Leaderboard

Thanks, Troy. No biggie. I am clueless as to who, if anyone, even keeps up with Cynique or cares about her personal life. Lurkers are so nebulous and reluctant to post. I could just be talking mostly to myself. when I express my opinions here. So maybe I'm overreacting. My grandchildren have no idea about the alter ego I assume on this site. My kids are just vaguely aware of this activity and I don't encourage them to follow my online activities. This is a place where I can come and be myself, free from the scrutiny of those who are more comfortable with me being "Mommy" and "Nana" as opposed to an individual who marches to her own drumbeat and has no interest in being a Goody 2-shoes PollyAnna.

I think think I can safely say that many African Americans who are descendants of enslaved Africans became interested in their West African origins after reading Roots and then seeing the Mini-series based on the book, and that they felt validated in cherishing the oral tradition/memories passed down from their elders. In fact, I read the book with my father at the age of nine--at that time, it was the longest book I'd ever read, and I loved it. I own two copies of it. I still love it, despite the controversy, because it is very emotionally moving and it's a great read. That said, however, the problem of Haley's plagiarism points to a larger, serious issue that I and (others) have seen with black Americans: the tendency to pass along information as fact-- information that may or may not be erroneous and undocumented--without double checking. I've done this myself, and unfortunately, in print, and now that I have skills in historical research, I'm very embarrassed. So Haley's plagiarism--whether intentional or not--solidifies this problem, and because his is quite possibly the most famous book written on the intergenerational legacy of slavery, it supports that it's "okay" to just repeat without checking--and it's not okay. It's not okay at all. Although Dr. Walker Alexander's court case was thrown out, I must say that Roots was very similar to Jubilee in certain ways. But the problem was that Jubilee is very similar to many published slave narratives as well! Because of this, I would suggest that any contemporary novelist/memoirist writing about slavery should include a "suggested reading" in the back of the book, instead of pretending that perceptions of slavery are not greatly informed by the narratives. Take care, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers