primarily by the efforts of the people it attempts to portray, was picked up by ARRAY, Ava DuVernay’s film company and can now be streamed on Netflix after receiving rave reviews in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and more. The NOIR FEST team calls Residue“a masterclass in effortless storytelling”.
NOIR FEST was founded in 2019 by Lolade Siyonbola to transform the way Blackness is viewed and understood globally through visually stunning, aspirational films centered on believable Black heroes. Converted to a virtual festival due to COVID-19, this December’s NOIR FEST will be the first of its kind film festival featuring healing experiences like yoga, reiki, and meditation and will be held online from December 5-12. For more information, please visit https://noirfest.co/. To purchase tickets for the event, go here.
This year’s NOIR FEST will be like no other! With films, music, yoga and reiki, NOIR FEST 2020: Healing, Transformation & (R)evolution will be the only week-long party uniting the Black Diaspora through storytelling, discussion, and movement that heals us.
The party of the century kicks off on Saturday, December 5th. Did you get your tickets yet? Here are the themes for the week that you can look forward to:
Radical Self-Love (Saturday, Dec 5th)
Saturday kicks off with live music and a glorious invocation led by Hanifa Nayo Washington. Sonya Renee Taylor will open with a keynote talk on Alchemy, Radical Self-Love & Blackness as Technology.
Raise Your Voice (Sunday, Dec 6th)
On Sunday, we kickback a bit with some yoga, then start the discussion on how we will script the future as a collective, defining our hopes and dreams of Liberation.
We Come to Work (Monday, Dec 7th)
We’ve all watched as Nigeria’s government responded to peaceful protests to #EndSARS and #EndOpression with more brutality and repression. But the Liberation Generation is on the move. Since #RedTuesday, numerous youth political parties have sprung up: highly sophisticated international organizations that promise to deliver a New Nigeria in 2023. On Monday we will hear from them and explore the ways in which Liberation for Nigeria can mean Liberation for all Black people across the globe.
The Treasury of Black Art (Tuesday, Dec 8th)
Black art is the greatest treasure of the world. From our films to our photography to our music to our paintings and digital art, everything produced from Black creativity has the potential to spurn economies and transform culture. Where does our art fit into our Hundred Year Plan? How can art be used to fund our Liberation? How can we empower Artists at the time we need them the most with the world in a state of relative disarray to craft a Liberated Black future from their innate creativity?
The Divine Feminine(Wednesday, Dec 9th)
Wednesday is for the laddieees and femme-identifying! Yes! All creation starts with the Divine Feminine. Wednesday features opportunities for deep healing, manifestation with powerhouse women and film screenings that inspire and awaken the Divine Feminine.
For the Artists: Making (R)evolution Irresistible (Thursday, Dec 10th)
Calling all aspiring filmmakers and creatives. This is your day. We will be joined by Meriwa Gerima along with the cast and crew of Residue and host a DOPE artist roundtable for creative in the film industry.
Movement is Medicine(Friday, Dec 11th)
Feel-good Friday will feature the best music videos of the barmy and our favorite playlists from the DJs who will be featured in Saturday’s spin-off.
100 Year Plan (Saturday, Dec 12th)
To close out the week, we will be joined by thought leaders across the Diaspora to revisit our 100 Year Plan for Liberation from within and close out with a DJ spin-off featuring revolutionary music from across the Diaspora.
Get your tickets today! General Admissions tickets start at $25, Industry Access at $50 for private events with filmmakers, distributors and press, and VIP access at $110 which includes exclusive gifts/swag and private VIP events.
The countdown to NOIR FEST 2020: Healing, Transformation & (R)evolution has begun! This year’s festival will be a week-long virtual party from Saturday, December 5th to Saturday, December 12th featuring legendary speakers, gorgeous films, a digital arts exhibit, yoga and reiki, uniting the Black Diaspora through storytelling and movement that heals us. Get your tickets today! General Admissions tickets start at $25, Industry Access at $50 for private events with filmmakers, distributors and press, and VIP access at $110 which includes exclusive gifts/swag and private VIP events.
We are thrilled to announce a few of the incredible speakers you will hear from during the week:
Sonya Renee Taylor (opening keynote speaker) is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, an international movement and organization committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice and global transformation. She is the author of The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love. Sonya’s work as an award winning Performance Poet, activist and transformational leader has been featured on HBO, BET, MTV, NPR, PBS, CNN, The New York Times and many more. Believing in the power of art as a vehicle for social change, Sonya has been widely recognized for her work as a change agent.
Merawi Gerima is a filmmaker from Washington DC. His origin informs his work and his community-centered orientation. Residue, his first feature which you can find on Netflix, was a total communal endeavor, made possible primarily by the effort of the people it attempts to portray. Check out the New York Times review of Residue here.
Reelblack founder Michael J. Dennis is an award winning filmmaker, curator and media host based in Philadelphia, PA. A graduate of both NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and The American Film Institute Conservatory, his short films and documentaries have screened globally. He has worked with Chris Rock, Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby and The Hudlin Brothers. Mike has curated film festivals since 1994, when he worked with the New York Underground Film Festival. As President of the The Philadelphia Film and Video Association and founding member of both Councilman David Oh’s Black Film Advisory Committee and Ava DuVernay’s Array, he has worked diligently to develop infrastructure for Independent filmmakers.
You don’t want to miss the party of the century starting on Saturday, Dec 5th and running through Saturday, Dec 12th.
We’re thrilled to announce that the first NOIR FEST Digital will kick off on Saturday December 5 with film screenings and other must-attend events through Dec 12, 2020!!! NOIR FEST was created to transform the way Blackness is viewed and understood globally through visually stunning, aspirational films centered on believable Black heroes. We can’t wait to begin closing out 2020 with this week of renewal, connection, Black intimacy and (r)evolution. Our theme for this first virtual rendition is Healing, Transformation & (R)evolution through Storytelling.
This global virtual event will feature communal screenings and a digital art exhibit, as well as panels, workshops, and live music. Think Reiki, yoga, live filmmaker roundtables and a global DJ battle. Film selections will include contemporary as well as lesser known classic Black films, and will be judged by our film jury which includes Amy Andrieux from MoCADA and Brian Newman formerly of the Tribeca Film Institute.
Tickets are now available here. General Admissions tickets start at $25, Industry Access at $50 for private events with filmmakers, distributors and press, and VIP access at $110 which includes exclusive gifts/swag and private VIP events.
Since our inception at Yale in 2019, NOIR FEST has become synonymous with glorious images of Blackness. In our soft launch last year, we screened To Be Free by Adepero Oduye (cinematography by Bradford Young), White Colour Black by Joseph Adesunloye and Peau de Chagrin by Baloji. You can learn more about these films here.
For updates on the festival and to stay up to date on films and speakers as they’re announced, follow NOIR FEST on Twitter and Instagram.
About NOIR FEST: NOIR FEST is the first offering from NOIR Labs, a social enterprise created to inspire and operationalize Black Liberation worldwide through art, technology and community building. Learn more about our vision here. We’re following a New Blueprint for Black Liberation to develop products, programs and experiences that empower Black people to liberate ourselves from within. All of our offerings integrate art, technology and community building to rewire the Black collective consciousness for Liberation. Our mission is to make it clear to us and the world that Black people have always been the pinnacle of human genius and ingenuity and thus should be treated with reverence throughout the world.
Featured: Black & White by Shakquan McAllister, featured in Black Glory at NOIR FEST 2019.
If you’re a Black filmmaker, artist or scriptwriter, submit your work to NOIR FEST to join us in putting Black dreams on screen and amplifying aspirational Black stories and characters from across the globe.
NOIR FEST is the first of it’s kind digital film festival featuring the finest aspirational films from across the Black Diaspora. Through our integration of fine art and film curation and intuitive, meticulous technological design, we are committed to transforming the way Blackness is viewed and understood globally using visually stunning, aspirational films centered on believable Black heroes.
Through our quarterly virtual festivals, NOIR FEST is poised to become a dynamic movement catalyzing a paradigm shift in Black representation in global media, as well as a leading distributor of the most visionary Black films. During the Covid Era, our festival will take place online with live viewings, community dialogues, ratings, filmmaker Q&As and live DJs.
We are currently accepting submissions of films that reimagine the Black experience through visionary script-writing, multidimensional, rigorously developed characters, and stimulating imagery. Submissions will be judged by a Jury with extensive experience in Hollywood and in the Black art world.
Final selections will be screened during our virtual festival taking place Dec 5-12, 2020. Juried works will also receive cash awards, plaques and gift packages and will be supported in wielding additional resources for continued work and for distributing their films widely.
Submit your work here. Use NRFST2020 to bypass the deadline through Nov 8.
Pictured: Dudley O’Shaughnessy & Alassane Sy in Joseph Adesunloye’s White Colour Black, 2016.
In one of my late night Twitter scrolls, seeking a soothe through the biting comedies of Nigerian and Black Twitters, I somehow magically came across Residue, the greatest film I’ve ever seen. Yes. It’s better than the Godfather and Malcolm X and I’ll tell you why in a bit.
The first thing I came across that fateful night was a clip of an interview that ReelBlack did with Haile Gerima, film legend and director of Sankofa–a film which Hollywood execs refused to distribute, and which went on to gross three million dollars independently. In the clip, Gerima stated that he hated film because it had been used against him, and that Latin Americans consider the film to be “the new hydrogen bomb.” I was now wide awake and sitting at full attention. If you know anything about my philosophy on film and media, you know that these words for me were sweeter than the syrupy flesh of a Haitian mango.
“The most important audience member has been deeply changed by this film, which is me.”
Merawi Gerima on ‘Residue’
Introducing… Residue
I dug further, and saw that Haile’s son, Merawi Gerima was also active on this recently posted thread. And then I found out about Residue. My raving reviews of Residue are acutely biased because of not only Haile’s interview, but because of Merawi’s introduction to the film. Knowing the psychology of the filmmaker’s father, knowing that he came from such a warmly radical philosophical lineage, I watched Merawi’s introduction to Residue with the excitement of a traveler finding an oasis in a desert.
I’ve transcribed the introduction here because it is a tome that must be amplified. It must be carved into stone and placed as a monument wherever Black people thirst for Liberation. These words must never be forgotten. This is a poem that must be taught to school children all over the world–Black school children especially. But I highlight one section for you here:
“When I finished this film, I thought I had gotten the rage off my chest
I thought I had found peace
But now, here in the summer of two thousand twenty
I find myself overflowing with a rage that cannot be contained
And so I present to you Residue
Which is not a film
It is a weapon in every sense of the word
It is a blade that we fashioned to the best of our ability
And which we fully intend to use against those who seek to destroy us.”
The Viewing
The stare to end all stares. Dennis Lindsey as Delonte in Merawi Gerima’s ‘Residue’ now available on Netflix.
And the night got better. I saw that Slamdance and Array were hosting a live-tweet watch party with the centerpiece of, you guessed it, Merawi Gerima, the director (and writer and editor) of Residue. In a half hour. Which meant it would begin at 1am my time (BST…Cambridge, UK). So here I am overdue to sleep and I can’t because I’m too excited for this film and the force and meaning behind it and I couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity to watch it while in dialogue with the filmmaker. And so I didn’t. I watched it in complete awe while fangirling the Gerimas on all fronts.
Overall, I’ll say that Residue was the first time that I saw a Black film–or any film–with such effortless acting that I thought I was watching a documentary. It felt like I was watching my neighbors in Brooklyn just live their lives. I truly had to double check that it was indeed a narrative feature, which means I can never watch any scipted content the same ever again.
Effortless performances. Effortless agency. Black agency. Black characters who were motivated by the force that drove them–love for each other, for their community, for Liberation, for power. Their power was in their innate connection to each other, a connection that came across as effortless on screen.
“Gentrification is one small thing that Black people face. It just falls into a massive congealed experience of oppression that Black people face on a daily basis because of our lack of economic power.”
Merawi Gerima on Gentrification and racial capitalism.
There is a softness to the Black power that Residue exudes. It’s in the poetry of the scene in which Jay visits Dion in prison. In Jay’s conversations with his parents. In their comforting of Mike’s mother. In the prison scene, we’re shown what could’ve been in a more humane society. In Mike’s passing, we’re shown the fabric of Black society, and how fiercely we care for one another.
Gerima depicted Black death without violence, Black pain without feebleness. Instead of making Black lives disposable and Black joy fleeting, he centered our joy, our desires, our intimacy, our strength.
Full Review on Unprecedented
I could go on and on, but instead, I’ll leave you with the below clip of Unprecedented, in which Evan calls Merawi a prodigy. I know that prodigy doesn’t begin to describe this filmmaker who has, in his first film, surpassed the work of the legends who have defined cinema for a century. If you haven’t watched the film yet, if you haven’t watched it at least twice, you’re certainly not making the best decisions with your life.
Watch our detailed review of Residue on Unprecedented below.
Insightful Interview with Merawi in Rome
In addition to his impeccable filmmaking, Merawi appears to be quite the sociologist. Watch his interview at Giornate degli Autori below in which he eloquently discusses the plight of Black people. Some of my favorite quotes:
“Gentrification is a symptom of a much larger problem of our powerlessness in these areas…We don’t have the power to determine our own cities, to maintain our own culture… We don’t ever have enough time in one place to accumulate such history, to have a record of our existence over the course of hundreds of thousands of years…”
“Everything that we experience, economics is at the core, but we also know that (especially in America), economics falls along racial lines. It’s no accident that Black people by and large have nothing in the country, and white people have it all. Economics, capitalism, it’s all racialized.”
“The most important audience member has been deeply changed by this film, which is me… [Residue] has been the best film school, the best life school …”
“Gentrification is one small thing about what Black people face. It just falls into a massive congealed experience of oppression that Black people face on a daily basis because of our lack of economic power.”
Ok, go watch the film ten times and then tell me what you think. If you’ve already seen it, share your thoughts below. And also, join me and 1000 film lovers at NOIR FEST this December. xo
I thought this introduction was worth transcribing because it is one of the most powerful and poetic things I’ve ever heard, and I don’t want it to be forgotten in the wave of celebration of the artistry of his film, Residue. See the video below, followed by the transcript.
Hello, my name is Merawi Gerima
I’m with the team behind Residue
Residue is an imperfect attempt to capture the remaining pieces of my community before they disappear forever
It is an attempt to say “we existed”, and to say it with cinematography, instead of leaving it to archaeology
It is a film about not going extinct
It is about not being buried
It is about doing your best to not explode
About not becoming a statistic
About not falling for the decoys
About loving while we still can
About making it home to our families
When I finished this film, I thought I had gotten the rage off my chest
I thought I had found peace
But now, here in the summer of two thousand twenty
I find myself overflowing with a rage that cannot be contained
And so I present to you Residue, which is not a film
It is a weapon in every sense of the word
It is a blade that we fashioned to the best of our ability
And which we fully intend to use against those who seek to destroy us.
So I have no idea why I’m calling this the Q list. Q for Quality, Q for Quick, Q for Queen, you take your pick. It just came to me and I liked it so we’ll go with it for now. It’s a list of my favorite films. I’ll attempt to publish one every month.
This is the loooooong awaited list of Nigerian films I highly recommend because I’ve shown them at previous festivals/screenings and they’ve really hit. Warning: these are not aspirational stories, as they do depict tragedy and probably wouldn’t make it to a NOIR FEST, but they are classics and do feature many aspirational characters.
As great as these films are, no one I meet outside of the small bubble of African film buffs or New York African creatives seems to have ever heard of them. Which is a travesty. They’re all online.
I’ll also quickly explain my rating system. For a film to get an overall 10, it has to be a Godfather or Malcolm X. Life-changing, unforgettable shit with a perfect script, perfect cinematography, perfect acting. The closest second I’ve been able to come up with is Veer Zara. I give that a 9.
I rate films on very specific criteria, but won’t necessarily rate each criteria in each film below. For me a 5 is a solid effort. A 4 means I cringed but got through it.
The below films were shown at NYU at my second Nollywood event—as mentioned in Black Genius #1. I’ll write another post about the Yale Africa Film Festival selections soon.
Half of a Yellow Sun
(2013. Dir. Biyi Bandele) – 10 for performances, 9 for Script, 10 for historiocity.
Half of a Yellow Sun is based on Chimamanda Adichie’s book of the same name, and recounts the unfolding of the Biafra War through the intimate lens of a middle-class family. It’s hands-down the best-executed Nollywood film of the Nollywood 2.0 era, and features Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, John Boyega and other talented actors. I once wrote a detailed review for Applause, I’ll update this when I find it.
If you’re Igbo and you haven’t experienced this critical part of your historical identity, fix that now. It’s worth the fee and much more. Trigger warning: Genocide.
(2014. Dir. Kunle Afolayan) – 9 for historiocity, 9 indigeneity on the Yoruba language and cultural exposure, 10 for cinematography…
October 1 was the first Nollywood film to be purchased by Netflix. It’s a historical thriller set to the period enclosing Nigeria’s independence from Britain. The story follows an investigator trying to solve serial murders. Though it’s a thriller, it didn’t leave me horrified because of the rich cultural influence in the story and the radical ending. I also closed my eyes during the rape scenes. The violence is not nearly as gory as what we are accustomed to from the West. Trigger warning: sexual violence.
If you’re Yoruba and you haven’t seen this rich depiction of our culture, textiles, language, fix that now.
(2014. Dir. Andrew Dosunmu) – The cinematography is an 11, the acting also quite high at an 8.
Andrew Dosunmu is a visual artist so his films are more of an art exhibit than they are a writer’s joy. In this film about a newlywed Yoruba couple who struggles to conceive a child, you’ll see the most magnificent Yoruba wedding on camera anywhere. The film has minimal dialogue, and I’m a writer, so I’d give the script a 5. But the story is moving and memorable. The accents are profoundly imperfect but the cinematography and Danai Gurira’s melanin makes up for all of it. Trigger warning: Nigerian mother in law.
(2014. Dir. Joanna Lipperman) – 6 for cinematography, 10 for historiocity.
Abiola was Nigeria’s most beloved elected president. He was murdered before he could take office by a poisoned apple allegedly handed to him by Susan Rice. It’s a terribly depressing story, but one that every Nigerian should know, and that’s what this film takes care of. The story is told from his family’s perspective and absolutely gut-wrenching, but it should also make you hopeful to see that his daughter has entered politics to uphold her father’s legacy. This was definitely a solid film, with a 6 for cinematography, 10 for historiocity, 8 for the story.
Watch the trailer below. This film is not on Amazon or Netflix, but you can access it through the distributor here.
So I’ve watched Blackish since it came on air. Not because it’s the best thing since television, but because I grew up watching happy Black families and I will try out anything once which fits this premise. The social commentary–which picked up over time–was the spice I needed to keep on watching. And Tracee Ellis Ross’s wardrobe, my GAWD.
BlackAF was initially attractive to me as a parody of Blackish, but then I saw all the negative feedback, most of my vocal friends hated it and I thought it was over between the show and me. And then a few faves told me they loved it. Now I was intrigued. How could this one show be sooo polarizing for Black people? I could write a dissertation about #BlackAF, but instead I’ll keep to what I hated and loved about it, the major issues the show raised for Black audiences, and how it could improve for Season 2.
I definitely hated episodes 1 and 2 enough that I wanted to crawl out of my second story bedroom window in order to escape them. The acting, the scripts, none of it worked for me. But midway through episode 3, I was sold. I understand this happens with a lot of shows, but I think it can still be avoided.
You must note, this is not a show to watch to understand what Black people are like. Or a show to teach Black children how to treat their parents. Or how to spend your money. This is not a show you watch for guidance.
“#blackAF” is a messy show about the mess of making television… [Barris’ creative choices] gives “#blackAF” a television-for-television-writers appeal.
Warning, I’m biased. Barris, as himself, demands more honest Black critique of Black art. For me, anyone who genuinely welcomes solid critique is good in my book, because, like me, that person acknowledges their limitations as an artist or creator and accepts that they’ll never please everyone, but they need to do what is true for them in the moment. Here I am building a movement to help Black consumers engage critically with Black films and then the Black creator of the moment says exactly what I feel for all the world to hear: WE NEED MORE CRITIQUE OF BLACK ART. We need to be rigorously honest, even if lovingly, so that all our shit can improve. How do we accept critique and give critique in order to produce more flawless, visionary art?
Here’s a reminder for everybody that Black folks 1- don’t have to all like the same things. 2- don’t have to all like what other Black folks create 3- don’t need any shows or films to capture the full Black experience, or be a monument to universal Blackness. Since we all know that there are as many ways to be Black as there are grains of sand, it actually doesn’t matter if this show captures my Black experience. The fact that it doesn’t is more reinforcement for us to find and distribute more of our own unique and global content, and not to wait for some old white Hollywood gatekeeper to determine whether or not our stories are worthy of distribution.
Now, the Name
Is he saying that the characters of Blackish aren’t truly Black? Is he saying that the characters of Grownish aren’t really grown? Is he saying that his family is as Black as it gets? Or is he referencing the ownership of these terms and these “statuses” and the complexities that go along with them? Is he telling us what it means to be BlackAF? Or is he asking us as viewers to raise these questions and interrogate them and the characters he’s brought into our lives?
Comparisons to Blackish
I don’t see BlackAF as the same thing as Blackish, at all. BlackAF is much more rigorous in interrogating the status quo, in unseating white power. It takes risks that ABC could literally never afford to allow. All of America would be up in arms if Broadway had said “a face you like to shoot” on network television. Or if Kenya talked about how white people can’t survive being in the sun.
Casting
If our freak outs over Rashida Jones’ casting has shown anything, it’s that there is a contentious debate about who gets to be Black, and of course, moreso, who gets to be BlackAF. I don’t think Barris meant literally to communicate that he or his family are the epitome of Blackness.
Some people felt excluded by that label because they didn’t see themselves in his story, at least not in a positive light. Just like he didn’t mean half of the script to be taken literally. The show did an incredible job of raising questions. Those are the questions we should be debating.
Who gets to be Black AF? As a Nigerian-born, Missouri-raised, Brooklyn-formed eternal immigrant, I don’t ask permission to claim my Blackness, and I don’t think anyone else should. The kind of Black people I love are those who are consistent in identifying with their heritage, their people, have deep pride in their hue and ancestral heritage, and are committed to the upliftment of all Black people. I wish this could be Webster’s definition of Blackness. But I don’t get to decide that. Because I’m one of 1.4 billion Black people on this planet.
I have many thoughts on the additional social commentary in this show, but in the interest of space and spice, I’ll save those for our Netflix & Chat.
Barris assembles a superstar panel to discuss the need for more Black critique of Black art.
Room for improvement
Other than episodes 3 and 4, the funnies were minimal. I was consistently screaming through episode 4 such that I feared the neighbors would knock on my door. But there was a downhill slope in the comedy after that, as the show veered into drama territory. This may have been intentional. I’m not someone who’d say a show can only be comedy or drama. In fact, I liked the fact that it transitioned between the two. But because the good funnies were so hard-hitting, I just want more of them.
I’d love to see a richer engagement with other types of Blackness. I’m not sure that Barris is ready to dig into intra-racial friction, ie that between Africans and African Americans, but it’s clear from hints at the issue in both Blackish and Black AF that it’s something he thinks a lot about.
Overall, I think #BlackAF is not for everybody. It’s for those who like radical dry humor, self-examination and who can appreciate satire. And if you’re looking for strategies on how to apologize to your wife, this is one hell of a way to do so.
xo,
Lolade
PS: Please watch this TI interview with Barris, it’s one of the most honest interviews I’ve ever seen.
This article talks about Barris’ trauma and why he writes about his life so much.
Here’s some peppeh from Black Twitter!
If y’all don’t like #blackAF you might just be the problem
— Kolby Listenbee ™️ (@List10bee_Swagg) May 2, 2020
Why are yal normalizing black kids being disrespectful and cursing at their parents WE DON'T DO THAT… ugh so much is wrong with this show #BlackAFpic.twitter.com/bwRowwliqQ
