The Shields McIlwaine Award Winner: movie pitches by the bitter black woman - Caylah Graham

pitch i: the media

let’s make a movie

he says –

so she strips and walks and turns and fucks and sits and barks and

lets him do it

because he is white male and everything that she is not.

the media wants to see her on her knees

begging.

panting.

this is how the black women is seen in each scene:

identified as your plaything,

a toy to break

glue

repeat

reuse

attention!

the tickets have sold.

credits:

we praise

the effortless acting

of the dark-skinned

woman who has sold

herself to the highest

bidder

pitch ii: motherhood

let’s make a movie

they say.

less nudity,

more empowering –

the single mother with five kids from different seeds

who struggles and fights and in the end she wins...

something.

the gift of silver pins that strike down her kin

a dime of green to feed her kids

she gets it out the mud

right?

she’s strong so she can do it

with her village

of wet dirt and grass and everything and nothing and no one

she doesn’t want to struggle but

there is no elegy

for the single black mother.

mama doesn’t get the love

ebony men saved

to rescue the

peaches of the world

attention!

the tickets have sold.

credits:

a special thanks

to the white damsel

stealing the obsidian

to create

the perfect stone

pitch iii: the black girl

let’s make a movie

about the black girl.

intelligent, beautiful, and dark skin

we won’t treat her like we did Aunt Viv.

she is not here to be loud and obnoxious,

used as comedic relief to make you smile

she is not your black poster child

this little girl is thick with hips,

she is cute wide eyed and chunky

scarred by baby phat

no slim-thique wavy hair and yellow bone

she is not somebody’s mama

or somebody’s slave or somebody’s best friend

or somebody’s somebody

she is the black girl –

my black child who gets to be a child,

wonder in her eye,

who doesn’t worry about wondering eyes.

attention!

the tickets are not selling.

credits:

to the little black girls

that still choose

the blonde dolls.

and to the directors

who have Zendaya on speed dial.

let’s watch a movie.

the following preview has been approved for

the appropriate audiences by the black

motion picture association of black people

everywhere.

The film advertised has been rated

B (black)

disclaimer this movie does not include

slavery, drugs, guns, violence, racism,

prisons, abandonment, jim crow and

affirmative action.

the show will now begin...

rolling opening credits

it fades to black

it fades to black

it fades to black

it fades to black

it fades to black

it fades to black

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UHS Award Winner - Jasmine Polanco

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The Leah Lovenheim Award Winner: I Smoked A Pack Of Senecas While Breaking Up With My Boyfriend In A Denny’s Parking Lot - Victoria Zickas