As I move around in my mind for other topic areas to discuss in this family blog, I have avoided some very obvious ones. Tragedy. Violence. Racism. There are some family stories that won't be told and there are many more that will never find room in our blog because of the sheer magnitude of events that happen in several generations. Race became a central issue of life for me at a very young age. It continues to be first and foremost in my thoughts when I hear about challenges to Civil Rights, voting rights, the penal system, the gun laws. But I am more interested in letting you see a widely seen, beautifully told, and completely ignored for the teaching tool that it is. This should be a part of every child in America's education, no matter the race. The truth hurts. But without it, you'll never find the real wounds. Band-aids for old problems need to be torn away and the problem rooted out. Justice demands an equal freedom in American Law. We work for the day when it will be true.
The Original Roots Movie took the nation by storm can tell you that this movie pulled up old wounds in a new generation that was already suffering from gross mistreatment and the understanding to recognize it. Our peacemaker ways resulted in having to skip school the day after Kizzy was sold because our well-being was threatened at school. We had to re-educate people about the fact that my family was still in Italy when it happened. They reminded me that the system was still there and I was still white, entitled to all the privileges they could not yet claim. I did not feel privileged, but I didn't really (at that time) know how to explain my innocence. I really wanted to see for myself what stories were written, what story-telling was there to show it to me from a human point of view? And then it happened. Alex Haley's ROOTS, mini-series was aired on national television, starting on a Sunday and running all week through the following Sunday. I hold this to be a national treasure of a tale, beyond the scope any history book used in schools. We are allowed, as self-teachers, to seek the master-teachers on a subject. Alex Haley's work has such mastery.
Roots I: The Original. Kunta Kinte, the first African brought to America as a slave, following the story of his family, carried through oral tradition. Alex Haley, through the family lineage of his mother, wrote a Best Seller book about his research and oral tradition "breadcrumbs back" to the links of each generation.
NOTE: I have to find a new link for the original Roots. I will post it as soon as it can be located.
Queen: Following the story tells Kunta Kinte's father's family. I just found this. Never knew about it. An ALL-STAR CAST, including a young Halley Barry and Jasmine Guy, with Anne Margaret and Martin Sheen, among many others. Carrying another family history forward.
(shown on You Tube in segments that you can follow)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6nXA1WHTug&list=PL95906753B1A3FE63&index=1
Queen II: The continuation of the above story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESZ4MuMrQHw&list=PL95906753B1A3FE63
Roots II: The Next Generations (shown on You Tube in segments that you can follow)
It is as arresting and dramatic as the first, but ringing really true with generations who are alive today.
p.s. the dramatic rendition --in a further segment--of one of the "Jim Crow" songs and dance. Hatefully sung, it fills in the rest of what people meant when they used this term. Definition is fading in 2013, many of these attitudes are, unfortunately, still kicking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRybrLoLD1s
About the Author: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nancy-bell/30/231/855
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