How awesome is this? Bob over at The Offside notes that Universal plans to make a movie based on The Fugees, and part of that deal includes $500,000 to build soccer fields for them. Obviously, this is one team out of thousands who play in substandard facilities in towns hostile to their sport. But it’s still a breath of fresh air.
Update on The Fugees
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January 25th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
_that’s_ sure not to make the white folks of Clarkston jealous/angry. The New York Times and Hollywood ganging up on them. Brilliant. And with the rich white folks in north fulton trying to break off, too. we’re gonna have us a little race rioting and gang warfare down there, soon.
thank you, uncle sam. thank you, racism. thank you right-wing hate speech radio and tv.
and i’m curious about maintenance costs. fields aren’t cheap. they’d be better to get a FieldTurf field. they mentioned a ‘foundation’ – good idea.
i’d even try to make sure – if there was going to be more than one field built – to give the town a baseball field, too, as a goodwill gesture. the parents might be racists, but the kids are still learning how to be racists – doing something like building a baseball field in addition to the soccer field would teach those white kids that they don’t have to grow up to be racists like their parents. and if the new soccer field goes in, and it’s beautiful, and the old field sucks, what do you think is going to happen to the new field? it’ll get torn to shreds by a bunch of marauding teenagers at the first opportunity. don’t put these immigrants in the crosshairs of american racist vigilante ‘justice’. build a baseball field, too.
Universal should put some kind of incentive system on the movie profits. the team/facilities/foundation/town should get some small percentage of profits – 1/2 of 1% maybe. that way we can all chip in and promote the movie and go see it, etc. – and we’ll all have a stronger incentive for doing so, and Universal will end up making more money.
and, i don’t know all the details, but i think it’s a pretty horrific policy for the government to resettle such large numbers of immigrants in any town like that, in such a dramatic/quick fashion – seemingly without much regard for the locals who’ve been there forever. when this immigrant resettlement changes the entire culture of a place, there’s bound to be trouble. we can talk about how folks are just being racist and all that, but as a society we have to make smart decisions about helping each other get along – none of us is perfect. it’s quite likely that the locals down there are frustrated for some legitimate reasons – i don’t know – but frustrated people end up doing things they wouldn’t normally do – even racist things.
and i’m wondering how ethical it is to do a deal like this. will the kids be involved in the movie? should they be? are they being exploited? would Hollywood/capitalism have jumped in if there wasn’t a profit to be made? “life rights to the team’s coach”? damn.
end of the day – is this a good thing? i’m not so clear-cut on it. I’d have rather seen some fundraising go on – some social and political pressure on the mayor to stop being a racist – some pressure on the federal government to stop sending new immigrants into small towns like Clarkston without regard for the local population – etc.
not to mention – i didn’t even think about this at first – how do you think the mayor and all his white, racist supporters are going to feel about being demonized in a Hollywood movie?! whew. that’s just too much. tellin ya – this could end up reeeeeaaaal bad.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Well I’m not sure it’s only racial and I’d venture to say its more anti-immigrant than racial in this case. A number of commentors at various blogs noted that dynamic and that even long-time black residents were against helping the immigrants out (all they want is give me give me give me’ was the quote if I recall) I’m sure the Mayor isn’t happy – but I don’t know if it’s just racism. I think it’s more NIMBY.
January 28th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I wouldn’t be surprised to see lawsuits come out of such a movie, a la Borat, if it portrayed the mayor and the locals as racist idiots. While I was appalled at the mayor’s decision, you also have to consider a small community that was suddenly having to deal with not only racial pressures, but language, cultural and religious ones as well.
I have heard a number of people around here express dismay over immigrants and soccer. For them, it seems that every flat surface with a sprinkling of grass is overrun by young Hispanic men playing pickup soccer. And a lot of the people complaining are soccer parents themselves!
My son, on the other hand, loves it. He can go up to the Y on any given afternoon and get into a soccer game – he’s always been welcomed. And I suspect he gets as much (or more!) out of playing pickup with the Hispanic men as he does out of his formal team practices.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I sure hope not. I agree that from the article it seemed to be anti-immigrant more than racial, but it’s a thin line.
It’s funny about the Hispanics trying to find any open patch of grass to play in. Nobody would say word one if some guys grabbed a pointy football and played a game of football with their friends.
We have a small group that comes to our complex each week and they’re very polite – adjusting their schedule once the soccer league practices start up. But the funny thing is, we’ve asked them a couple of times to join our regular pickup game and they always choose to stay by themselves and play 5v5. It’s unfortunate because our pickups are never dull!
May 29th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
sorry to bother. appreciate the involved conversation. does anyone know how to get a hold of the fugees and their coach? i made some contacts and one of the sports brands is willing to pick up the group for clothing, supplies, balls, bags, etc. We simply need to know how to get a hold of them…does anyone know??
dr.k//[email protected]
May 29th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Dr K,
They have a website with donation and contact information at http://www.fugeesfamily.org/
May 31st, 2007 at 11:50 pm
thanks, soccer dad. will follow your lead….dr.k
October 25th, 2011 at 1:47 am
I just finished a group project after reading Outcasts United and a movie won’t be portraying the now ex-mayor as racist and evil because he was racist and evil! Not to mention stupid. If this movie upsets him then he knows he was wrong. Reading some of the things that the Clarkston people did to the refugees makes me ashamed to be an American and a Georgian!