August 31, 2021
It's the last day of August, and the United States' involvement in Afghanistan is officially over. As the Taliban claims victory, more than 100 Americans remain in the country, though the State Department has said that it plans to assist those who want to leave. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that more than 123,000 people had been safely flown out of Afghanistan, including about 6,000 US citizens. Meanwhile, conservative war hawks are spinning US withdrawal from Afghanistan as a win for China. Social media executives are grappling with the thorny issue of whether to ban the Taliban from their sites. And President Biden will have to figure out how to continue diplomatic relations with a Taliban-run government. Biden just discussed the future of US foreign policy in Afghanistan. Watch his remarks here. —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement    The conundrum of how companies handle the new regime. BY ALI BRELAND
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 SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE
Forget the idea that Black cinema primarily depicts a singular set of storylines and themes centered on shared trauma, says screenwriter Maya Cade, who spent a year cataloging more than 250 currently streaming Black films from between 1915 and 1979. Her effort to make that rich history easily accessible culminated in the launch of the Black Film Archive last week. From silent films to horror flicks to blockbuster comedies and romance, Black cinema spans ever-expanding genres and generations, now archived on her site. In her introductory note, Cade writes that the films appearing in the archive “have something significant to say about the Black experience; speak to Black audiences; and/or have a Black star, writer, producer, or director.” The intentionally broad criteria is an attempt to expand the ways Black films are framed. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that the act of making Black film history accessible is the act of transforming collective memory,” Cade told me. “To intentionally preserve is to remember, and to remember is to reimagine what the future can hold. Here, the films can be many things, and among those things are being remembered, treasured, and seen.” Beyond archiving, Cade is also one of the vanishingly few people to use Twitter to spread joy, bringing snippets of cultural history—and countless gems from cinema as a whole—to her followers’ feeds every day. She’ll continue updating the archive monthly and maintaining a supplemental newsletter. Explore the rich range of Black film: If you find yourself with an hour to spare, pick a movie and start streaming. —Abigail Weinberg Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter.
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