The Key Word is Resiliency

When I was ten my mother sat my eight year old sister and I down in front of the Tv. She told us that we were going to watch a movie and that it may make us upset or confused, but that it was important for us to watch. That began our multiple day journey of learning about Kunta Kinte and his fight for survival, as well as the plethora of injustices committed against Africans. I walked away from that with a new understanding of what this country allowed to happen to Black people. And even though I didn’t understand all the intricacies at that moment, I understand that it was wrong. Point blank.

Now, thirteen years later I took this week aside and sat through four days of the reimagined ROOTS. The original came out in the 70s and now, because of the advancement of technology and knowledge, producer Will Packer along with countless others chose to do a remake.

I think what made the experience even better was the fact that I was able to live tweet and follow in real time others who were watching as well. ROOTS was talked about so much in the Twitter world that it was trending at #1 for two days straight. It was absolutely amazing to see people come together in community like that.

I think if I tried to tell you my feelings after watching ROOTS, I would do a poor job. There were so many emotions present during the past four days: Anger, sadness, empathy, pride, and joy. But I think at the top of that is Power. I felt empowered seeing that I come from strong people. People who were stolen, transported in disgusting conditions, sold to the highest bidder as nothing more than cattle, and then worked to death. Black people are resilient, and I saw that tonight; I felt that. That, in and of itself, is my biggest takeaway from the mini-series.

So the question is, what now? What do you do when you have been handed heaps of knowledge concerning something as sensitive as ROOTS? Well, in my opinion, you take it and run. You run and educate others on their misconceptions: about why #BLACKLIVESMATTER is a thing, about why black people feel the way they do, about the racism that still run rampant today. The overt acts of racism as well as the micro aggressions that plague not just Black people but minorities in general.

We live in an age where information is one click away and it’s abhorrent that some choose to not utilize that privilege. So our job is to try and ease the ignorance of society on subjects that no one has any excuse of being ignorant about. That’s all you can do. And if someone chooses to continue and spout erroneous rhetoric then keep on keeping on. Speak your truth. That’s all we can ever do.

With that said I wanted to show some tweets that I found while live tweeting that really encapsulated what people felt during the series.