Show i It ft Seems To Me Meny ny Hy Joseph n II Roots COPYRIGHT 1977 Contemporary Features Syndicate Inc There can be no doubt about it The hour 12 adaptation of Alex Haleys Haley's selling best novel Hoots toots was a television smash success The network claims it attracted the largest audience in television history and during the eight day period it was being aired Alred It dominated the thoughts and conversations of viewers from Crom coast to coast Granted not all of oC those thoughts and comments were on how far we have come in racial relations within the last three decades not even how remarkable it was that a program dealing with slavery in the South from the black point of view and with a predominantly black cast could be televised throughout the South without serious incident Some people feared the show would simply open up old wounds and become another Uncle Toms Tom's Cabin Some objected to the sex scenes the violence and the vulgar language Some So-me school children carried the racial tension from the show to the school yard and there were some minor scuffles and name calling between the blacks and whites Some viewers thought it was entertaining entertaining entertaining en en- but grossly inaccurate as far as history was concerned Some bleeding hearts took the occasion to wallow in their own guilt and to denounce their fellow whites as immoral brutes Frankly I saw only a few episodes I just dont don't like those six six- and part eight-part series on TV I either forget to watch when they are on or Im I'm off somewhere and unable to get toa to toa a TV set set so I never see one of them from start to finish The episodes I did see see however did not charm me I dont don't like a movie or novel that makes all people of one race the heavies and all people of another race the good guys I dont don't care which race is being touted at the expense of the other It just isn't honest or truthful Heaven knows no one race has a monopoly on virtue or vice I feel it is an insult tomy tomy to tomy my intelligence when some author or producer tries to sell me such propaganda under the guise of oC fiction Also I 1 dont don't buy the Implication Implication Im Im- m that all the whites whiles living in the United States are guilty of oC what happened or was said to have happened during the terrible days of oC slavery Even If it all of us had slave- slave owning ancestors which Is ridiculous we could hardly be beheld beheld beheld held responsible for Cor what they did It is a burden enough for Cor a aman aman aman man to feel Ceel guilt for the stupid errors lie he has made In his own lifetime without requiring him to carry the guilt of his ancestors an an- While Hoots was a remarkable success as a TV series and while it was encouraging encouraging encouraging en en- to note how generally it was received without rancor throughout the South which the TV producers say was something of oC a breakthrough it was not a fair portrayal of oC the relationships between blacks and whites during the days of slavery I 1 believe nobody black or white needs to feel particularly proud of his ancestors during those cruel times but he does not need to feel ashamed of oC them either I They were for the most part just people trying to get along as best they could inan inan in inan an agricultural society that was largely not of their own making They were pretty much like weare weare we weare are today not as good as they should have hae been but not as bad badas as some people try to make them out to have been I suggest we consider Roots for what it was a piece of fiction based on fact and not an indictment against anybody living today |