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I remember
growing up in Los Angeles and listening to news reports of the Civil
Rights demonstration in the South. At the time I thought racism
was was limited to the South. Such were the thoughts of young boy
before the Los Angeles Watts Riots broke out. I had no idea of the
reality of things.
I remember
my father telling me of the Anglo-Israelite beliefs of his mother.
This is the belief that the Whites are the creation of God, and
the Jews and Blacks are the devil's offspring. A very poisonous
belief, indeed. (Does anybody remember this teaching from Herbert
W. Armstrong?) My father taught me that all people are the descendants
of Adam (one blood, one race). He had to break from this mother's
idea. It was made clear to me that her ideas were wrong.
Although
my father loved my grandmother as his mother, he had to reject her
racism. However, ending prejudice is not always simple, there are
residual effects that linger. Ending prejudicial views may begin
as a decision, but they require time and experience to finally over
come them.
During
my childhood in the late 50s and early 60s, I remember my mother
listening to "Christian" radio. I remember warnings from
White radio preachers proclaiming that Martin Luther King Jr. was
a communist, and part of a plot to divide the USA and bring about
the creation of a "Soviet Negro State" in the South. They
claimed that the "race riots" were communist inspired
and directed. Imagine this rubbish on so-called "Christian"
radio. --It was satanic to it's core. I remember hearing the "Rev."
Billy James Hargis falsely reported that MLK Jr. had protesters
urinate on the White House lawn and how King was educated in the
USSR! Imagine such filth on "Christian" radio? -And there
was a lot of this sort of thing.
Remember
this was Los Angeles "Christian" radio! And yet it was
very racist and satanic in its selection of programing. But, there
was my "non-racist" mother drinking it all in. Sometimes
it takes awhile for us to realize fully our own racism and break
with such family traditions.
 And
this is the point of this film for me. Kurt Russell plays Sgt. Eldon
Perry Jr. who is a victim of a very corrupt and racist family system
that has existed for generations. He would never admit that his
father and grandfather, both officers of the law, were wrong. Nor
is he capable of recognizing his own racism. It is only through
time and experience that he is able to come face to face with his
family's demons.
 The
story of Sgt. Eldon Perry Jr's self discovery is set juxtaposed
to the Rodney King beating by LA police officers. It personalizes
the broader picture of the struggle against "the ol' white
boys" network of control and racism into the journey of discovery
of an individual. This makes the situation understandable.
We
all have some degree of prejudice within us. We need to be free.
Dark Blue is a story of that journey to be free.
Our
goal:
To Be.. "Free, at last. Thank God Almighty, I am free at last."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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DARK
BLUE 
At
the same time note that the emerging new face of the LAPD is black
and white, male and female. The story celebrates such teamwork and
unity. It is the future.
