Reparation for Roots (op-ed)
I never supported reparations for slavery. I thought it was just an academic argument. Plus, actual supporters in the black community don’t seek payment. They sought and found a permanent reason to denounce America. But I would sign a petition for reparations for all the time I was forced to watch Roots in high school.
I’m joking, right? No! From 9th to 12th grade during black history month the TV miniseries Roots was shown. My instructors mimicked a movie trailer when they introduced the miniseries: Adapted from Alex Haley’s literary masterpiece! Roots is the saga of one family from Africa, through American slavery, to freedom. Haley successfully traced his family back to Africa, returned to the continent, and reunited with descendants of the same ancestry. Roots the book, and now the series, is the triumphant true story that changed America! (White America)
What changed? The historical treatment of black Americans, its ramifications, and remedies were no longer a discussion held by the architects of LBJ’s great society programs. The discussion entered the daily dialogue of general TV viewers resulting in what was later diagnosed as “white guilt”.
White Guilt is best defined as the individual or collective guilt felt by some white people for harm resulting from racist treatment of people of color by whites both historically and currently. White guilt has been described as one of the psychosocial costs of racism for white individuals along with empathy for victims of racism.
Supporters of reparations are probably wondering: What’s wrong with that? Nothing, if one seeks wrong instead of right, but Roots was plagiarized and has been called one of the biggest con jobs in U.S. literary history. Also, when shown, Roots was the biggest white lie during black history month. (This is not what Carter G. Woodson had in mind when he titled his book The Mis-education of the Negro or when he created black history week which turned into black history month.)
In 1978 anthropologist Harold Courtlander filed a copyright infringement suit against Haley for copying from his 1967 novel The African. An expert witness reported, “Without The African, Roots would have been very different and less successful … Haley copied language, thoughts, attitude, incident, situation, plot, and character.” After a five week trial the parties settled out of court. Haley agreed to pay Courtlander $650,000.
No teacher of mine mentioned this matter of legality after the series. A fitting epilogue would have been: For further study read The African by Harold Courtlander. But did my teachers even know?
According to writer Stanley Crouch the federal judge that presided over the case wanted to protect Haley’s reputation. The judge felt Roots was too important to black people (Plus he might of felt guilty if he somehow participated in Haley’s public humiliation.) and urged Courtlander to be quiet about his huge settlement. Crouch also called the judge’s actions “paternalism at its worst”.
I was reminded of Haley’s plagiarism and Crouch’s comments when Quentin Tarantino stated his reason for making the movie Django Unchained. He said the movie, a western set in the slave holding south with an ex-slave bounty hunter protagonist, was to give black people a hero. I’ll give Tarantino the benefit of the doubt. When he said black people he referred to his own hip hop listening fan base, and the hero he gave was a gun-toting, black Clint Eastwood, saving his woman from “The Man” instead of the gun-toting, womanizing, gangster type normally glamorized in hip hop culture. But why did Tarantino feel that way? Did he see Roots? Yes he did, and Tarantino said, “When you look at Roots, nothing about it rings true in the storytelling, and none of the performances ring true for me either,” he also said, “It didn’t move me because it claimed to be something it wasn’t.”
Something it wasn’t? Did Tarantino know what my teacher’s didn’t? And if Tarantino knew did he make Django to rid himself of the white guilt Roots initiated?
If he did that’s good for him. (Now if Tarantino feels guilt about police brutality in the black community be prepared for him to make Black Dirty Harry.)
But if my teachers knew Roots was plagiarized and remained silent then they made their students combined victims of paternalism at its worst and white guilt at it’s finest.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 2/25/15
I’m joking, right? No! From 9th to 12th grade during black history month the TV miniseries Roots was shown. My instructors mimicked a movie trailer when they introduced the miniseries: Adapted from Alex Haley’s literary masterpiece! Roots is the saga of one family from Africa, through American slavery, to freedom. Haley successfully traced his family back to Africa, returned to the continent, and reunited with descendants of the same ancestry. Roots the book, and now the series, is the triumphant true story that changed America! (White America)
What changed? The historical treatment of black Americans, its ramifications, and remedies were no longer a discussion held by the architects of LBJ’s great society programs. The discussion entered the daily dialogue of general TV viewers resulting in what was later diagnosed as “white guilt”.
White Guilt is best defined as the individual or collective guilt felt by some white people for harm resulting from racist treatment of people of color by whites both historically and currently. White guilt has been described as one of the psychosocial costs of racism for white individuals along with empathy for victims of racism.
Supporters of reparations are probably wondering: What’s wrong with that? Nothing, if one seeks wrong instead of right, but Roots was plagiarized and has been called one of the biggest con jobs in U.S. literary history. Also, when shown, Roots was the biggest white lie during black history month. (This is not what Carter G. Woodson had in mind when he titled his book The Mis-education of the Negro or when he created black history week which turned into black history month.)
In 1978 anthropologist Harold Courtlander filed a copyright infringement suit against Haley for copying from his 1967 novel The African. An expert witness reported, “Without The African, Roots would have been very different and less successful … Haley copied language, thoughts, attitude, incident, situation, plot, and character.” After a five week trial the parties settled out of court. Haley agreed to pay Courtlander $650,000.
No teacher of mine mentioned this matter of legality after the series. A fitting epilogue would have been: For further study read The African by Harold Courtlander. But did my teachers even know?
According to writer Stanley Crouch the federal judge that presided over the case wanted to protect Haley’s reputation. The judge felt Roots was too important to black people (Plus he might of felt guilty if he somehow participated in Haley’s public humiliation.) and urged Courtlander to be quiet about his huge settlement. Crouch also called the judge’s actions “paternalism at its worst”.
I was reminded of Haley’s plagiarism and Crouch’s comments when Quentin Tarantino stated his reason for making the movie Django Unchained. He said the movie, a western set in the slave holding south with an ex-slave bounty hunter protagonist, was to give black people a hero. I’ll give Tarantino the benefit of the doubt. When he said black people he referred to his own hip hop listening fan base, and the hero he gave was a gun-toting, black Clint Eastwood, saving his woman from “The Man” instead of the gun-toting, womanizing, gangster type normally glamorized in hip hop culture. But why did Tarantino feel that way? Did he see Roots? Yes he did, and Tarantino said, “When you look at Roots, nothing about it rings true in the storytelling, and none of the performances ring true for me either,” he also said, “It didn’t move me because it claimed to be something it wasn’t.”
Something it wasn’t? Did Tarantino know what my teacher’s didn’t? And if Tarantino knew did he make Django to rid himself of the white guilt Roots initiated?
If he did that’s good for him. (Now if Tarantino feels guilt about police brutality in the black community be prepared for him to make Black Dirty Harry.)
But if my teachers knew Roots was plagiarized and remained silent then they made their students combined victims of paternalism at its worst and white guilt at it’s finest.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 2/25/15
So u man haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa oooooooooooo dam lol �� and roots roots man dam haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa���� �� �� ���� all man dam . U punch �� roots in the face. qt dam black dirt .ooooooooo u made my mouth
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