When Roots first aired on television I was eleven years old. I remember, night after night, the horror I felt at the jaw-dropping injustices, the depravity and suffering depicted in the miniseries. I could not fathom how this barbarous system of slavery had ever been perpetuated and defended, and I was relieved and thankful to know it was more than a hundred years behind us; the abolitionists had won. It never occurred to me to identify myself with the slave-owners because my skin was the same shade as theirs. I stood squarely on the side of human dignity, of freedom and mercy, of justice. I stood with all the characters in that true-life story who opposed the evil atrocity of people-as-property. I believed skin color was a shallow and silly measurement for anything that matters about a person.
Race Reflections
Race Reflections
Race Reflections
When Roots first aired on television I was eleven years old. I remember, night after night, the horror I felt at the jaw-dropping injustices, the depravity and suffering depicted in the miniseries. I could not fathom how this barbarous system of slavery had ever been perpetuated and defended, and I was relieved and thankful to know it was more than a hundred years behind us; the abolitionists had won. It never occurred to me to identify myself with the slave-owners because my skin was the same shade as theirs. I stood squarely on the side of human dignity, of freedom and mercy, of justice. I stood with all the characters in that true-life story who opposed the evil atrocity of people-as-property. I believed skin color was a shallow and silly measurement for anything that matters about a person.