THINK about this film and slavery in general? Do you really feel bad for what your ancestors did to blacks, do you care or do you feel it has nothing to do with you?
shareIf we didn't have slavery where do you think all the African Americans would be now? if anything they should be grateful for the evilness of humans & the suffering of their ancestors.
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I think it is a dark period of our history, yes. However, what about other cultures who used slaves? So we are not alone in this.
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Black People have committed horrifying atrocities on each other, so from that respect all races are bad, and nobody should be held guilty for his ancestors behaviour.
On another level, Black People in USA, and in other First world countries today are leading a life which is light years superior to Blacks in Africa, but they still whine so much.
Darkness lies an inch ahead
THINK about this film and slavery in general? Do you really feel bad for what your ancestors did to blacks, do you care or do you feel it has nothing to do with you?First of all, I don't really see where you come off asking a question like this. Its like saying "Hey German's what's your excuse for the holocaust?" Or "Hey Egyptians, how come you wouldn't let Moses' people go already?" Here is my answer.
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Just got around to the part where the lynch mob comes to whip Tom and afterwards, Martha and Bud talk about the white men coming. Couldn't have said it any better than the movie itself does.
Bud: I'ma kill them white men someday.
Martha: Bud, you ought'n to talk like that.
Bud: I'ma kill 'em.
Matha: Bible says it ain't right to kill Bud.
Bud: Do the Bible say it be right for them to whup my daddy?
Martha: No, it don't say that neither
Bud: Then I'm bound to get um.
Martha: Which ones Bud? Couldn't see their faces
Bud: I'll find a way to get the ones who done it.
Martha: Suppose you make a mistake? Suppose you hurt some white folks that ain't done your daddy no harm?
Bud: I'll do what I gotta do.
Martha: Then I guess you might as well start with me Bud.
Bud: I didn't... mean... you.
Martha: Well, I sure am white. I'm white as a cottonball. And if you starts hurtin' whites for bein white, then sooner or later you gets around to me and Ol' George.
Bud: I don't wanna kill you.
Martha: That's what happens when you starts hurtin folks for the color of their skin. You won't be any better than those men who hurt your daddy.
Bud: I hate em. Hate em!
Martha: Hate em... for what they done... Not because theys white. Me and mine is white, but we love you just like our own. If you'll let us love you.
(They hug)
Martha: Oh Bud, oh my poor little Bud.
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It is sad that there are folk who really believe what was written by
fullboost6 that:-
they should still be slaves just look at africa they cant look after themselves
I found a copy of the movie on a free table on VHS. Never saw it before, but was very impressed with it. It was good to see. The only downer is apparently the previous owner ran out of tape, so I think there's an hour left I didn't see. (yep, VHS).
As far as what I feel about the past or whatever, my ancestors were likely too poor to own slaves, so I don't feel anything about that. But it is a sad part of our nation's history.
I guess it was more than
it is a sad part of our nation's history
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I'm a white woman in my mid thirties from East Texas. My entire family is white, and from the South, back to the 17th century, via Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee.
I think this film is great, especially considering the budget it was produced on, and I also think it would never be made much less aired today, as it is far too realistic in its portrayal of the inherent violence of chattel slavery in this country. It's also genius in that it accurately shows how the slavery system brutalized the slave owners, as well.
I know that I have ancestors in Virginia and North Carolina who owned slaves (due to research on Ancestry.com and subsequently reading their wills), as well as at least two ancestors who were Confederate soldiers (one being an officer who died at the Battle of Stones River leading a charge against the Union). I do feel bad about what my ancestors did to blacks, yes, unhesitatingly.
I feel it has very much to do with me, as well as with the society in which I grew up in East Texas and still live in, in Austin. Some of the advantages I had (even as a girl, in a working class family in a rural area in the South) are the direct result of the capital, power, and education my ancestors were able to obtain on the backs of enslaved African Americans. Literally. There is no getting away from this.
It is therefor the *very least* I am obligated to do, to try to understand this history, and the complicated, often traumatic history of our country. Though I was raised to be racist ("blacks are different from us, and you can be friends with one, but you can't let one spend the night at your house, or marry one" was among one of the many racist instructions I received from age three or four).
"Roots" originally aired just before I was born, so I don't remember it, but I do remember its impact, and people talking about it in the years afterward. I decided to watch it after reading a lot of Frederick Douglass recently. Not only is it instructional as to the black experience in slavery and Reconstruction, but also as an artifact of mid-20th century African American self conception. Something that was so instrumental in the lives of my black friends and neighbors is necessarily something I should watch, I think. And I'm enjoying it immensely. As a white person, the impact of slavery in breaking up black families and its pernicious, brutalizing effect on white people are the main themes that this story has crystallized in my mind.
There you have it.
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As far as feeling guilty, I don't know that any of my ancestors were actually owned slaves but they were here and in the south since the 1700s. I personally do not feel guilt but do feel shame on our ancestors in general for treating others so badly. I grew up in a predominately white southern town and watched roots when I was very young. I was probably 4 or 5 years old. I remember crying several times during the movie and being in disbelief that people could be so mean and cruel to others. I think every American should see this movie not to bring bitter feelings towards each other but to learn from other's mistakes and know some of the truths of how evil slavery was. Should we dwell on it and our decedents forever feel guilty for what their ancestors did? I don't think so, we all should treat each other as we want to be treated.
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