Please remember that often the things you desire the most are the held from you for a reason...
I am by no means a 'black history' buff, grant it I know a bit more than my peers but I am an enigma wrapped is a dream so go figure, black people are my passion and to separate myself from myself and view the separated pieces through a 'lens' offends me, but anyway on to 12 Years A Slave and its personal impact. The American brand of slavery is like no other in the world and its ramifications are far reaching and of course it is all by design. I wanted to see the movie 'privately' like only black in a theater that seats say 150 and only had 4 folks watching. I picked a matinee showing, treated myself to lunch and walked into a theater full of my white cousins...SHIT!!!! I did some breathing exercises reminded myself that I was there for ME and sat down to the movie. It was awe inspiring, to see the American brand of human chattel displayed in 'living color' had me go through every emotion, my old familiars, unfulfilled black wrath, and angry black woman were on deck as soon as I sat down, but to experience utter help and hopelessness so much so that as soon as the film ended, I went and cried (crying now DAMN), not for the validity of the past but for the hope of the future for Blacks in this country. Jews will never grow old or get angry at the rehashing of the Holocaust, we, us, black folks get mad, angry, even belligerent at the mention of forty year-old historical strife. Why is that? DO we not value ALL of our voices? Everyone's story is valid even the ones that are difficult to hear; in the telling we gift that story life to give life back to the ones who need to hear it. That theater should have been packed with black people, like the same number of folks who went to see The Best Man Holiday? All we do is grin and skin (yes!!! a classic mommyism) then, weep moan and beat our chest at the wasted life of a young person. Do you think they knew their history? Do you know your history or do you run to the arms of Madea when times get tough? I am not knocking any of these other flicks but the question of have you invested in YOUR black soul so much so that when shit hits the fan as it always will you have the tenacity of your ancestors to fall back upon? When I was at UM I knew I would usher in the revolution...I too have fallen by the wayside. This is not an excuse but a painful reminder that I cannot hold others at fault for doing what they know, I can only be an example of how to go back and reclaim what was lost. America will never fess up to its grave human rights violations unless the violated hold America's feet to the fire. The Chinese did, the Jews did, why haven't we? 12 Years A Slave will go down as an excellent movie which it is, but to me, it, like Roots, is a testimony waiting to be acknowledged, a sign prompting some to action. How many can stand and say they heard the call?
