“Roots” (2016) is a remake of the 1977 US miniseries of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1976 book by Alex Haley. It stars Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Anika Noni Rose, Regé-Jean Page and Jonathn Rhys Meyers. Laurence Fishburne narrates as Alex Haley. T.I. and Mekhi Phifer also appear. Questlove does the music.
It is the story of Kunta Kinte, born free in Africa in 1750, and his descendants in America down to Alex Haley in the 1960s. The two miniseries centre on the slave years, cutting out most of the material before and after.
2016 compared to 1977:
- It runs for four nights, not eight nights.
- It seems more like a Hollywood film than a long television show.
- It seems less sugar-coated and less concerned about White people or their feelings.
- It was made without Alex Haley (he died in 1992).
- It is not the first time slavery has been told from a Black point of view on US television. That was first done in 1977 by the original.
- The 2016 miniseries is produced by Mark Wolper, son of the David Wolper, who produced the 1977 miniseries. Both are White.
There are way more Black film directors and television producers in 2016 than in 1977, yet only two of the four directors were Black, neither of them women: Mario van Peebles and Thomas Carter.
The book was based on ten years of research. Haley even crossed the Atlantic from Liberia to the US at the bottom of a ship carrying rubber. Not nearly as bad as the Middle Passage, but he still thought of killing himself! The book sold millions and won a Pulitzer Prize.
The 1977 miniseries still holds the record for the most watched miniseries ever on US television: 51.1% of television households watched the last night. That is bigger than even the Super Bowl game.
The first night of the 2016 miniseries (shown last night as I write this) seemed to have been well-received by Black Twitter, ordinarily a tough crowd. It had them in tears or near tears. It was heartbreaking stuff.
But Snoop Dog, he of “Girls Gone Wild: Doggy Style” (2002) and “Soul Plane” (2004), said he was not going to watch it and urged others not to:
“I’m sick of this shit. How the fuck are they going to put Roots on Memorial Day? They going to just keep beating this shit into our heads about how they did us, huh?”
“I ain’t watching that shit, and I advise you motherfuckers as real niggas like myself; fuck them television shows. Let’s create our own shit based on today, how we live and how we inspire people today. Black is what’s real.Fuck that old shit.”
That misses the point that Haley ended the book with:
“… the hope that this story of our people can help to alleviate the legacies of the fact that preponderantly the histories have been written by the winners.”
To understand yourself and your world, you have to understand the past – and not from the self-serving point of view of the winners.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- film and television about slave times:
- By Blacks:
- 2016: Trailer: Birth of a Nation – Nat Turner’s uprising, coming in October.
- 2013: Belle
- 2013: 12 Years a Slave – more sanitized and White-centric than the book.
- 1960: The Drinking Gourd – Lorraine Hansberry’s television show that NBC killed.
- By Whites:
- 2012: Django Unchained – Tarantino’s N-word-fest.
- 2012: Lincoln – a White Saviour film by Steven Spielberg.
- 2001: The Feast of All Saints – Anne Rice.
- 1997: Amistad – a White Saviour film by Steven Spielberg.
- By Blacks:
- White paternalism
- US slavery
- Linda Tuhiwai Smith on history
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I don’t know i just wasn’t interested in watching it i have grow accustomed to the original. Somebody tell me if it’s any good.
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Wow< just Wow to that Snoop Dog comment i always thought he was ignorant now i know he is tragically ignorant. I may try to give it a chance.
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*Wow, just Wow* ^^^
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Well Black Twitter keeps it 100 so i might check it out.
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I couldn’t watch it because 1). I did watch the original and 2). I’m in no emotional state to be able to watch the this now.
I DO NOT advocate that other people skip it, though. If you can handle being put through that kind of emotional ringer, go for it. I just know I can’t do it right now.
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@Ikeke35: See that’s kind of where i am my emotional state is just to fragile. I feel i should be supporting it but in light of what is happening in the country right now. Like i said i am too fragile.
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I would love to trace my ancestors of Africa. Roots has inspired us to reconnect and go back as far as possible…
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The 1977 television mini-series “Roots” gave me my first glimpse down a darkened historical corridor of how Black folks got here to the shores of Amerika. I could recall white kids getting beat up in school yard fights simply due to watching “Roots” the night before and even the white teachers seemed to be nicer while the show was airing. Shortly thereafter, Black men began to wear “dashiki” shirts even more and there was this sense of a surge of being proud of who we are as a people and an uptick in proclivity to research your ancestral heritage.
Abagond said: “To understand yourself and your world, you have to understand the past – and not from the self-serving point of view of the winners.” This is quite true brother. However, we must always be mindful of who is telling the story, whether they are black or white. Zora Neale Hurston once quipped: “”All my skinfolk ain’t my kinfolk.” Mr. Haley epitomizes this selfish description of SOME black folks to the utmost.
Alex Haley was a man I once admired immensely, but not anymore. He essentially stole the idea of “Roots” from a white man named Hal Courlander. Courlander’s book, “The African” was plagiarized by Alex Haley. “Because as Haley himself was forced to acknowledge, a large section of his book – including the plot, main character and scores of whole passages – was lifted from “The African.”
In 1979, Hal Courlander quietly and successfully sued Mr. Haley for approximately $600,000.00 in federal court due to plagiarism. As an author, I doubt anyone sink any lower than to have fabrication charges brought against them and still be considered un-reproachable.
Personally, I will not be watching the remake of “Roots”, not because of some dumb Rapper telling people why he won’t be watching the show, but because it doesn’t even come close to providing an accurate picture of what took place and why we were brought here to begin with. That’s an entirely different post, … perhaps.
With this being said, I still believe that this troubled, iconic American figure was able to at least be a catalyst for so-called African Americans to walk with their head high and begin the search of their/our glorious ancestral history. In fact, an inimitable history that will never be matched!
http://www.martinlutherking.org/roots.html
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Why is there no post on Lawrence Dennis, the mulatto boy preacher who grew up to be “America’s No. 1 intellectual Fascist”?
Blacks have participated in every movement of the modern world. So much for Black innocence.
Sorry for the off topic comment. You guys can go back to discussing a tv series.
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Meh….not on my radar as i heard it was coming out soon but didn’t care enough to watch out for it. This is the 1st time i’ve heard of it actually airing.
Produced by two white men, eh? What else is new?
White people are always making money off the history of our misery by the very people they made miserable in the past and today!
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Let’s not get uppity with Snoop now. He has a point. I don’t think he misses Haley’s point at all. Movies like this are what gets the glory when it comes to the us. How much have we seen? All these slave movies keep it etched in people’s minds that this is our greatest legacy. We have more to offer than that. Having said that, I am gonna go see that Nat Turner movie.
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Reblogged this on League of Bloggers For a Better World.
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All history in the past, present and future will be written by the winners.
Rewrites after that are never close to the truth, they are just current versions without the facts which have been loss.
The new versions of the Bible are a new interpretations of the words written before without the nuance which have to do with facial expressions and other gestures which are no longer present.
Try to find the history of the 92 and 93rd Divisions.
William Shakespeare » Julius Caesar
Act 3. Scene II
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
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It was produced by white men. So I’m not going to bother watching it. I do think Snoop has a point but then again I think it’s his ego talking to because because it’s hard for black people to think that you were dominated by another man for hundred of years. That messes with the ego.
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Only I once re-read a few pages of ‘Roots’ again will I know if I had read it or not.
I see the cover with my mind’s eye now. It had chains on the cover. I remember the feeling that the boere would come to arrest us- was about 11/12 years old. Paranoia had gripped our household. Many books were banned under apartheid, including ‘Black Beauty’, by Johanna Sewell. So we could not understand why ‘Roots’ was not. Who smuggled it into the country? Was it a trap? I remember my mother, almost blind, replacing the cover with ‘ Papillon’ by Henri Charrierre and reading it covertly and surreptitiously and hiding it away. Kunta Kente is not unfamiliar.
Tried watching the ‘Book of Negroes’ which seemed to be inauthentic and ‘pretty’.
If one is also really interested in another authentic fine story-telling of the African Holocaust, I would highly recommend Haile Gerima’s, powerful masterpiece: ‘Sankofa’. Mr. Gerima is an Ethiopian American film –maker who
wrote , directed, edited and produced and I think, distributed ‘Sankofa’. Although this film is very brutal and traumatising, it was treated in unindulgent and sensitive manner, unlike ‘Django’ and ‘12 Years a Slave’.
On a side-note, not sure if it is the subject matter- Malcolm X himself , but Alex Haley made reading Malcolm X unputdownable, unforgettable and essential reading.
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Snoop Dogg, bright spark that he is, has never had an album produced by a white man – Scott Storch. (Sarcasm).
A pornographic rapper who does does not even have self-respect to put a decent sentence together. Why would I listen to him?
Erm, how many of these toilet rappers have white record producers?
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ok, back to ‘lurking’
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I have read the excellent book. I saw the 1977 miniseries when it came out, but have not seen the current one, not on purpose, just too busy to watch television these days. The book is excellent both as a work of history and a work of fiction, and it makes an important point.
However, to understand modern racism, I think what we need is a work that poignantly and with clear-eyed honesty portrays what America has inflicted on African Americans since WWII. Even if slavery had never existed, post WWII America has been truly awful toward Americans of African descent. I use WWII as a milestone because before WWII the nation had been plunged in a deep economic depression. WWII was a launching pad for a new prosperity based on a vital manufacturing economy. Black Americans entered the military service in WWII and got a whiff of a promise of being part of this new prosperity in exchange for military service (and/or participating in the domestic sacrifices non-military Americans made to support the military). America betrayed that promise, in myriad ways continuing over decades, and in the process created the schism we see nowadays between Black America and White America.
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@ Blanc2
As usual, you made several good points.
Post WWII America has been awful. The years after the Civil Rights movement have featured a long, nightmarish backlash against Black folk for daring to assert our rights as citizens.
WWII was an important milestone, but I think the Post Reconstruction period to the Depression era (1880s to the 1930s) are just as important and in need of honest historical treatment. That period was known as the “Nadir” or low point of the African American sojourn.
Actually, I think of that period as the first Nadir. I think we are living through a second Nadir right now. This second Nadir started with the arrival of Reagan in the White House. Who knows when it will end? Or how?
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Yes America was terrible post WWII I read the book The Warmth of Other Suns. I tells about the great migration of Black people fleeing the nightmare Jim Crow South and immigrating to the North and one leaving his home state of Louisiana to California and all the indignities he had to face even as an educated Black man who served his country in the military and earning a medical degree as a physician. Who still got treated like he was less than.
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@taotesan: Apartheid was indeed an evil system I just thought you were separated by race and denied many things whites had the privilege to enjoy, I did know they would police what reading literature you were reading. That is like the government was working to police the thoughts of the black citizens. And evil system like that needed to be brought down.
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@blakksage…Pt. 1“Shortly thereafter, Black men began to wear “dashiki” shirts even more and there was this sense of a surge of being proud of who we are as a people and an uptick in proclivity to research your ancestral heritage.”
I absolutely agree with you there! I carried that 1977 showing of the mini-series in my heart, soul & mind for a V-E-E-RY long time! Being born in SC, a direct descendant of the Gullah people of the Sea Islands, who were descendants of West Africans brought here and sold during slavery — the longer I held it, the more I wanted to know. But there wasn’t a real, pressing need at the time, because most of my mother’s family, including my grandmother, were still alive either on the island, or in Charleston, or in NY, or on Skype as were some of my father’s family on another Sea Island (note the trajectory: enslaved on the island; then “Emancipation” on the island; then, off to the city; then, off to the big city, and beyond! — that’s pretty much my family’s “Up From Slavery” story). I could talk and ask them anything I wanted, so I just went on living the trajectory.
But beginning in 1981, the year my oldest was born, they started dying — beginning with both my father, a day before his own birthday and then, my maternal grandfather, three days before my birthday. And they continue to. It really wasn’t until my mother (the oldest of 15) died in 1996 (19 years after that first Roots), did I begin to feel an “uptick in proclivity to research.” But when my grandmother died six years AFTER her in January of 2002, all those long-held, crumbs of oral histories passed down by them and her still-living siblings, coupled with a right-place, right-time meeting in December 2001 with my now-good friend, Gerald (an artist, sculptor, lecturer and researcher of the slave trade) — it all came together and led me to The Gambia some years later where, among other confusing feelings (Hell, you can’t live a “colonized-mind” life for most of your living and NOT have confusing feelings!) — I felt that “surge of being proud of who we are as a people.“ All I can say is, I’m so, so glad I went! Here’s a link to a series I wrote about the first time:
http://lets-be-clear.blogspot.com/2011/02/home-going-part-1-why-i-went.html
You can just click the link at the bottom of each par,t to continue to the next part.
I’ve been back a couple times since, once with the husband and two grown sons for Christmas (We’d told them no “mall” gifts that year cuz we didn’t know what to get and I knew they’d just take whatever it was back for the cash anyway — but we’d give them something they could keep forever instead), and again alone, to check on Gerald’s progress with the museum he’s built. I’ve not posted all of that yet, but I will, before I go back again. (@Afrofem, as you can see, the spinning’s been going on for quite some time now!😊)
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A friend of mine asked if I watched the “new” Roots. I told him I hadn’t, and that I have no intention of watching it. I asked him why he thought white Hollywood is suddenly so interested in our “black his-tory?”
I’ll play devil’s advocate by coming up with some possible reasons
Reason #1: White people love and respect black history so much, they have to make films about it. This reason falls flat, considering how little of our history is told in american history books. In fact, the major textbook publishers in the nation are deleting slavery and refer to African slaves as “workers.”
Reason #2: Money — because there is more money in making films about slavery and segregation and butlers and domestic workers than any other black theme.
This makes no sense since I seriously doubt black people would rather see ourselves in chains and butler uniforms on the big screen than in contemporary love stories (of which there are very, very few, other than the type where black males harm black females).
Reason #3: White people are making films about black slaves and butlers and domestic help out of a sense of “white guilt” and feel compelled to show the world how badly they treated us. This is the most illogical reason of all.
If white guilt ruled the behavior of powerful whites, black people would not be suffering from educational and employment racism, massive incarceration, police brutality, inferior quality food and lead-contaminated water, and inadequate medical care
Reason #4: Why is “black history” restricted to slavery and segregation themes? Why don’t they do a story about black inventors and scientists and all the thousands of great black heroes that existed then?
Because white Hollywood – an extension of the white supremacy system – is determined to portray blacks in as an inferior, helpless, hopelessly violent, degraded and diminished humanity.
The real question should be: Why are black people so eager to let the people who oppressed us continue to tell our stories? Would Jews let the Germans tell their stories? Would whites let black people tell their stories? The only people who allow others to define their history are people who are still enslaved and trapped in a slave mindset.
So, what could be the reason behind all these black revisionist films? I believe it an announcement of the intentions of the white supremacist system toward the black population as the economy fails and old-style racism rears its ugly head.
I know of black college graduates who cannot find work, even at temp agencies where whites use code words to keep from hiring black people. I know of young black, college-educated females who are cleaning white women’s houses in the south because there are no jobs for them. I know of a young black female who posed as a white female on the Monster Jobs website and got a ton of offers but no offers when it was known she was black. Blacks are being incarcerated in prisons all across the country, working for 90 cents an hour for corporate America (modern day slavery). Black schools are closing, blacks are being pushed out of major urban centers, and black poverty is rising at an astronomical rate. It should be obvious the so-called civil rights clock is turning backwards.
Instead of viewing these films as flattering and/or as strictly entertainment, the black collective should be ON GUARD as to the direction we are headed in. And stop supporting these films with our dollars. We cannot afford to be this naïve and trusting after our experiences with this system.
Thanks for letting me get this five-year burden off my chest.
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@taotesan: I wholeheartedly agree about the Malcolm X biography by Alex Haley it was a very good read I enjoyed that an “unput down able is pretty accurate in my reading experience. It was a long time ago but it was a great read.
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@Trojan Pam: Salient points. I was on the fence about this and you help me make up my mind. I really had no interest in this seeing how the first Roots in my opinion should be sufficient. That’s why I am not interested because we have so many stories to tell and we are a diverse people. That’s why I had no interest in Straight Outta Compton or this Roots reboot. And i have always wondered up until now why these type of stories are palpable to white audiences because they like seeing images of Black people being brutalized and seeing Black people demoralized the media of film and news and television is very powerful. And this is where white supremacy likes to see Black people. Where are the stories of love and romance with a black women and men? Where are the brilliant scientist and scholars? To let them (the white media) tell they are few, but we all know that is not true. That’s why I was having a hard time making up my mind about viewing this. No I think I will pass on this.
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@ Mary Burrell
When you examine the types of images the white supremacist publishing and hollywood industry promote about black people they fall into one of three categories
1. Black degradation via slavery, segregation, oppression (To Kill a Mockingbird film as an example)
2. Black people degrading and harming each other
3. Black people triumphing without the help of other bad black people (like Will Smith’s movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness” where a single black father overcomes the lack of help from the black mother and “For Colored Girls” where a black father drops his baby out of a window.
A friend of mine once said, “Whites enjoy watching black misery.”
And when you look at the authors who get awards for writing about black misery (Toni Morrison’s novels), and the blacks who get awards for portraying black degradation in film (the movie ‘Precious’ and “Training Day” and “Monster’s Ball”)
It seems there a big kernel of truth in what he said.
We really need to wake up to what we are dealing with. .
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@blakksage…Pt. 2Alex Haley was a man I once admired immensely, but not anymore. He essentially stole the idea of “Roots” from a white man named Hal Courlander. Courlander’s book, “The African” was plagiarized by Alex Haley. “Because as Haley himself was forced to acknowledge, a large section of his book – including the plot, main character and scores of whole passages – was lifted from “The African.”
In 1979, Hal Courlander quietly and successfully sued Mr. Haley for approximately $600,000.00 in federal court due to plagiarism. As an author, I doubt anyone sink any lower than to have fabrication charges brought against them and still be considered un-reproachable.”
I get how you feel about Alex Haley and no, he’s certainly not beyond reproach because as you say, he WAS sued and settled out of court due to some plagiarism. But there are various accounts of how much of the story was plagiarized and how much was not, as this link shows:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WMEdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B1kEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6876,7818296&hl=en
However, I have to believe that just by virtue of him being a Black man, Haley’s telling of the story was wa-a-ay different than the white guy’s. What I know is true, is the people of Juffureh revere him for telling their story. During the International “Roots Festival” in 2012, they renamed James Island where the ruins of the slave castle still stand, “Kunta Kinteh Island.” There are tributes to him in the small National Museum housed in the Maurel Freres building there. And while I don’t revere him, I’m glad he told it, or I probably would’ve never gone to The Gambia following my crumbs, nor met some of Kunta Kinte’s actual descendants still living there.
“Personally, I will not be watching the remake of “Roots”, not because of some dumb Rapper telling people why he won’t be watching the show, but because it doesn’t even come close to providing an accurate picture of what took place and why we were brought here to begin with.
With this being said, I still believe that this troubled, iconic American figure was able to at least be a catalyst for so-called African Americans to walk with their head high and begin the search of their/our glorious ancestral history. In fact, an inimitable history that will never be matched!”
We’ll never know — with 100% certainty — how accurate a picture it provides will we? And who do we have to thank for that? But, for the reasons you stated above, Alex Haley WAS the catalyst for this plethora of people still in “search of their/our glorious ancestral history” (including me!). I’m sure the entire story won’t even be told in my lifetime, but again, I’m grateful he began it.
I have watched the first two episodes and plan to watch it all (though I’m certain I’ll have to take some breaks to get through it). So far, I can see a difference in the telling this time. Could just be me but, as in “Underground” (which I also watch), I’m feelin’ how our young folk are interpreting that, “inimitable history” in a way, very different from 1977. I’m certain both shows are scaring the HAYELL out of most of our already scared-to-death, alabaster countrymen!
I’ve got faith in most of our young folk who are slowly, but surely realizing and understanding just how glorious and unmatched that inimitable history really is. After all, we’re still here aren’t we? While there’s still a lot of work to do (from the activism of “Black Lives Matter,” to the kind of roles some of them are now choosing to take or back financially), to the pregnant-with-students, African Studies courses across the country and around the world — IMHO, there’s much for which to be hopeful regarding OUR telling of our own stories.
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@Deb: Always enjoy reading your post about your journey and I love reading about Gullah culture.
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Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster. I was waiting to see if you would do a piece on the Roots remake. I understand why so many refuse or are reluctant to watch this series but I’ve been keeping up with it on Shadow and Act and The Root for a while and liked what I was reading – esp. with the increase in black involvement behind the camera with Will Packer and Levar Burton among others and the series spending more time on the African continent and strong emphasis of Kunta’s attempt to retain and pass on his culture throughout his entire life.
I watched the original Roots in high school 20 years ago in African American history class (we didn’t start at slavery obviously – spent most of the time on history of West African countries before crossing to the Atlantic).
I have to say that so far, I think the remake is better than the original (the first episode more than the second though). It is not a play by play remake of the original and the additional elements they’ve put in makes it feel more authentic and has had a greater emotional impact on me than the original did – unless my advanced age is playing more of a part in my emotional response. I think many people would be pleasantly surprised with the series.
There are no white saviors and not a hint of one although the white characters are also not just one dimensional villains either. Resistance against slavery by every means necessary is much more prominent in the remake than the original [spoiler: Kunta kills the white overseer]. There is not a hint of passivity in Kunta and, apparently, not with his daughter either. Even Fiddler seems more militant. The action sequences in the first episode unexpectedly made my heart pound out my chest. The final scene last night [episode 2] made me cry w/o initially realizing it was happening. The only time white characters appear on screen is when a main black character is interacting with them or observing them (except for a 3 second scene in episode 2 and the white woman was just listening).That’s something I didn’t like about the original. There are obviously many black hands that shaped/controlled this retelling. I feels like Wolper just put up the money (maybe) and used his name to garner interest/get it done but Mario, Will, Levar, etc… were the ones calling the shots on screen – at least that’s how it feels to me. And I still feel like kicking white butt after each program just like the original, lol.
The only thing I don’t like are the commercial breaks – it’s very jarring to be completely engrossed in a highly emotional scene and then you see a happy commercial for Walmart. I also wish they had more recognizable actors in the roles like the original. I think part of why so many watched back then is because everyone – even the white actors- were all popular tv performers and it helped drive the point of how, despite their celebrity, black actors would have been treated terribly in 1700s south and popular, well liked white actors would have behaved terribly back then. Also didn’t like that episode 2 seemed rushed and there was so much tragedy/death happening in very short periods of time. Almost had a numbing effect but maybe that was intentional. Upon a second re-watching I think I get why they skipped forward but I may need to wait for some time before watching episode 2 again.
I feel sure the next 2 episodes will continue to maintain the quality I’ve seen so far and also continue to surprise me .
Sorry this is so long. Just wanted to add a different perspective from someone who is watching.
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@Trojan Pam…Reason #1: White people love and respect black history so much, they have to make films about it. This reason falls flat, considering how little of our history is told in american history books. In fact, the major textbook publishers in the nation are deleting slavery and refer to African slaves as “workers.”
I agree with your devil’s advocacy here, exactly for the reasons you gave.
Reason #2: Money — because there is more money in making films about slavery and segregation and butlers and domestic workers than any other black theme.
This makes no sense since I seriously doubt black people would rather see ourselves in chains and butler uniforms on the big screen than in contemporary love stories (of which there are very, very few, other than the type where black males harm black females).
I disagree here, because 1) they know most of us have and will continue to watch that screen (big and small) if we see ourselves on them, given the fact we came from having such a dearth of seeing ourselves on them for such a long time and 2) they know we’ve got more money than we’ve had to spend and they want a chunk of it!
Reason #3: White people are making films about black slaves and butlers and domestic help out of a sense of “white guilt” and feel compelled to show the world how badly they treated us. This is the most illogical reason of all.
If white guilt ruled the behavior of powerful whites, black people would not be suffering from educational and employment racism, massive incarceration, police brutality, inferior quality food and lead-contaminated water, and inadequate medical care
Totally agree this IS is the most illogical for all the reasons you stated AND because they keep wanting to convince the world how “exceptional” they are!
Reason #4: Why is “black history” restricted to slavery and segregation themes? Why don’t they do a story about black inventors and scientists and all the thousands of great black heroes that existed then?
Because white Hollywood – an extension of the white supremacy system – is determined to portray blacks in as an inferior, helpless, hopelessly violent, degraded and diminished humanity.
Agree that white Hollywood is merely an extension of the white supremacy system of power and, as Chimamanda Adiche says here :
(https://youtu.be/D9Ihs241zeg)
It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power. There is a word, an Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think of the power structures of the world and it is “nkali,” it’s a noun that loosely translates to — “to be greater than another.” Like our economic and political worlds, stories, too are defined, by the principal of “nkali.” how they are told, who tells them, when they are told, how many stories are told — are really dependent on power.
Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet, Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to tell that story, is to tell the story and to start with, secondly. Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans and not with the arrival of the British and you have an entirely different story. Start with the story of the failure of the African states, and not with the colonial creation of the African states, and you have an entirely different story.
However, when they, more often than not, portray us as “inferior, helpless, hopelessly violent, degraded and diminished humanity,” I also believe and agree with her that:
Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break, the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity… The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story…The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”with stereotypes — it is not that the stories they’re telling aren’t true, it’s that they are incomplete.
Coming from slaves, and a long line of domestic help — I WANT those stories of the mighty shoulders upon which I stand today told. They deserve to be, if for no other reason than there, but for their labors, go I. Would I rather they ALL be told by us? Absolutely!! But that won’t happen until we realistically and doggedly address that whole lack of “power” thing (and neither Obama, nor the Congressional Black Caucus count for jack where that’s concerned!!).
“The real question should be: Why are black people so eager to let the people who oppressed us continue to tell our stories?…The only people who allow others to define their history are people who are still enslaved and trapped in a slave mindset.”
I don’t think it’s a matter of “letting,” I think it’s a matter of learning, paying attention and positioning (which I can see beginning to happen). While I agree they have “defined” our history for ages, I believe, as Sam Cooke sang so long ago, my Sister — “A Change Gon’ Come.”
“So, what could be the reason behind all these black revisionist films? I believe it an announcement of the intentions of the white supremacist system toward the black population as the economy fails and old-style racism rears its ugly head…It should be obvious the so-called civil rights clock is turning backwards.
I can see how you’d believe the “announcement” based on whats happening (I do too sometimes), and it may well be true. But the problem with that “single story” is — it doesn’t take into account what WE’RE doing now, and are continuing to do, while they keep trying to turn that civil rights clock backwards! Trust me, I know it’s hard, frustrating work trying to change OUR OWN thinking, but I do believe it’s happening.
Instead of viewing these films as flattering and/or as strictly entertainment, the black collective should be ON GUARD as to the direction we are headed in. And stop supporting these films with our dollars. We cannot afford to be this naïve and trusting after our experiences with this system.
I see them as neither but, for the reasons I said above, those stories, along with those you mentioned win Reason #4 “about black inventors and scientists and all the thousands of great black heroes that existed then “TOO, need to be told if we’re to have a complete understanding of “from whence we came” in order to move forward. We certainly can’t be “ON GUARD,” if we don’t have ALL of the information, right? IMHO, all that’ll do is just keep us naïve and trusting. Just my 2 cents, Sister.
Peace…
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I see both the pros and cons with Snoop’s statement.
On one hand, slavery has always been whitewashed in history books as something less horrible than what it truly was. What ‘Roots’ does is help tell it in a more honest way. This is not to say that it was 100% accurate. But it tells and shows atrocities that school books would avoid.
On the other hand, Hollywood seems focused on slavery suspiciously more than usual. While it’s a plus to focus on the part of human history the oppressors would want us to ignore, it also gives the impression that black people came from slaves as if our history began from that exact point.
But when Hollywood decides to produce a movie set in Africa’s past, they cast white people. The perfect examples are the recent ‘Gods of Egypt’ and ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ films. Both were set in Egypt which is a part of Africa.
You have to ask what’s next, the story of Shaka Zulu starring Ben Affleck or the story of Mansa Musa starring Tom Hanks?
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@Mary Burrell…“Always enjoy reading your post about your journey and I love reading about Gullah culture.”
Thanx, Lil Sis! Here are a couple links you might like, that give a little more history about Gullah culture: this one, (https://youtu.be/6lBzkFjdJrQ) and this one done by VICE News as well, (https://youtu.be/SqDTJogdWmA). Since I’ve moved home, I’ve been trying to write about us. But SO much sh*t’s been going on, I’m REALLY still just spinning. I’ll get it done soon though.
Oh, and in your comment to Sister Pam you asked, “Where are the stories of love and romance with a black women and men?” The retelling of Roots, as well as Underground, both tell that story in the characters of Kunta & Belle and Noah & Rosalee. I can understand you’re wanting to pass on one or both of them, but like I said earlier, the younguns are interpreting these two stories differently (check out JMac’s comment about Roots above, and you’ll see what I’m trying to say).
Take care, Darlin’…
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@Brothawolf…“But when Hollywood decides to produce a movie set in Africa’s past, they cast white people. The perfect examples are the recent ‘Gods of Egypt’ and ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ films. Both were set in Egypt which is a part of Africa.
You have to ask what’s next, the story of Shaka Zulu starring Ben Affleck or the story of Mansa Musa starring Tom Hanks?”
While you are indeed correct here, I don’t think this generation of younguns will stand for that!😄 I look forward to THEIR telling of the story of Mansa Musa and especially that of Timbuktu — because they know way more now, than I’m still trying to learn!
@Afrofem…“…but I think the Post Reconstruction period to the Depression era (1880s to the 1930s) are just as important and in need of honest historical treatment. That period was known as the “Nadir” or low point of the African American sojourn.”
Dear Sister, I beg to differ — at least for Blacks living in rural areas. As a result of a title search my brother did awhile ago on land my grandmother owned before her death — I have, in my possession, a copy of the title to nearly nine acres of land on the island, purchased from the original plantation owner for $100 (lot of money back then!), dated Dec. 28, 1899. It was this land that not only fed all those children she had (and continued to do the same for their children), but made her an entrepreneur of sorts, selling what she grew to the white folk heading to the beach from a roadside stand in the front of her house (manned every summer until I got to high school, by yours truly!). I agree though, that period is JUST as important and in need of honest historical treatment Again, something I’m working on.😊
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Note: According to the deed, that land I mentioned was to go to my great-great grandfather, but was purchased by his daughter, my grandmother’s mother (due, I believe to his sickness and death, the year before.
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A Roots remake is not the problem. The problem is that they just made another XMen movie coopting the civil rights movement while giving the characters of color a combined three lines. Let’s not bash Roots. Thats like bashing HBCUs because PWIs have low black enrollment. Bash XMen and the crappy romantic comedies y’all like so much for not hiring black actors.
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@Deb, thanks for giving us a glimpse of your life journey. By the way, I’m also of the Gullah culture by way of Charleston, SC as well. Hell, … if you’d take a hike through the woods for approximately a one-half of a mile, I could show you at least three slave plantations, including slave huts, now operated by the State of South Carolina as well. However, I digress here.
Part 2:
Earlier, I used the words selfish, troubled and Zora Neale Hurston’s proverbial adage “All my skinfolk ain’t my kinfolk” when referring to Alex Haley. I’m surprised that no one asked why I referred to him in such a manner. Well, not only was he a traitor and a fabricator, he was also an FBI agent as well. A modern day, groveling, “Stepin Fetchit” if you will. This is according to Dr. Marable, the late Professor who was the founding Director of the Institute of Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University.
Traitor / Troubled / Selfish:
Alex Haley, more than likely played a role in having brother Malcolm X murdered. The only unanswered question is: How much of a role he played in this tragic event because the FBI still refuses to release all of their file papers pertaining to Malcolm X. An un-redacted file release of all of the reports that Mr. Haley wrote while being an informant for the alphabet police (aka, the FBI), will reveal the extent of his involvement.
Malcolm X revealed much information to Mr. Haley while he wrote Malcolm’s autobiography. In order for someone to agree to have an author write their life story, there must be some level of trust and admiration first. Evidently, Malcolm trusted Haley and he, in return, betrayed brother Malcolm’s trust. Malcolm gave a great amount of detail regarding his future intentions in regards to how he was going to organize groups within this country to counter racism and other social ills that Black men and women were experiencing during the 1960’s.
Furthermore, Mr. Haley was obviously a selfish person. He knew very well that Black people during the 1960’s, deeply revered Malcolm X. As Ossie Davis expressed in his eulogy at Malcolm’s funeral: “He was our Black shining Prince.” Haley was the individual that pulled the rug from under the people’s Prince. Metaphorically speaking, with one swift tug of the rug, he shattered hopes and dashed dreams just as quickly as they were sowed by that “shining Prince.” And for this dastardly act, he is certainly not my “kinfolk.”
Mr. Haley cared only about himself and no one else. Instead of wanting to see all Black men free and living dignified lives, unimpeded by the scourge supremacy and the trappings of poverty, he capitulated and sought the glory of white people for a comfortable fee, by betraying Malcolm and therefore, he vicariously betrayed millions of Black people living in this hell-hole of a country.
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/2/21/the_undiscovered_malcolm_x_stunning_new
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manning_Marable
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@ Deb
Actually that period was termed the Nadir because of lynching and Jim Crow. At the same time, Black families of that period were more intact than they had been previously (in slavery) and since the Great Migration.
Another paradox of the Nadir was that Black farm families owned and worked
nearly one million acres of land in the year 1900.
It seems life rarely gives you what you want all at the same time.
I’m glad you and your family still retain your inheritance from those hardworking Black ancestors who endured the (first) Nadir.
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@blakksage…“By the way, I’m also of the Gullah culture by way of Charleston, SC as well. Hell, … if you’d take a hike through the woods for approximately a one-half of a mile, I could show you at least three slave plantations, including slave huts, now operated by the State of South Carolina as well. However, I digress here.”
No digression here, Fam — just knowledge sharing — and I like it!
“Earlier, I used the words selfish, troubled and Zora Neale Hurston’s proverbial adage “All my skinfolk ain’t my kinfolk” when referring to Alex Haley. I’m surprised that no one asked why I referred to him in such a manner.”
Like you, I agree with Zora about kinfolk and skinfolk (that’s why Obama, the CBC and Rev. Al don’t mean sh*t to me).
“Well, not only was he a traitor and a fabricator, he was also an FBI agent as well. A modern day, groveling, “Stepin Fetchit” if you will…Alex Haley, more than likely played a role in having brother Malcolm X murdered. The only unanswered question is: How much of a role he played in this tragic event because the FBI still refuses to release all of their file papers pertaining to Malcolm X. An un-redacted file release of all of the reports that Mr. Haley wrote while being an informant for the alphabet police (aka, the FBI), will reveal the extent of his involvement.
Malcolm X revealed much information to Mr. Haley while he wrote Malcolm’s autobiography. In order for someone to agree to have an author write their life story, there must be some level of trust and admiration first. Evidently, Malcolm trusted Haley and he, in return, betrayed brother Malcolm’s trust. Malcolm gave a great amount of detail regarding his future intentions in regards to how he was going to organize groups within this country to counter racism and other social ills that Black men and women were experiencing during the 1960’s.
Furthermore, Mr. Haley was obviously a selfish person. He knew very well that Black people during the 1960’s, deeply revered Malcolm X. As Ossie Davis expressed in his eulogy at Malcolm’s funeral: “He was our Black shining Prince.” Haley was the individual that pulled the rug from under the people’s Prince. Metaphorically speaking, with one swift tug of the rug, he shattered hopes and dashed dreams just as quickly as they were sowed by that “shining Prince.” And for this dastardly act, he is certainly not my “kinfolk.
Mr. Haley cared only about himself and no one else. Instead of wanting to see all Black men free and living dignified lives, unimpeded by the scourge supremacy and the trappings of poverty, he capitulated and sought the glory of white people for a comfortable fee, by betraying Malcolm and therefore, he vicariously betrayed millions of Black people living in this hell-hole of a country.
”
And like I said to Brothawolf upthread about younguns (assuming you’re younger than I am), “…they know way more now, than I’m still trying to learn!”
Thank you so much for that wonderful link! I’ve not yet read Manning Marable’s book, but I will. I have, however, listened to a discussion about it on Jared Ball’s site — imixwhatilike.org. But your “knowing” and sharing is yet another example of what I said to Sister Pam upthread — “…the problem with that “single story” is — it doesn’t take into account what WE’RE doing now, and are continuing to do, while they keep trying to turn that civil rights clock backwards!”
Haley’s betrayal notwithstanding, I’m still grateful for the story he began to tell that inspired me to follow my crumbs.
‘Preciate you!…
@ Mary Burrell…As I sit here watching Part 3 of “Roots,” there are other, tender love/romance stories between Black men and women — Kizzy and a free, Black man, as well as her son, Chicken George & Matilda. Just sayin’…
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@Afrofem…“…Black families of that period were more intact than they had been previously (in slavery) and since the Great Migration. Another paradox of the Nadir was that Black farm families owned and work nearly one million acres of land in the year 1900… I’m glad you and your family still retain your inheritance from those hardworking Black ancestors who endured the (first) Nadir.”
Yes, the NY in my comment upthread was a nod to the Great Migration. Those who moved there, infrequently came back “down South” to visit while I was growing up. But you’re sure right about that owning and working those acres of land! There’s nothin’ I hated more than pickin’ okra! The hairs on the outside made your hands itch like crazy (probably why I don’t eat okra today)!
As for the last part, yes, my “family” still retains the inheritance from my grandmother’s mother however, after my mother’s death, I lost the opportunity to own and build on my mother’s piece because of a get-rich-quick scheme of my brother’s gone bad and an uncle (the same age as me) who rescued it, then refused to sell it to me after he said he would.
My grandmother always used to tell us, “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.” As a result of what’s gone on over the years, I, however, have come to disagree. My family’s the folk who’ve really loved and supported me and showed it; those who’ve worked with me and put up with my insatiable need to keep our history alive (all a part of that “spinning,” Sis!).
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@Trojan Pam
Well said
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Solesearch – excuse my ignorance, what does X Men have to do with anything?
Blakksage – I am always dubious when things become ‘public knowledge ‘ particularly after the death of a prominent person. Whilst Alex Haley may not have been a paragon of virtue it is more than a little convenient to point the finger within the black community without considering wider context of this. PoC were pretty much powerless in those times. I imagine that being leaned on wasn’t uncommon. How better to bring about the demise of a nation than making it appear that they turned in on themselves!
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@Deb said: “Thank you so much for that wonderful link! I’ve not yet read Manning Marable’s book, but I will. I have, however, listened to a discussion about it on Jared Ball’s site — imixwhatilike.org. But your “knowing” and sharing is yet another example of what I said to Sister Pam upthread — “…the problem with that “single story” is — it doesn’t take into account what WE’RE doing now, and are continuing to do, while they keep trying to turn that civil rights clock backwards!”
“Haley’s betrayal notwithstanding, I’m still grateful for the story he began to tell that inspired me to follow my crumbs. ‘Preciate you!…”
Sister Deb, you’re welcome and thank you for your kind words as well!
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Omnipresent said: “Blakksage – I am always dubious when things become ‘public knowledge ‘ particularly after the death of a prominent person. Whilst Alex Haley may not have been a paragon of virtue it is more than a little convenient to point the finger within the black community without considering wider context of this.”
I am in agreement with your comments to a certain extent regarding “public knowledge”. However, the so-called Black community (community it way too neutered) did not betray Malcolm X, nor did someone or a governmental agency (FBI) figuratively or literally force Mr. Haley at gun point to do what he did to brother Malcolm. It appears to have been of a personal choice, not under a state of duress, to live comfortably in exchange for the continued terrorizing and suffering of millions of Black people (a nation) in return.
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i vaguely remember the original on tv i was 7 or 8 at the time, and yes it might not be the proverbial ‘like or share’ but it goes deep the new one
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@Deb
I misstated the amount of land owned by Black families in 1900. The acutal figure was closer to 15 million acres.
http://www.federationsoutherncoop.com/aalandown04.htm
The linked article also discusses common legal contributors to African American land loss. Disconnected, squabbling or ignorant heirs play a large part in continued land loss among African Americans.
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Omnipresent, XMen is just an example of a non slavery movie. A superhero movie. The type of movie people want to see black people in instead of slavery films.
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got through episodes 1 and 2 today, it reminds me of nothing more than the “What if it were reversed and blacks had guns and ocean-going ships before whites did?” thread, for sure
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Snoop Dog does understand the value of history, but he apparently gets his history from “The Game of Thrones”, which is completely made up, instead of “Roots”:
More:
https://www.theroot.com/blog/one-has-to-wonder-why-snoop-dogg-thinks-game-of-thrones-is-based-on-real-history/
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just finished up episode 4, i would say there is a ‘medieval’ theme to the camping and so forth, let’s say quality, or way of life certainly in the civil war parts ie camping in the field, can you say tywin lannister, and naturally, the slaves’ existence in the shacks. there is just so much to process, i wish i could write an essay on this, but you know, the street is just right there, outside the usually unlocked door, and being inside is no protection in general, know what i mean?
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and need i mention daenarys targaryen
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@blakksage…“Sister Deb, you’re welcome and thank you for your kind words as well!”
You’re welcome Sis, just promise to keep learning and sharing the knowledge!
Oh, and about this: “…if you’d take a hike through the woods for approximately a one-half of a mile, I could show you at least three slave plantations, including slave huts, now operated by the State of South Carolina as well.”
Oh I’m well aware of them! One of them bears my maiden name (courtesy of those white folk who owned my Daddy’s family)!
@Afrofem…“The linked article also discusses common legal contributors to African American land loss. Disconnected, squabbling or ignorant heirs play a large part in continued land loss among African Americans.”
Thanks for the link, my Sister, it pretty much hits the nail on the head where my family is concerned though I’d add greed and insecurity to the list as well. But such is life…
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We just need balance at the moment. These “Let’s watch black people get their asses kicked for two and a half hours” films are vital but how about films were we are winning ? We need them films. They never green light positive black films about black people before slavery.
I noticed in the first five mins they did the “Africans sold each other” they set the frame as if it’s black people fault.
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@Abagond
I know I am off-topic. Please delete if you see fit.
@ Mary Burrell ( sorry to assail you with a long comment).
Thank you, Mary, for your response. To elaborate on what apartheid was as I understand it.
It is/was much more than grand theft of a country of immense wealth and beauty. A crime against humanity of virtual slavery, genocide, brutal repression on a country that was colonized by white invaders for 3 centuries, also beginning with slavery ( which has only recently been introduced into history books in the school curriculum), genocide of the San, which is wiped from national consciousness.
Its indigenous people dispossessed of their land, 35/40 million or so existing/surviving in the worst and most inhospitable parts of the country, by approximately 5 million English, afrikaner, Jews and other Europeans and subjected to the ugly and dehumanising racist expressions influenced not only by afrikaner nationalism but by the particular ‘flavour’ of specific white ethnic groups.
The bantustans/ reservations/ gulags/ concentration camps/ labour reserves were but one feature of it. A slew of laws legalizing racial segregation dominated every single facet of life. The apartheid governments and white citizens had sought to UNPEOPLE South Africa of it indigenous people with not one single right, leaving us third-class citizens in our own land, by seeking to totally emptying our minds of our history and reducing Africans to mere hands and bent spines, through super-exploitation and extreme and violent means so that ALL the white people could live in a state of *wealth, privilege , freedom, where they stole all the diamonds, platinum, gold, etc, in a country that did not belong to them.
So many things still hurt and I cannot forget however hard I try, but one thing that really stabs right through my heart is that while African people were brutally oppressed and impoverished these white F*&%*#s still have carte blanche to some of the most beautiful forests, beaches, rivers, mountains on earth and our all our fauna and flora at the exclusion of Africans.
Do not believe it, Mary. Africa is not a dark continent. They totally loved it here so much so they had to steal a whole country.
There are many similarities with Jim Crow South, israeli apartheid, but with its own special horror.
* you would be appalled at the extreme disparity of wealth. Some white South Africans, the richest in the whole world derived by expendable and very cheap Black labour.
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I am enjoying all the comments on this thread and will listen and weigh up the pros and cons of watching ‘Roots’.
Thank you, Trojan Pam for your concise commentary as always, even though I do disagree with you on two points.
@ Deb And Blakksage
I liked to hear about the Gullah culture. I have enjoyed both your comments thoroughly.
@ Blakksage
Thank you for the link.
That was very hard reading, though.
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@taotesan…“I liked to hear about the Gullah culture. I have enjoyed both your comments thoroughly.”
Thank so much! Happy I could bring something good to the conversation!
Your comment above about S.Africa shows, as you say, “MANY similarities with Jim Crow South!”
And since I’ve come back home — I can TOTALLY understand, when you say this:
“So many things still hurt and I cannot forget however hard I try, but one thing that really stabs right through my heart is that while African people were brutally oppressed and impoverished these white F*&%*#s still have carte blanche to some of the most beautiful forests, beaches, rivers, mountains on earth and our all our fauna and flora at the exclusion of Africans.”
I feel exactly the same way! Once I got settled in, I drove around downtown, taking pictures of all the places we used to live, go to school, play, go to church (which I no longer do), etc. There was a time, you see, when Charleston had a “Black Majority” (Peter Wood wrote an excellent book by that name which details the story) and, as you said so succinctly, “So many things still hurt and I cannot forget however hard I try.” There are lots of places where they never dared tread when they were our neighborhoods. Now however, most all of it’s been bought up by white folk making DWB, WWB, hell just being Black is cause for a call to the police. The beaches on all the Sea Islands have been pretty much coopted by them as well. Sure they had summer homes on them before (nothing palatial or anything though), but now, they are palatial and worse yet, they’ve instituted all these rules that never existed when I was growing up. The school where my mother and most of her siblings went was bought by white folk and “reimagined.” Now there’s a gate there and you cannot even go on the land. Yep, money affords folk plenty of that carte blanche you mentioned. {smdh}
Look, I believe in progress, but it should be progress for everybody, not just some people. It seems though, no matter which way I turn, that’s not happening and the worst part is, I can’t seem to convince anyone that there are ways to fight back!
I know it hurts, but don’t ever forget — that’s what they’re counting on…
Peace…
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@taotesan: I am learning so much about this brutal and savage system and i and feel how painful it is for you in your words. It is insightful and i want to read more.
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@taotesan: Keep posting writing is cathartic.
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Mary Burell…“…It is insightful and i want to read more.”
Me too, Mary!
@taotesan…Maybe you can suggest a post to Abagond or even check out his “Guidelines for guest posts” and maybe write one yourself!
I watch The Africa Channel often (they have a contract with Comcast to broadcast here in the US as I understand it), and with Comcast’s involvement, I have to believe there are other sides of the story not being told in their entirety. I have however, learned more about Africa from it than I was EVERtaught in ANY school here! I know, along with Mary,😊 I’d be very interested in your personal insight!
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@taotesan, @Linda…On the arris Chnnl right now, I’m watching “Fighting for King and Empire: Britain’s Caribbean Heroes” right now. Thoughts?
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OOPs! My stroke hand was at work on the comment! What I mean to say was, “On th Africa Channel right now, “I’m watching “Fighting for King and Empire: Britain’s Caribbean Heroes”
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@Mary Burrell
@Deb
@Afrofem
Life is getting a quite tricky at the moment to post a proper reply,I will try sooner than later.
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@taotesan
Take the time that you need to get centered. Your wellbeing comes first.
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I have read many think pieces about why it’s necessary to have slave films on different social media sites and the one that really made me give this some consideration was the one blogger called Negra With Tumbao. Her perspective gave me much food for thought. “Out of everyone’s history we(Black people) are the only ones who sh*t on our history.” That gave me pause and I had to reconsider why I was so ambivalent about these type of films. Especially when it is apart of our history as Black Americans. So I watched all four episodes and I was enlightened about many things that I need to read about. So now the wringing of hands and bumping my head is over. I am glad I watched Roots for myself.
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@taotesan: Take your time we will still be here.
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@taotesan…Take care of yourself dear.
@Mary Burrell…“I am glad I watched Roots for myself.”
I’m glad you watched it for yourself too, Lil Sis.
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@Deb: I learned somethings and I was enlightened. It had some nice moments.
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@Mary…“I learned somethings and I was enlightened.”
And THAT, my Lil Sis, is what matters!😄
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