Black Women Deserve More than Light Bill Larry
Why are Black women being asked to step down instead of asking Black men to step up?
Who remembers the story of Zora Banks from Disappearing Acts, a film that premiered in 2000 starring Sanaa Lathan and Wesley Snipes based on the book by Terry McMillan? Zora was an accomplished Black woman who was an educator and a vocalist. She moved to Brooklyn, New York and started dating a Black man named Franklin, a construction worker. Franklin, despite having no compatible financial means to contribute to expensive Brooklyn rent was invited to move into Zora’s home. Zora grew to become wildly in love with Franklin, their love affair was intense but soon took a dark turn.
While living rent-free in Zora’s home, Franklin begins working on his construction license and honorably created a goal to launch his own business rehabbing brownstones.
But as Franklin began to stumble on his goals, he became resentful toward Zora and started to drink excessively.
Franklin also didn’t like Zora’s friends and because he didn’t want to be around any of them, he attempted to isolate Zora. Mind you, Zora was new to Brooklyn and Franklin was born and raised in the borough. Over time, Franklin began to surface behavior that was enormously insecure and volatile.
Franklin became so menacing, Zora was forced to ask Franklin to leave her home—even though she was pregnant with Franklin’s baby—a child who would become Franklin’s third given he had previous children from another situation, which also never materialized into a marriage.
After Franklin was asked to leave Zora’s home, a drunk Franklin snuck back in while Zora was out and trashed every corner of Zora’s brownstone. You see, because Franklin was skillful as a construction worker, he polished the wood floors, built bookshelves among other enhancements to Zora’s home, he felt entitled to tear down what he built.