A funny thing happened to me on my way to writing this blog.
Two stories came out that were so unbelievably outrageous, ridiculous, and absurd that I had to say something: Now that
Republican Governor Rick Snyder has
succeeded in poisoning the water supply for Flint MI., Republican
presidential candidate, Ted
Cruz has come to the rescue by
providing bottled water to the area. BUT
ONLY FOR ANTI ABORTION GROUPS!!!!!!!
Just to put a little cherry on top, Cruz is also comparing this
Republican debacle to another Republican debacle (Hurricane Katrina
under George W. Bush who stayed on vacation on his ranch as Americans died
in the streets of New Orleans) and blaming both on the far left! Slime, thy name is Cruz! And yet there are thousands- no,
millions of Americans who want this
man to be their president??!!!!
In the midst of my valiant struggle to digest the
indigestible story of Cruz, I learned white Chicago police officer, Robert
Rialmo, who, in response to a call from a father that his 19 year old son
was wielding a baseball bat, killed the young man as well as a 55 year old
black woman who opened the door to let him in (cops called it an “accident”) is
now suing the estate of the kid he killed! Apparently, killing this kid caused Rialmo
such emotional distress that he is suing the kid’s estate for 10 million
dollars! (I can’t help wondering if Jeffrey
Dahmer’s estate might sue the estates of the boys he ate, claiming they
gave Jeffrey indigestion.)
Finally, at least until I get to my original story, Now that Stacey Dash has revealed herself as an idiot, and her name is all over social media, I have to wonder if people would be spending this much time talking about her if she had written a great novel, or discovered a new medical technique or cure that would save millions of lives. Just wondering. And now to my original article on slave movies:
The advent of the new film about Nat Turner, “Birth of a Nation,” has, inevitably brought with it a certain amount of backlash as Black folks are torn between wanting their history told, but tiring of seeing the debasement and degradation of their people repeated again and again in slave movies. One argument that captures that tension beautifully is written by Kara Brown, titled, “I’m So Damn Tired of Slave Movies.” Ms. Brown’s piece is both intelligent and thoughtful. But there are a few salient points that are missing that I have to address.
In her article Ms. Brown asserts that such films are
intended to educate white audiences about slavery and that slavery should be
taught in the schools. The problem is that Black people do not know about
slavery. A large percentage (if not the
majority) do not know who Nat Turner was.
Virtually all of the problems that
beset black America (from within and from without) have their roots in slavery.
There has never been a clean break from
slavery. It morphed into plantation
bondage based on debt owed the plantation owner for food and shelter, Jim Crow,
mass incarceration, and the destruction of black neighborhoods and towns
whenever they became too prosperous. Unless we clearly understand the depths of the
oppression that was (and continues to be) perpetrated against us, we will come
to believe that the plethora of issues that confront us, from gang violence to
mental illness to chronic substance abuse (the list goes on) are merely the
result of the natural order of things. I
believe the single most important reason so many black folks (especially gang
members) kill each other is that they simply do not know who they are.
As for the schools teaching about slavery, The Texas
textbook adoption committee has been working overtime to eliminate the word
“slavery” from textbooks as well as any mention of any oppression as any time. Moderate
Presidential candidate, Jeb Bush has stated that this country “has a long
history of racial tolerance.” Every MLK
day thousands. If not millions, of black kids recite the “I Have A Dream”
speech, while having no clue as to what Jim Crow was. Getting accurate
black history into the schools is important, but clearly rarely achieved. Furthermore, we learn from everything, especially
movies and television.
I completely understand Ms. Brown’s weariness with slave/oppression movies. I often turn the channel when a film about black folks being abused is on. I’m old enough to remember the water hoses and dogs of the sixties. I thought “12 Years A Slave” was a great movie, but I will not watch it a second time. Still, we can never forget that, weary though we may be of it, we are still in a war with the pro-slavery apologists of the 21st century. “Twelve Years A Slave” was actually criticized in a published article, as propaganda for not showing the good side of slavery! Publishers were just forced to pull a children’s book titled, “A Birthday Cake For George Washington,” that is all about happy-go-luck smiling and grinning slaves baking this cake whose biggest problem was that they didn’t have enough flour!
Black folks have every right to be weary of representations
of us in powerless positions, being abused and killed. But the story of slavery
is not just one of degradation. It is
the story of an incredibly strong people who refused to accept their condition,
particularly in the case of Nat Turner. (Especially since we see white cops killing
us every other day and getting away with it).
But I am really glad to see a film come out about one of our unsung
heroes who fought back. Weary though we
may be, we have to keep fighting to tell the truth about our experience, no
matter how painful, over and over and over again. I guarantee you, the racists will never stop
trying to justify slavery.
www.williamgriggs.net