I immediately settled on the VHS tapes, because, as I’ve been lucky enough to experience in the past (in recent years, with the death of that specific medium certain at this point), I sometimes find *forgotten* or relatively obscure films and TV shows that aren’t available in any current format (DVD, Blu-ray, streaming or available for download online, etc).
It was how I first learned about Wendell B. Harris’ woefully under-seen and under-appreciated award-winning film Chameleon Street years ago, before it was finally released on DVD, which was only recently. Prior to that discovery (which I’ll say was in the late 1990s or very early 2000s), I had never heard of nor seen the film.
This time around, my little sidewalk sale junket over the weekend, introduced me to a VHS tape of a German film I’d never heard of, with a title that I simply could not ignore: How I Became A Negro. The actual title was in German – Wie ich ein Neger wurde. It wasn’t subtitled on the tape itself (there was no official cover; instead it was a blank case with the title hand-written in block letters). If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew that “Neger” is German for Negro, I likely would’ve skipped over it. But, really, even if I didn’t know that “Neger” was German for Negro, the word as it’s spelled certainly would’ve been enough to tickle my curiosity, enough to pull out my smart phone and translate; or at least ask the seller to do so, assuming he was armed with the information.