Watching Roots, which was recently shown on the History Channel, changed my views on my roots. It changed my mindset on how we all have the power within ourselves to overcome anything we face.
As an African-American man, watching Roots for the first time enlightened my viewpoint on the power of the human spirit. Seeing Kunta Kinte and the other slaves endure so much brutality and yet they persevered, resonates deep within my soul. It reminds me and shows me of how far my ancestors have come…of how far we have come as a society…and why I need to live my life with purpose and perseverance.
WATCH: Roots: Official Trailer | History
The series greatly reinforced why it is so important for us to know our history, our roots. Witnessing what our ancestors went through and their ability to keep hoping and moving forward -despite all that they had to face- grabbed my soul. As I think about things that I have to endure, I feel kind of low. My hardships are nothing compared to the slavery and the brutalities of life that they had to endure.
I have never witnessed slavery depicted in such a way where you can in some sense feel every pain, agony, and strength that they felt during those times. The series clearly showed that the human spirit’s power and strength goes far beyond anything we could know.
(Image courtesy of A+e Networks and The History Channel)
I know many don’t like to watch slavery depicted on films, shows, and more. But, we all need to watch these. We all need to be reminded of our history and the importance we have to use our lives for something more, something greater than ourselves. I think if we watched more of these, our world would be different; young people would stop killing each other; the world would be kinder; and maybe things would progress even more as many would under the long-suffering endured by African-Americans.
The film reminds me that I owe it, and we all owe it, to our ancestors to become everything that they dreamed we could. We owe it to them to surpass the obstacles that we face and to keep moving forward. We owe it to them to make something of our lives and to stop hurting each other. We owe it to them to not let their lives, their beliefs, and their strength go in vain. We owe to them to help fight and free the 45.8 million enslaved people across the world today. We owe it to them for all ethnicities to come together and to have constructive dialogue that change the world as we know it.
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