This past weekend like every other person who is sheltering in place we were looking for something to do. There was a Zoom watch event for the film “Antebellum”. We decided to watch the movie. While watching it the comments of Tom Cotton regarding Americas history of slavery came to mind. I also thought about the children being held in cages on our southern border.
My mind was flooded by the countless inequities that are a part of American life if you are not white. Now I’ll be the first to say that this movie isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Some people are going to get it and others aren’t. The picture that it paints isn’t a pretty one but it’s a movie. It does show some of the vileness that was and still is a part of the American landscape. The subtle and direct metaphors are going to hit home for you if you’re black. The confederate flag and its symbolism is striking because of some of the things happening in our country at this very time.
Today I decided to see if I could find a review of the film on line. I found one by David Sims a staff writer for the Atlantic. One paragraph into his review it was clear that he didn’t like the film. In fact he totally dismissed it. After I read his review and thought about my own visceral reaction to the film it became clear to me that we were seeing it through two different prisms. As a black man in America with a generational experience with slavery the story wasn’t that far fetched. The truth be told there are a lot of people in this country who would relish the idea of returning to the days of the Antebellum south. None of those people are black.
For David Sims the film failed to strike a tone h could relate to. Far too many white people don’t relate to the memory of generational slavery. That refusal to relate or try to understand creates a gulf o mistrust. That mistrust is fed an unending diet of reinforcement whenever an effort is made to silence black voices that raise real concerns. That is the dichotomy of white and everyone else in America.
THINK!!
EYES WIDE OPEN!!!
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