12 Years A Slave (no spoilers)

I definitely suggest a viewing of 12 Years A Slave. Certainly brings a vivid look into the "art" of slave purchasing and treatment. In the viewing I saw, a female audience member did not last past the first beating. A few notes:

1)As someone who is basically a non-drinker and who definitely does not, and does not encourage, getting throw up drunk, this story underscores why one should not do so. Solomon could have still ended up kidnapped in his regular sleep, but being fall out drunk, in a country known for kidnapping people who look like him for the purpose of involuntary servitude, is well, not the best idea. And remember James Byrd Jr. went out the same way. Protect yourself. Enjoy yourself, but protect yourself.

2) It's funny how becoming a victim suddenly makes one an advocate. There were two points in his "pre-slave" life where Solomon had no problem with folks describing Africans (like him, like it or not) as savages and didn't really give a hoot about the "servant" that had entered the store. Of course after his ordeal he became an abolitionist but when one is a "freeman" with "papers to prove" and living in relative safety, it's easy to be aloof.

In my own life it could be said that I have no incentive, other than shared genetics, for being a Pan-Africanist. I have never been particularly ill treated by non-black people. Experienced very little overt discrimination or any of the usual things that would usually drive a person to such a "pro black" position. So why do it? Because of the principle. When you are a person of principle you do not have to wait until you are personally affected.

3) Nit pick: The accents of the enslaved Africans seemed way off to me. Often times they would slip between current language and what I assume to be "slave language". I'm not sure if this was for the benefit of the audience who likely would have had a difficult time following a heavy "accent" or simply a difficult time maintaining linguistic form.

4) Whoever that woman is that played Patsy (sp?) deserves recognition for her role. Long ago I took an acting class and volunteered to do a Civil Rights era sit in scene. That was a particularly rough thing to do (and showed me that I was not the sit in type at all). The emotional weight of putting myself in that time and space was very very heavy. As heavy as it was it was by no means close to what the Patsy character endured. If for nothing else but to have put herself through that, she deserves an award from somebody somewhere.

5) The film gives a great look at the "learned indifference" to black life that many of us today see in the black communities. The lynching scene IMO was the best example of that. Children playing. Folks going about their business. It seems odd, looking at it from today's eyes, but putting yourself into that time and space you understand the ever present fear of coming to a person's aid.

6) The destruction of black manhood. Early on we get a glimpse of what was the usual fate of those black men who dared to fight back or attempt to protect black women. I'm not sure if this point will be caught by many, but if one is cognizant of the situation you will see how the status of black men into what amounts to less than a child is quite powerful. It is also the reason why I have serious issues with so called "black feminists" and their asinine discussion of "black male privilege".

There is no privilege when a man knows that his wife, daughter, mother, sister can be snatched up by another man and he can do nothing at all and receive no justice. When "niggas ain't shit" means more than you can possibly understand.

Anyway. Add this to your collection. You DO have a collection right?