Black Truth & Fiction... ROOTS

I tried to watch the new "ROOTS" miniseries remake but I can't watch the whole thing and don't like certain subtle messages in it. I don't knock anybody else for watching it, but I just can't do it. I still haven't made it through "12 Years A Slave" and probably never will because these movies anger me deeply no matter how historically accurate they may be. I'm aware of the true history and brutality of Western Colonial slavery, but no amount of stories made into movies will ever get the descendants of the architects of these European colonial powers who colonized & enslaved others to admit the criminality of it and set things right that their ancestors made wrong.

The benefit of the privilege they've received from it is too great for most of them to give up for that. So while they even watch these stories too and say things like, "Wow! Oh my God I can't believe they did that to black people", or "I wasn't back there and didn't own slaves so stop blaming me!", they will completely overlook the modern day brutality of a corrupt system that still inflicts injustice on a dominated minority population among it. How can anyone enjoy historical depictions of Black people's suffering and still ignore the current inequities demonstrated against them on a daily basis? The fact that Black actors & actresses seem to only get award winning critical acclaim for their acting talent in slave movies or for playing some other controversial, abused, exploited, or despicable character hasn't been lost on me. 

I can't imagine any story like these that are so enjoyable I can ever accept them without question anymore. Black culture didn't start with slavery, nor were we naked savages in Africa running around in need of European savagery under the guise of "civilization". I hope the new upcoming "Tarzan" movie absolutely tanks along with any other movie or story that has to do with Africa, Egypt, or the Bible where Black folks are secondary or background characters in their own lands and others are always the victors & rulers over us. When I was a kid I didn't know any better but as I grew up and learned better I realized that stories like Tarzan are a racist fantasy of white supremacist domination over Black people. Remake that story in Compton, CA or Bankhead in Atlanta, GA so somebody can shoot Tarzan's hollering behind out of a tree to finally get rid of him and give that crap a different ending. I'm not against all stories with a white hero or heroine, but I am against Tarzan... believe that! 

Hollywood and other entertainment outlets produce too many "struggle stories" of Black folks to send subliminal messages such as fatherlessness, abuse, inferiority, violence, cooning, constant buffoonery, abandonment and other negativity. This is not our story but what folks in power want us to believe and want others to see. It's far past time for more accurate history to be told about us, and for better fiction to be written for us by us to give our children something more than white heroes & heroines to look up to or dream of being like. In order to change these types of things we have to write our own stories rather than just accept those of others. Those among us who can write need to do so, and those who can direct movies need to make those kinds of movies at the grassroots level, because the Blacks in Hollywood who have the money & fame aren't doing it, but most of them have sold out to do negative portrayals of Black Culture. 

We must do more accurate research rather than simply read a few books and regurgitate in "black face" the information fed to us by supposed scholars. History should be told accurately and not "blackened up" either to make folks feel good by trying to restore their self-image, or told to get them to reject a particular social or religious perspective for another one. Lies proclaimed as truth make them no less the lies they actually are, but just make it easier for folks to lie to themselves and reject the truths they disagree with. People often envision their heroes looking most like them even when the historical record of true life figures such as Yeshua the Christ, Moses, King David, the Pharaohs, Hannibal of Carthage, and others have been "white washed" for the benefit of one group to the detriment of another. I won't be surprised if "ROOTS" is remade years from now and everything is reversed. Slaves are already falsely being called "workers" in some school history books, so it's very possible.  

The truth is still the truth, and only those who historically haven't been able to handle it lash out violently to destroy or displace entire cultures & civilizations to try changing history to lies they can accept while telling others to "get over" things their ancestors didn't suffer but made others suffer and that their culture still benefits from. Yet, truth always prevails and when beat down will rise to the top above the lies used to suppress it and that even now attempt to further distort it. I enjoy a good story & history no matter the color of the characters but I can't stand a lie or a story told to either explicitly or subtly communicate any kind of "supremacist" ideology or theology. History has already been written and epic stories have been told. We can change our present to give the future generations to come better history from this point forward, and we can write better stories that impact the psyches of others in a much more positive way. There's more history about Black folks long before slavery and better stories to be told about us by us. Let's tell some more of them. Just my opinion.  ~ I.J. West