Let’s imagine, shall we….
That we are:
- an Academy Award winning screenwriter
- a Golden Globe nominated director
- creator of a critical darling
- unwitting participant in one of the biggest flubs in Oscar history
- recipient of a bounty of goodwill due to the aforementioned flub
- a black man that took on a topic that can be uncomfortable and made it into a thing of beauty
You are pretty much able to write your own ticket at this point in LaLaland – mega superduper pun intended. You begin to mull over your next project and you select: SLAVERY.
Yes. Barry Jenkins’s next project is a one hour series based on “The Underground Railroad”, the acclaimed Colson Whitehead novel of the same title. I could go on to explain the subject of the show, but Im too fucking over it to do so. I’ll just get to griping. First, WGN America already has beloved show about the exact same thing. I’ll stop there.
Now I know…one of you is sitting there reading this, dismissing me and thinking to yourself all the trite shit people say when it comes to slave stories.
“It’s a must see.”
“This story needs to be told.”
“If we dont know where we been, blah blah the fuckity fuck fuck blah”
Listen, I know what “they” are doing, with the “immigrant” talk, with the “slaves were well fed and happy” fuckshit, with the “sally and thomas had an affair” gobbledegook. But the fact is, we know what happened. That’s our conversation to have with our children, to ensure they know their history, cuz its OUR HISTORY. No one else cares. We know the names Toby, Nat, Chicken George, Toussaint, Harriet and Sojourner. Mention them to some of your other friends and watch the look on their faces. Others have just been introduced to Frederick and I guess they are happy to know that he’s done a great job.
Jesus wept.
I for one am good on the stories of our suffering, especially when there are great stories of triumph to be made – and that people will pay to see. Hidden Figures proved that. Our history didn’t start or stop on Juneteenth. With that being a solid indisputable fact, some stories I’d like to see told.
- How CJ Walker built a beauty empire
- Tulsa, Black Wall Street
- Dr. Carver manipulating the hell out of that peanut
- The Genesis of <insert your fave BGLO> (but only 5 out of the 9 matter – LMAO, fight yourselves)
- Timbuktu
- How Hiram Revels or Blanche Bruce were Barack before Barack was Barack
- The founding of Cheyney University or Lincoln University, the oldest HBCU, depending on who you ask.
That’s just off the top of my head. What are some stories that you would like to see told? Hit them comments.
Oh wait…Im lying yall. There is one more slave story I’m eager to see……Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith, which you should read if you haven’t. A young successful black man is taken under the wings of some older more successful black men and invited along to their exclusive club where the “staff” does NOT look like the staff’s of most members only clubs. That’s all I’ll slave. Awwwwww fuck it…the jig is up, the post is bout slaves. Yall know where im going. These black men done started a plantation with white slaves! YES. PLEASE.
If GET OUT worried them, wait til they get a load of Becky in leg irons!
When it drops you can find me and my popcorn, reese’s pieces and water center last row.
4 thoughts on “DjangNO: Not Another Slave Story”
Nothing the American people like more than to see black misery/torture. THAT sells tickets.
WE–and I am VERY guilty of this–go to see it because we believe it’s our history, but we NEED. NOT. see that stuff any more. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it happened. And yes, it’s horrible. But we don’t need the reminders. “Django,” which, of course, was NOT historically factual and was sold as a slave revenge fantasy, was the beginning of the end for me. “12 Years A Slave” demolished me. “Birth”..? I was supporting, but…it was the final straw.
Now? Done. Never again. I don’t need it. And I don’t think WE need it.
So tired of slave narratives. It’s not that we want to forget and yes our children still need to know about the struggles of their ancestors. I just need people and by people I mean Hollywood, that our history didn’t begin when we took that pleaseant cruise across the ocean. I’d love see the story of Queen Nzinga or Haile Selassie. Or just a good rom com with black people being normal. What happened to that?
I’d like to see how Africans migrated all over the globe. Recently saw a pic of a black Chinese. Had no clue.
Agreed! No one else cares. We know these stories. I’m with you, let’s talk about those untold. Like how we were business and home owners during segregation, etc. How did that happen, who closed those deals etc.
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