Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why I Wouldn't See 12 Years a Slave With a White Person
The Atlantic ^ | November 27, 2013 | Enuma Okoro

Posted on 11/27/2013 4:45:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

I’m not a racist. But I do have a race problem. I finally owned up to it as I was anticipating seeing 12 Years a Slave. In the weeks leading up to its opening in my state of North Carolina, I tried to think of whom among my friends I could see this film with. I have a number of racially and ethnically diverse friends and acquaintances who would love to see it, and yet, I knew I could only see this movie alone or with another dark-skinned person.

This is hard to admit. I will hurt the feelings of people I love. But isn’t confession the first step to being reconciled? I have good, healthy friendships with a range of people, but I could not think of one white person where I live with whom I would feel emotionally safe enough to see this particular movie about slavery. I did not want to have to entertain any of the likely responses from anyone who could not see themselves in the skin of the enslaved men and women on the screen. I had no desire to dissect the film politically and theologically, engage in well-meaning social commentary, marvel at the history conveyed through the movie, or grieve over what was done to black people.

I did not want the burden of the social translations that black people so often have to do automatically on so many internal levels while engaging in discourse with whites in this country. There are things we learn to do almost subconsciously in order to keep some whites comfortable enough around our blackness. Things like gauging their actual level of interest or understanding of black culture in order to know how far to take a particular conversation....

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-138 next last

So every generation someone has to make a film to get black people all riled-up at whites for things that happened hundreds of years ago to other people?

1 posted on 11/27/2013 4:45:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Amen!


2 posted on 11/27/2013 4:47:17 PM PST by Tulane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe the writer would like to have a separate water fountain as well.


3 posted on 11/27/2013 4:47:21 PM PST by skeeter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
I’m not a racist.

"I am not a crook."

4 posted on 11/27/2013 4:50:28 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

A qoute from this “lady”:

“On Saturday, George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the trial for the murder of teenager Trayvon Martin. I was and have remained in shock. No—not shocked—devastated and dumbfounded, at a loss for words. Thinking immediately of my two little nephews who are growing up black and unarmed in America. Thinking for the first time that maybe there is a silver lining to not having children...”


5 posted on 11/27/2013 4:52:12 PM PST by EEGator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

“I did not want to have to entertain any of the likely responses from anyone who could not see themselves in the skin of the enslaved men and women...”

Always the victim. Always.


6 posted on 11/27/2013 4:54:22 PM PST by APatientMan (Pick a side)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hey, YO! Enuma Okoro

I went to college in Japan. I studied side by side with for real AFRICANS.

When the subject of black Americans came up, the consensus was, “We exported them once, if they come back, they won’t be so lucky the second time.”

Anyone who knows, knows.

Hey, YO! Enuma Okoro, wanna see a RACIST? Go sneak up on a mirror.


7 posted on 11/27/2013 4:56:15 PM PST by ConradofMontferrat ( According to mudslimz, my handle is a HATE CRIME. And I HOPE they don't like it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Who even thinks of writing an article like this? Who even thinks of publishing such a thing? The whole white guilt / black victim thing is disgusting. Some slaves had it bad. Some didn’t. Many were much worse off after “emancipation,” nwhich freed SOUTHERN SLAVES ONLY. The last slaves were freed in frickin’ New Jersey. You know why I won’t see that movie? Because I am sick to death of having slavery rammed down my and my kids’ throats. Oh! Another history class on slavery! How delightful! When will you learn some MATH?
Disgusting, preposterous bullcrap. Pull your pants up.


8 posted on 11/27/2013 4:57:07 PM PST by golux
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Her white friends sigh in relief that this drama queens isn’t going to ask them to join her in viewing a guilt trip movie.


9 posted on 11/27/2013 4:58:47 PM PST by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: APatientMan

Maybe she should talk to a Jew.


10 posted on 11/27/2013 4:58:48 PM PST by MestaMachine (My caps work. You gotta earn them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Refreshing that bigots can now enjoy bright daylight .


11 posted on 11/27/2013 4:59:34 PM PST by daku
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Enuma Okoro

She's got this excuse-me-foreign name that sounds like a bacteria strain found in someone's lung. And yet her writing is as pretentious, clumsily sarcastic, and illiterate as any native-born affirmative-action case teaching at an American college.

So, which of these things is phony? Her name? Or her whole being?

12 posted on 11/27/2013 5:01:47 PM PST by SamuraiScot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Whew! This thing needed a "Mega-barf" flag for sure. I couldn't even finish reading through it after reading this:

Our accomplishments do not matter when we’re randomly accosted by police (Henry Louis Gates). Our leadership (Obama), our strengths, our beauty, our innocence (Trayvon), ....


Magic Race Ball photo MagicRaceBall_zpse625a151.jpg

13 posted on 11/27/2013 5:02:45 PM PST by Col Freeper (FR: A smorgasbord of Conservative Mindfood - dig in and enjoy it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamuraiScot

Enuma Okoro is a writer, speaker, communications consultant and an award-winning author of four books on the call and challenge to the spiritual life.

With a professional background in Communications, Psychology and Theology, and her uniquely diverse global and cultural experience, Enuma’s work embraces the dynamics of effective communication, the classic spiritual traditions, and the contemporary arts. She writes, speaks and consults on numerous issues and topics based off of four key areas:

1. Identity and Belonging in a diverse world

2. Women and the transformative power of personal narratives

3. Professional and social communities and the importance of a collective and shared narrative

4. Spiritual formation, growth and holistic wellness

She understands that our life journeys are fraught with dips and turns through unlikely sanctuaries and challenging valleys. Enuma works across countries and continents to communicate effective and transformative ways for engaging our life commitments, passions and responsibilities.

She is a widely sought-after speaker and communications consultant invited to colleges, universities, for-profit and non-profit organizations, religious institutions, and conferences across the United States, Europe, Africa, and Australia. She has been listed as one of seven top Young Influencers of the next generation by Catalyst. In June, 2012 Okoro had the honor of being the first woman of African descent to speak at the historic American Church in Paris. (Martin Luther King Jr. was the first man of African descent to preach there in October 1965)

Born in New York City, Enuma Okoro was raised in four countries on three continents. Her academic background and training is in Psychology, Communications, Theology and Counseling. She is a former Editor-in-Chief for SpotLight™ Quarterly Magazine, a certified Spiritual Director in the Ignatian tradition, and she holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Divinity School of which she is the former Director for the Center for Theological Writing.

Her first book, The Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert’s Search for Spiritual Community, was recognized by USA Book News as a 2010 Best Books Award-Winning Finalist in “Religion-Christianity.”

In 2011, Reluctant Pilgrim received the 2011 National Indie Excellent Book Awards Winning Finalist in “Spirituality and African-American Non-Fiction”

Her second book is co-authored with Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove (December 2010): Common Prayer: Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, Zondervan Publishers.

Enuma released her third book, Silence, to much acclaim in September, 2012.

Enuma’s fourth book, Talking Taboo, was just released in October, 2013.

Enuma’s poetry is featured in At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time compiled by Sarah Arthur (Paraclete Press, 2011)

In addition to publishing books and speaking, Enuma is a regular contributing writer to online magazines and print resources.

She is a regular guest contributor to The Washington Post.

She is a spiritual wellness contributor for Tonya Lee Lewis’ HealthyYouNow magazine for women.

Enuma’s work has been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR, The Washington Post, CNN, The Guardian US, The Atlantic, AfroElle Magazine, The Michael Eric Dyson Show, The Huffington Post , Weavings Journal of the Spiritual Life, Sojourner’s Magazine, Burnside Writer’s Collective, Faith and Leadership, Christianity Today, Her.meneutics, and more.

She blogs now and then at Reluctant Pilgrim hosted on the Patheos website.


14 posted on 11/27/2013 5:03:44 PM PST by golux
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Being black in North Carolina means you can trample the hyacinths in the Governor’s yard with no retribution.


15 posted on 11/27/2013 5:04:14 PM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Travon... Felony assault and battery hate crime)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Most people don't have a clue how black folk feel when it comes to issues of race. I've lived, worked with, and befriended black folks all of my life. Only a few times have I had a black person confide in me how they really felt - it was eye opening. Things like, "You're the only white person I've ever considered a "real" friend", and on this particular story (twelve years a slave), "I don't care to talk about slavery".

Don't ignore the author opening up about their feelings - they run deep in the black community - deeper than most whites will ever know.

Just sayin'...

16 posted on 11/27/2013 5:07:03 PM PST by Errant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

As long as self-loathing whites continue to flock to these race-baiting, blacks-are-saints-white-are-devils movies, Hollywood will continue to make them.


17 posted on 11/27/2013 5:07:17 PM PST by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males----the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
 

photo 2nlzref-1.gif

Help FR Continue the Conservative Fight!
Your Monthly and Quarterly Donations
Help Keep FR In the Battle!

Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!


18 posted on 11/27/2013 5:08:18 PM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

“I wanted to sit in the pain and horror and soul-breaking sadness of a movie like 12 Years A Slave with another person like me—someone who is reminded every single day that we are black in America.”

I believe the word she was looking for is “wallow”. She wanted to wallow in horrible things that happened to other people which she has never, and will never experience. She’s a vicarious, voyeuristic masochist.


19 posted on 11/27/2013 5:08:32 PM PST by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MestaMachine

For what? Knockout game pointers?


20 posted on 11/27/2013 5:09:43 PM PST by APatientMan (Pick a side)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-138 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson