Thoughts from seeing Selma There is a moment in the film where Amelia Boynton is speaking with a nervous Coretta Scott King. To soothe her she reminds her of the generations of strength she has in her blood. That was some powerful shit to me. To realize that I am only here because of the unwavering strength of people who survived through adversity after traumatic adversity that hundreds of thousands of people could not. When you think about an African Americans in America, a descendant of slaves, they exist not by coincidence and good luck. If you follow the blood line and consider there was 1 person who was captured and survived capture (some potential slaves never made it to the boat). They survived the trip from Africa to the US (which on average for every 1 that arrived alive 2-5 died before reaching land) once here; they survived acclimating to American weather, food, and germs. Furthermore, they bore children who survived generations of slavery, their children survived the war, KKK, Jim crow and the civil rights movement all of that so I can spread this message to ya’ll from my living room couch. We are the true talented 10th coming from generations of fighters Furthermore, it makes me think of our immigration issues now. That people are not just hopping a flight over to the states. That they are surviving shit that most of us wouldn’t be able to stand for a day. That most of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation immigrants, have a similar history to mines. Descendants of Chinese immigrants who built our railways also endured a large amount of racial hate once they were not of use to America as cheap labor; descendants of Native folk who survived biological warfare, displacement and a loss their home; descendants of Jews who found the united states to be the better of 2 evils. It’s hard for me to really put in perceptive what I’m trying to say, but really I am talking about strength in a blood line and really appreciating your lineage, not just for what they have done, but for simply having the aptitude to survive conditions that we will never understand. To persist when people are doing everything to stop you…. I just want to keep this in mind every time I face hardship… even just as a reminder that everyone before me could do this and more, so I know that i can too #selma
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:20:01 +0000
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