I Hate Slave Movies. Yeah, I said it.

Whatever you're thinking, right now - full stop. The title of this blog is a statement. My statement. Based on my personal-lived experience. Your opinion matters to me...but not more than my own, on this topic.

So...yeah. I said what I said. I hate slave movies. Ugh. They don't teach me, my ancestors story. A movie about a slave is not history. They don't trigger empathy in me. They are glorified ways (to remind black men, women and children that they came from and are, "other") for Hollywood to make bank on the backs of our ancestral subjugation. No, thanks. I'll pass.

Also, please do not confuse learning history with watching movies that contain questionable and/or negative content.

There is MORE that ONE way to learn history. Movies about our history are not the ONLY way to learn our history. See, many social media comments seem to indicate how it "important" it is, for us, to attack our conscience with the repetitive and corrosive slave movie - yet <cricket sounds>, (generally speaking) when the discussion is about controlling the narrative about ourselves.

I can't consume a regular diet of self-inflected image-mutilation without some negative effects to my psyche, right? Why would I volunteer for mental imprisonment (about what I can be and who I am) when my ancestors struggled vehemently to free bodies and MINDS from the tragedy of slavery. I just won't do it. Sidebar: I don't voluntarily poison either. Duh.

An old saying [from my 501(c)3 days] goes: "No meetings about ME, without ME." - in essence, other folks don't get to decide what is best for ME and MINE. I don't allow folks (who don't have our best interest at heart) to control the narrative about what it best for ME and MINE.

As a parent, I consider it my duty to monitor what my children "consume".
Including school activities and curriculum. I am partner, in their education, not a passive by-stander.
I don't "let them" teach my children any-old-thing without my review and involvement. This is why schools have curriculum nights. I take action where appropriate and applicable. "They" won't soften anything for my children because I am here to defend the integrity of what they consume. So...yeah, I won't be drinking the Kool-Aid of Slave Movies. We can and will learn, in detail, what our ancestors and their allies did to free themselves and change the heart of this nation. It's a WONDERFUL lesson to add as a brick in the foundation of "Who We Are"...but not the only brick.

The days where we sit idly by and LET people do what they will to us - are gone. "They" (whatever that implies) only have the power over us...that we give "them".

Created 2/17/18
Revised 4/21/19