Festering wounds and unlearnt
lessons
Review on the Film – Great Debaters
I read the article written by
Patricia J. Williams titled The Audacity of
Oprah on Nation and posted on the truthout website which inspired me to pen
these words.
During the last few months I was exposed to many stories and
films about the suppression and racial discrimination that took place in the so called old developed
world where prejudices about race and creed was the order of the day. Probably
fear and insecurity had caused these prejudices to thrive and even those decent
God fearing men and women who lived during those dark times who knew better remained
silent and in apathy which is in today standard unforgivable.
I had the privilege of viewing the
DVD of the movie, Amazing Grace which highlighted
the undying passion of one man, William Wilberforce, who stood tall and moved
against the current flow to change the course of history and help abolish
slavery which was part of the old world for centuries. Then there was a series
of sports related movies that I saw within a short period of time, “Remember
the Titans”, “Coach Carter” and “Pride” all had similar themes regarding young colored sportsmen and
sportswomen who are initially either refused the opportunity to participate or play
against rival champion white teams. Well of course all these predictable stories
ended with the same fairy tale touch ~ the colored heroes beat the white opponents
at the last minute. And now last of all as the year 2007 year ends Oprah Winfrey
dishes out yet another- The great debaters. When will all this end?
The story in the case of “Great
Debaters” which has an intellectual touch revolves around a debating team of Wiley College,
a small, historically black institution which is quite unheard of today which
was founded in 1873 and located in Marshall,
Texas. In the 1930s poet by the
name of Melvin Tolson, coached the debating team who surpassed nearly every
other team in the country in contests against universities as far-flung as the University of Southern
California and Oxford.
Well I heard that they challenged even Harvard, results of which I am not sure.
It is refreshing to see colored Americans of yesteryear being portrayed as
intellectuals. I guess the movie makers do not want us to forget these unsung
heroes and remember that the land of opportunity closed its doors to many, but
those who had the courage to take on life’s challenges made their mark in
American society. Yes the movie makers do not want us to forget the past and
learn valuable lessons from it. The question is whether we are opening old
wounds and not allowing it to heal. Yes as a person who detest any accounts of
injustice and unfairness and finds the behavior of the American (or Western)
society in this instance loathsome I react rather angrily when I see these
movies. How dare people talk about man being created equally and yet treat a
race so inhumanly I ponder. So if people like me who live in Asia
react so heatedly whenever I see movies of this nature, what about colored
Americans who are reminded about what their parents and grand parents went
through in the so called land of opportunity? It may appear as opening old
wounds but maybe it teaches them to value what they have inherited.
There aren’t many stories about Native
American heroes are there? After all
they did not quite survive the white onslaught did they? The Black man however made it against many
odds. If they did not survive the trip from Africa, the slavery, the hypocritical
society of the day and the Ku Klux Klan
we wouldn’t have heard of Martin Luther King Jr, Mohamed Ali, Jesse
Owens, Marion Jones, James Farmer Jr. or even Denzel Washington who plays the main role in the film “ The Great
Debaters” and the Co-Producer Oprah Winfrey.
We have learntfrom the past that
knowledge and awareness hardly touches the moral nerve of humanity. After all Adolph
Hitler had so many learned people with Doctorates around him but prejudices
about the Jews sent six million Jews into the gas chambers. I for one enjoy this theme of change of
fortune and destiny of the colored man. There is a sense of poetic justice and
fair play and the presence of an all just God above all these inequitable circumstances.
However as long as there is mistrust and prejudice about minorities, will not atrocities
of great proportions take place? After all isn’t this the great age of
knowledge? And yet we hear that hundreds of Tutsi’s were massacred by Hutus in Rwanda in this
day and age. We hear so many gory stories about Bosnia,
Serbia, Iraq, Sri Lanka, about child solders. The
knowledge explosion has not changed the world much in the area of morality,
justice, equity and fair play has it? However hats of to great women like Oprah
who encourage the underdogs of this day and age to persevere, overcome and
accomplish great things. She also sends out a message to the silent bystanders who
have a special place reserved in hell who do nothing to change the situation. “Shame
on you” those of you who consider being full of knowledge and God’s truth.
Prejudice with knowledge makes all of us so barbaric.