Alexander Culverwell
The film Talk to Me was about the racism in the time of the 60s and 70s and was mainly shown through the disc Jokey, Petey. It was of a time when African Americans were trying to strive for equality in the community. Petey is a DJ and an American American. Petey used the power of "black radio to unite and unify the black community," (Newman 127). Newman also mentions that "black listeners had more confidence in disc jockeys they could tell were black" (124). Even though a lot of similar d j's were becoming decreasingly popular Petey kept increasing his popularity due to his way of telling it the way he saw it. he did not put any kind of spin on it, he sees and tells the exact same way.
When Peter got his opportunity to be on the tonight show, it showed that he had made a stance in the community because to get on that show is a great accomplishment in itself. However, Petey didn't see it like that because he viewed the show as entertainment and he didn't want to be viewed in that light. He thought that being on the tonight show would mean that people would be laughing along or even at him, resulting in him not being able to get across his message of equality among the different races, especially between the black people and the white people.