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Post by truthteacher2007 on Oct 28, 2013 0:20:09 GMT -5
Hey Anansi, this one's for you. Been meaning to post a review since last week.I highly reccomend this film. For those who haven't heard of it, this is based on the real lifestory of Solomon Northrup, (SP), a free born Afro American from Seracuse New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. Prior to the Civil War, the United States was expanding its territory in the west. The big question was whether or not the new territories would be free states or slave states. The reason why this was an issue was because of economics. While the southern states depended on agriculture and slave labor, the northern states had abolished slavery and the economy was based on industry. Northerners wanted the new states to be free so that they could have the opportunity to become landowners and have their own farms. If on the other hand, the states were slave states, most of the available land would go to large slave owning plantations. And even if some people were able to obtain their own land, how would they be able to compete with free slave labor? There was also an issue of who would hold political power. If the states were free, the north would have more political power because they would have more congressional representatives than the south. These issues began to create a lot of tensions between the two regions.
In an attempt to keep the peace, the north began passing laws to placate the south. One of these was a fugitive slave law. Basically, this law gave slave owners the right to capture slaves who had run away to freedom in the north. However, not only did this mean that exslaves were in danger, but any Black person who could not prove that they were born free. By this time, there were thousands of Black people who had been free for generations. Many of them were educated and owned prosperous businesses, or who had professions that provided them with comfortable standards of living. Solomon and his family were one of these. Solomon was a musician, his wife was a cook. They had their own home and two children. They had a comfortable middle class life. I won't give away the plot, but Solomon found himself in a situation where he was kidneapped, stripped of his identification and sold into slavery in the deep south as a captured escaped slave. Unfortunately Solomon's story was not unique. During this time period an untold number of people were kidnaped and sold. Solomon was only one of the few who was able to escape and return to freedom.
What struck me watching this film, in a way that never occured to me before, was the toll slavery took, not only on the enslaved, but the slavers as well. A great many of the slave owners, although they lived in luxury, paid for that lavish life style with their sanity. I won't say more about this, because I want you all to see the movie yourselves. The other thing that came to mind was what hell it must have been to be a house slave.
Many people romanticise the notion that house slaves had an easyer time than the field hand. While they may not have been subjected to the physical rigor of work in the field, they could not and were not safe from the physical and psychological abuse of mentally disturbed slave owners. Think about it, they had t o live in the same house with physically and vebally abusive people and were on call 24/7. It was a hellish existance in an environment that had to have depended on mental illness to survive. One would have to have been insane in order to treat fellow human beings in that manner.
Other realization, what a phenominal people we are. Considering the brutality we faced and the fact that we were not expected to survive, not only have we survived, but we have added so much to the world and life in this country. And while a great many of us are still struggling, so many of us are thriving. It is motivation to strive to continue flourishing. We all stand on the shoulders of our ancestors who sacrificed and endured so much so that we could have lives worth living. Not only do I suggest everyone see this film, I would strongly suggest you take your children, or the children in your lives to see it. I feel extreemly proud to say that I am a descendant of such a remarkable group of people!
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Post by anansi on Oct 28, 2013 11:38:50 GMT -5
Saw trailers of it would like to check it out if possible.
Yet there are those of us who want to dodge this period of our history as one of humiliation and shame only not seeing the strength resistance and who were ultimately victorious people who had to bring themselves through that era I firmly believe that most other folks would simply disappear silently into the night.
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Oct 28, 2013 14:54:14 GMT -5
Saw trailers of it would like to check it out if possible. Yet there are those of us who want to dodge this period of our history as one of humiliation and shame only not seeing the strength resistance and who were ultimately victorious people who had to bring themselves through that era I firmly believe that most other folks would simply disappear silently into the night. I totally agree. Consider how many cultures didn't survive contact with European conquest and colonial expansion. I totally undestand why some see that period as a source of shame. Once upon a time, I was one of those people. It wasn't till later, after years of study that I realized how strong we are and how strong they had to be to not crack. To keep living day after day with determination that their children would one day be in a better place. I also discovered that they were not passive victims. They resisted subjugation in countless ways. Despite their best efforts, our spiritual practices have still survived, aspects of language, music etc. We agitated for freedom, whether that was sabotage on the behalf of slaves, escape, maroon societies, philantropic societies that bought people out of slavery, or the creation of abolitionist movements. Speaking of abolition, a new movie to look out for in 2014 Belle. Another true story set in the late 18th century. This one about the daughter of a British naval officer and an African woman. I'm not sure if she was a slave or not, nor what became of her. What I do know is that he took custody of his daughter, took her back to his parents estate where she was raised. Caught between two world, not a servant, but not allowed to sit at the same table with her family, she would eventually meet a kindred spirit and the two of them would become advocates for the abolition of slavery in England. We have so much to be proud of. I would never trade my heritage for anyone elses. This forum may not get as much traffic as others, but it is full of a wealth of valuable information. |
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Post by anansi on Nov 9, 2013 2:45:57 GMT -5
Wow just saw a bootlegged version of it, you know it takes alot of courage and will power not to hate.
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locdiva
Craftsperson
#1 locdiva
Posts: 65
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Post by locdiva on Nov 9, 2013 9:29:46 GMT -5
Thankyou Anansi for your critique and your synopsis of that hellish time of our history. As for the mentally-ill slaveowners, some of their descendants survive to this day in the forms of KKK, the tea party and Koch brother associates and supporters!!
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Nov 9, 2013 12:56:45 GMT -5
Wow just saw a bootlegged version of it, you know it takes alot of courage and will power not to hate. Did you see what I meant about the environment of mental illness that kept that system going? |
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Post by anansi on Nov 10, 2013 2:34:41 GMT -5
Thankyou Anansi for your critique and your synopsis of that hellish time of our history. As for the mentally-ill slaveowners, some of their descendants survive to this day in the forms of KKK, the tea party and Koch brother associates and supporters!! Earlier this year Charlie Rangel called Tea Party members talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/charlie-rangel-tea-party-is-same-group-of-white-crackers-who-fought-civil-rightsNow I would have to add that there are Black members of the Tea Party such as Alan West of Florida and Roy Innis among others,would I drop the term Uncle Toms,only if I check out the comments and actions,but the Tea Party it self attract men like this. Yes racism is a mental disease. |
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Nov 10, 2013 17:00:41 GMT -5
[quote author=" anansi" source="/post/8101/thread" timestamp="1384068881" Yes racism is a mental disease. [/quote] Sigh! And people wonder why the South lost the War? Anyway, I think that It's impossible to treat another person so inhumanly and not pay a toll. I'm no Christian, but I feel there is much wisdom in the question, what does it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul? I look at the experience of Epps, his wife and everyone in that system and wonder how people couldn't see it was a sword that cut both ways? While the slaves had the physical scares on their bodies, the masters had them on their souls! But that the clergy had pointed out to them that they were destroying themselves in the process too, might it have made a difference? I think to myslf, what it must have been to be the wife, the child of a sadistic animal. Knowing you were a bird in a gilded cage. I saw a show on Dr. Phil this morning talking about how veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan return damaged and end up taking it out on themselves and their families. I'm just astounded that people can miss the point so thoroughly. You can't behave that way and not have it return back to you in some way. www.bet.com/video/celebrity/2013/alfre-woodard-and-lupita-nyong-o.html |
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Post by anansi on Nov 10, 2013 22:33:25 GMT -5
[quote author=" anansi" source="/post/8101/thread" timestamp="1384068881" Yes racism is a mental disease. Sigh! And people wonder why the South lost the War? Anyway, I think that It's impossible to treat another person so inhumanly and not pay a toll. I'm no Christian, but I feel there is much wisdom in the question, what does it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul? I look at the experience of Epps, his wife and everyone in that system and wonder how people couldn't see it was a sword that cut both ways? While the slaves had the physical scares on their bodies, the masters had them on their souls! But that the clergy had pointed out to them that they were destroying themselves in the process too, might it have made a difference? I think to myslf, what it must have been to be the wife, the child of a sadistic animal. Knowing you were a bird in a gilded cage. I saw a show on Dr. Phil this morning talking about how veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan return damaged and end up taking it out on themselves and their families. I'm just astounded that people can miss the point so thoroughly. You can't behave that way and not have it return back to you in some way. www.bet.com/video/celebrity/2013/alfre-woodard-and-lupita-nyong-o.html[/quote]The term for that is guilt,we humans like to justify our actions no matter how horrid if we have a sound mind and one is not naturally a psychopath or sociopath that is how we will end-up, sometimes religion is used to salve the conscience by deflecting such horrors to a deity or religious work.. God said!!! the Bible said!!!..the Koran said!!! or whatever just so we can get a few hrs sleep,but what keeps us in the mode is profit.it always boils down to profit even if one is a lowly infantry man you may not gain much but you gain something the guys or gals with the bars,leaves and stars on their collars and the suits who sponsors them a little more removed from the grind profits an awful lot. |
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Nov 10, 2013 23:19:31 GMT -5
[quote author=" anansi" source="/post/8101/thread" timestamp="1384068881" Yes racism is a mental disease. Sigh! And people wonder why the South lost the War? Anyway, I think that It's impossible to treat another person so inhumanly and not pay a toll. I'm no Christian, but I feel there is much wisdom in the question, what does it profit a man to gain the world and loose his soul? I look at the experience of Epps, his wife and everyone in that system and wonder how people couldn't see it was a sword that cut both ways? While the slaves had the physical scares on their bodies, the masters had them on their souls! But that the clergy had pointed out to them that they were destroying themselves in the process too, might it have made a difference? I think to myslf, what it must have been to be the wife, the child of a sadistic animal. Knowing you were a bird in a gilded cage. I saw a show on Dr. Phil this morning talking about how veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan return damaged and end up taking it out on themselves and their families. I'm just astounded that people can miss the point so thoroughly. You can't behave that way and not have it return back to you in some way. www.bet.com/video/celebrity/2013/alfre-woodard-and-lupita-nyong-o.htmlThe term for that is guilt,we humans like to justify our actions no matter how horrid if we have a sound mind and one is not naturally a psychopath or sociopath that is how we will end-up, sometimes religion is used to salve the conscience by deflecting such horrors to a deity or religious work.. God said!!! the Bible said!!!..the Koran said!!! or whatever just so we can get a few hrs sleep,but what keeps us in the mode is profit.it always boils down to profit even if one is a lowly infantry man you may not gain much but you gain something the guys or gals with the bars,leaves and stars on their collars and the suits who sponsors them a little more removed from the grind profits an awful lot. [/quote] And that's the sick thing about it. In the case of the military, the people doing the actual fighting are pupets on a string. They don't have a choice. Not many people have the option to say no like Mohamed Ali did when they tried to draft him for Vietnam. He really paid a big price for his decision. Most military personel enlisted not because they wanted to go to war, but for the promised benifits. They hoped they could go in, do their time and get out. It was a gamble, but then we ended up in 2 wars and they ended up on the loosing side of that gamble. So many of them get out of it and have damn near nothing to show for it. The ones making out like fat cats are the ones who don't see a day of combat. With slavery, it's a bit more complicated. It's more like Lord of the Rings. They have this thing that's giving them power, but it's eating them alive at the same time and they have to delude themselves that they can keep this cursed object and not get hurt that badly. They get to a point where they think they need it. The system had to make everyone insane to survive. The slaves had to be brainwashed, the owners had to delude themselves and the craziest shit off all, the poor whites who were impovrished by the system had to be brainwashed to believe that it was in their intrest to defend the very system which was keeping them in poverty. This movie really opened my eyes as to how cancerous this system was. Of course I would hate to be a slave, but god! can you imagine being married to one of these men? Married to a man, knowing that you were in fact, just another one of his possessions. Knowing that nothing you did could or would secure his real love or fidelity. Knowing that he was having relations with women living under your roof and there was nothing you could do about it. How many of these men were total alchoholics? Can you imagine being the house slave trapped with all them crazy people? God have mercy! And the thing is people rationalized this. It makes me wonder what sort of insanity are we living with in our society today? I'll never look at that period of time in the same way again. |
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Post by azrur on Nov 16, 2013 21:07:18 GMT -5
Thankyou Anansi for your critique and your synopsis of that hellish time of our history. As for the mentally-ill slaveowners, some of their descendants survive to this day in the forms of KKK, the tea party and Koch brother associates and supporters!! Earlier this year Charlie Rangel called Tea Party members talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/charlie-rangel-tea-party-is-same-group-of-white-crackers-who-fought-civil-rightsNow I would have to add that there are Black members of the Tea Party such as Alan West of Florida and Roy Innis among others,would I drop the term Uncle Toms,only if I check out the comments and actions,but the Tea Party it self attract men like this. Yes racism is a mental disease. what racism did the man admit in the video try to find it in video but it is very hard |
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Post by anansi on Nov 16, 2013 22:02:02 GMT -5
Truthteacher... sigh!! wanna take the above ^ question??
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Nov 18, 2013 4:55:33 GMT -5
Truthteacher... sigh!! wanna take the above ^ question?? Ohhhhh, why meeee? I would but my widdle bwain hurts too much! |
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Post by azrur on Nov 18, 2013 19:22:15 GMT -5
Truthteacher... sigh!! wanna take the above ^ question?? Ohhhhh, why meeee? I would but my widdle bwain hurts too much! i dont think alan west hates black people |
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Post by truthteacher2007 on Nov 18, 2013 19:38:09 GMT -5
Ohhhhh, why meeee? I would but my widdle bwain hurts too much! i dont think alan west hates black people I have to admit I don't know much about Alan West, but there is such a phenominon as people who harbor negative feelings towards their own group. There are people in the Black community, who for any number of reasons, are hostile towards their own people. Clarence Thomas of the supreeme court is a perfect example. They think that if they come down hard on their own people that they will receive acceptance from the majority, which is where they really wish they had been born. I'm sure in France you find Algerians who have turned their backs on their culture and community in an attempt to find inclusion and acceptance from the larger French community. This mentality is everywhere. It's a form of apologetic self hatred. |
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