By Tor Shephens
One of the events in my life that I have never forgotten occurred when I was in Junior High School. It was when Alex Haley's ROOTS came out.
Just thinking about this has me on edge, in particular as it relates to the present political environment as proffered by Mr. McCain and Mrs. Palin. When I hear “Joe Sixpack”, I can’t help but think this is a code phrase for not me, or the average American, but rather those that harbor the hatred of the past and the racist beliefs that yielded Jim Crow, and even slavery as depicted in the historic television miniseries.
It was cool after Monday's show, but after the Tuesday episode things hit the fan. It was as if everybody in the world was looking at roots. And seeing that folks from around my way were selectively bused to a predominantly white school, the environment during that week was completely different.
Prior to this, we all just had a ball, no problems never. But after that Tuesday segment, like I said it was on. See, that was the episode when Kunta Kinta was made, via whip to call himself Tobe.
There was a tension in the air that day.
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There was a tension in the air that day.
Continue...