Or Demeaning "Betrayal"
For those of you who have seen, or plan to see, Spielberg's Lincoln , a subtle, but critical, message is buried in the film. That message involves the basic humanity of persons of color; especially those with one drop of African blood. In this film, as in his rendition of The Color Purple, Spielberg imbeds his answer to that question. He votes for white supremacist views on the subject. He demeans the African-African minister in the Color Purple and shows other black male characters as craven or tyrannical.
In Lincoln, he omits the role of Frederick Douglass in our Emancipation, http://www.alincolnlearning.us/FrederickDouglassLearningActivity.html , while confirming the conjugal powers of white males and the conjugal powerlessness of black women. The "great compromise" celebrated in the film is based in the belief that non-whites are less than human.
The 2012 election results show that a sizeable portion of the U.S. electorate still holds those beliefs.
Fast-forward to the early 1970's and the Feminist Movement in this country. Flo Kennedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florynce_Kennedy visited the University of Kansas to speak to an audience of young feminists. She interrupted that speech to beseech the black and other non-whites not to mistake feminist issues for those involved in fighting racial issues. She compared racial issues in this country to feminist issues by likening them to a comparison of menstrual cramps to cancer!
That message was not heeded by younger non-white generations, and as a result, we are still confronted, 150 years later, with the need to fight for human rights to replace "civil" rights; that can be eradicated at any time by a majority vote in some legislature.
Lest anybody be confused at this late date, Quentin Tarantino has provided Django Unchained to remind you what that sentiment derives from and why it persists.
Stay Vigilant!
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