Snoop Dogg took to the Gram on Monday to vent his frustrations about the television miniseries Roots and the proliferation of films based on the black slave narrative in the United States. However you feel about his perspective, it is impossible to invalidate the reaction of pain and anger to the horrific experiences that our ancestors bore from capture to the Middle Passage and the 245 subsequent years of slavery that followed.
I’ll be the first to admit that while I appreciate a good historical account, it does require a level of mental bracing and psychological preparedness to view, from the comfort of my cozy couch, graphic depictions of the experiences that my grandfathers’ father actually lived. What I found disturbing about Snoop’s rant wasn’t his frustration so much as the fact that his points of contention seemed to be rooted in internalized shame.
“I don’t understand America, they want to keep showing the abuse that we took hundreds of years ago,” he said.
Actually no, Snoop, there are very powerful institutions in America that would love nothing more than to rewrite slavery as a happy and mutually respectful relationship between slave and master, much like the friendly Pilgrim/helpful Native American narrative that we were all sold in grade school.
I’m sick of this, they’re just going to keep beating that into our heads about how they did us, huh?”
Uncle Snoop, who is this ‘they’ that you speak of? It was African-American author, Alex Haley, who wrote the 1976 book that was later adapted as the original Roots television miniseries that first aired on ABC in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers.
“Guess what? We’re taking the same abuse. Think about that part.”
Precisely, Snoop Lion! The power of telling our stories goes far beyond entertainment. It is not an end unto itself, but a means to better understand ourselves, a baseline from which we can begin to measure our progress, trace the root of our pathologies as a nation and examine our history to grow and evolve beyond it. These narratives that you are urging your fans to boycott are a powerful tool in dismantling the ideologies and systems that continue to perpetuate the abuse.
“When y’all going to make a movie about the success that black folks is having?”
Will Packer, the black man that produced the new Roots miniseries, has also produced several successful black films including Straight Outta Compton and Think Like A Man. His portfolio alone includes diverse depictions at every level of the black experience.
Here’s the thing Mr. Broadus, the black slave narrative is the ultimate success story because it didn’t end at the lashing or the lynching. Roots is a tale of triumph, unmatched fortitude and survival against all odds. It’s this history that makes it possible for a young black man from the streets of Long Beach, California to defy all predicted outcomes and become one of the most important hip-hop artists of all times.
“Let’s create our own story based on today and how we inspire people today.”
By all means Uncle Snoop, please go forth and create, but do it with the recognition that as a rapper who has faced censure and endured harsh criticism for the kind of lyrical realism that forces uncomfortable truths upon the masses; these storytellers who preserved their oral history and passed the only inheritance they had down through the generations long before it was legally permissible to document them; these griots whose tales have somehow survived every attempt to white-wash them, these narrators whose lives have miraculously found their way onto the big and small screen and into our cultural consciousness, their stories make it possible for you to inspire people today. These sir, are your OGs. Respect them as such.
Do you agree with Snoop? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
READ NEXT: ‘Coach Snoop’ is the documentary series you need to see
