By Nellie Curtiss …
On New Year’s Eve, I pulled up AppleTV+ for the original movie, The Banker (2020) starring Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie, Nicholas Hoult and Nia Long.
The small write up accompanying the ad said, “In the 1960s, two African-American entrepreneurs hire a working-class white man to pretend to be the head of their business empire while they pose as a janitor and chauffeur.”
The site, RogerEbert.com, points out that it was a civil rights issue brought to light through the real-life work of the characters to level the housing market for black American dreamers.
The New York Times wrote in March: “The Banker” plucks an obscure figure out of history to very mixed effect. Set largely before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, it tells the story of an African-American entrepreneur, Bernard S. Garrett, as he takes on racism in real estate and banking. It’s an appealing David and Goliath setup that uses laughs, white racism and black righteousness to soft-sell a tale of inequality, heroic capitalism and eye-drooping mathematics.”
I found the use of mathematics important to illustrate the importance of math in Garrett’s life since childhood. References in movies and tv shows to Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) is important in my eye to show the cultural importance of education in the sciences for our country.
Nostalgia. I was taken with the immersion in the 60s from the vehicles, lawns, and clothing. The cars included Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillacs from the 1950s to 60s. It was like reliving those years that I lived so many years ago now. I could feel the Chevy door handles and the upholstered backseats as my sister and I leaned into our ice cream cones and sang with Mom “Home again, home again.”
It also made me consider the American Dream and what it takes now to own real estate, one’s own home, a yard, a garden and to raise a family. It took a long time for me to find my small portion of the American Dream and with help from agencies like the USDA – grants for rural homeowners, The Energy Resource Center, and organizations like Christian Community Services Projects my home is a reality.
Where racism was the unspoken variable in home ownership in the 50s and 60s, we (thanks to the investigation that Garrett and his partners brought about) now have the fair housing law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or gender.
So, enjoy the 2020 movie, The Banker, and celebrate how far we’ve come as a country and as human beings that we celebrate the words, “All men are created equal” from the Declaration of Independence and add that “All Men” means all people regardless of race, age, gender, or religion. My hope for the new year is that more and more of us can thrive beyond Covid 19 and that we all find our slice of the American Pie. Enjoy life and all it’s promises and goodwill through perpetuity.
Columns by nellie 