I was in college as a freshman when “Roots” aired, and it resonated throughout the school and the country.
Many Americans were in a fog at this time in history about slavery and the savagery it rained down on Black Americans imprisoned with no hope but to survive to be indentured servants.
Can you imagine if this ran in today’s America? Ron DeSantis in Florida would ban the show from being aired in his state, and many other red states would follow. The entire MAGA cult would howl like Banshees, attacking the writers, producers, and actors as being anti-American haters trying to groom their children.
The above scene, “Whats your Name “Kunta Kinte,” epitomized the torture slavery wrought.
Wiki:
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, set during and after the era of enslavement in the United States. The series first aired on ABC in January 1977 over eight consecutive nights.
A critical and ratings success over the course of its run, Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which holds the record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the second-most-watched overall series finale in U.S. television history.[3][4]
Open Thread below.
