500 Years Later

WE MUST LEARN HOW TO TALK TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE AND MOST AFFECTIVE...we must learn what to say and how to say fight with words that do not say 'fight' because we can win the fight if we do that. We can stop saying "slave"--that would be a great start... and then wonder why people take such pleasure in saying 'slave' and the memory of enslavement, which serves as a psychological EMPOWERMENT base for some people. There are between 200,000-400,000 people, even as high as millions of people held in bondage in America right now as I compose this and they are beaten and dehumanized and forced to "act like a slave" and some of the people holding others are every color and some who are held by others are every color but most are children. Slavery is not black! Enslavement is not black and people who are dehumanized and forced to act like a slave are not just black people. Bondage and enslavement is a human condition; people will do it; that's guranteed. Over the past 40 years of my scholarship I've asked hundreds of people what color is slavery and they all said 'black' and I informed them no, the color of bondage and enslavement is human; all humans have done it and all humans will continue to do it in eras and times. In this documentary an African woman wanted to make the statement that in Africa slavery was there but not like in America...that the African slave is a part of the family. Any person held in bondage is certainly not family. The one thing that says so with any animal is: if the gate is left open they will escape. BUT THEN PEOPLE DO ESCAPE FROM THEIR OWN FAMILY for abuse and dehumanization; so the mention of family when it comes to mistreatment and abuse across the board gives rise to escape.So I think it is important to know that "slavery" is not over like some young people told me and I had to burst their bubble: their illusion. Slavery is never over; it is a part of the human experience and "civilizations" have to fight Hell; they have to fight like crazy to keep atrocities out of their world. I am so reminded of Jesus on the Cross and the message he brought in his life and the message he left in his death: "DON'T DO THIS...SUCH AS THIS IS NOT DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."(my paraphrased) Atrocity is a part of the human condition that must be addressed and guarded against around the globe in every human society. *THE INSTITUTION OF AMERICAN BONDAGE & ENSLAVEMENT & ATROCITATION of millions of Africans and Native Americans were extraordinary atrocities bar none but then in Germany the dehumanization and atrocitation of the Jews were equally evil.[Evil is the enemy far more that people.]ALL PEOPLE DO NOT DO ALL THINGS IN ALL TIMES but things are inevitably done in times because they are human things that are done, even the process of dehumanization.There are so many ways to fight this without picking up a gun. I have taken to writing people my famous letters. If a columnist (no matter skin color) use the word 'minorities' they get a letter from me: Please explain what is meant by 'minorities' is an equalized society. And if you do explain this I will write you back and let you know you are outdated and antithetical to the American constitution and you are definitely thinking like a racist. Enough of those letters sent to media and they will stop using the phrase: minority, disadvantaged, deprived, depraved. All got letters from me. The embarrassment shutdown some of their use but others rebel and use those words even more.In this documentary I heard a lot of details that differ from what I read in books and journals: like in one port alone the Europeans had detailed records for 6 million Africans they comandeered and there were hundreds of ports. I read estimates that numbered from 6million to 66million to 666million albeit someone may have been trying to create the devil symbol 666 but in that documentary there were records that clearly inferred what was being said had some validity about the numbers. It was like the biggest atrocity or coming close to the 35 million lost in China in another civil mishap and atrocity.Rape appears all around the world so does bondage and enslavement. We need to learn how to voice this. We want people to join the movement to look out for and stamp out atrocity as it buds. PLEASE use the phrase: "HELD IN BONDAGE AND FORCED TO ACT LIKE A SLAVE" instead of saying the word 'slave' as if it is a real identity, as if the atrociters were able to create this illusion for real....because the biological anatomy of the human has no cells in it marked S. A 'slave' is a perceived vision; it does not exist; it is an inhumane enforcement in reality: a perceived creation that is only real and true in the minds of the atrociters but history tells us clearly it was never true no matter how much an atrociter tortured his/her victim. *AFRICANS IN AMERICA had night schools even though it meant a loss of eyesight, life or limbs.I think we can make a gain from this view of it and rush to do our bit against it because we have to stand against atrocity around the planet. We have no time to waste; atrocity is constantly underway.THANK YOU. Fight injustice; Fight bondage,enslavement and dehumanization everywhere!--MO

500 Years Later is a must in 2011. For African American and anyone living especially those of African decent because it looks at slavery in general. I focused on the American segments as I am an American. It allows a look a the past and potential future. We see that a lot has changed but also a lot has been lost. The efforts of all Americans should be to not forget the fact that on American soil people were force to labor the land and the products of some of the issues that we are having now are generations of history that has not been addressed.People are not aware of their past are destine to repeat it. No we may not be back in chains but failure to know how and why things happened can cause use to repeat them. The documentary addresses many areas that are not spoken on it is a great tool for discussion in or out of the classroom.This is a great group discussion with any group not just African American. I would suggest watching it with a mixed group of individuals with varied backgrounds, races,etc. and you will be amazed at the various views that come out of it. The fact that it has been 500 years since slavery was documented to be discussed here allows for opportunity to see how much history is not taught these days. This is not just a documentary that has people of color discussing how bad slavery was but it speaks to you in what are your going to do the next for knowledge of it is one thing but how has it changed the lives of the offsprings. Are we destine to repeat it..watch it with an open mind and find out where you and/or your friends stand on the issues addressed.It is a must see for a history class to understand American history that sometimes leaves out people of color. Slavery ended not because people thought it was so bad but because it was a matter of supply and demand. The thought patterns of the country were changed by those who took a stand to change yet so many of the mentality issues that existed during slavery still exist only in other ways. This films looks at slavery not just in America but in other areas

The only problem with this film is that it is 50 years too late with its message. Even as early as 1963, there were people from the West Indies who had been living in Africa for 30 years. When I arrived in 1964 my first question was, "How long have West Indians been living in Kenya?" If African-Americans ever hoped to change the status of and assist in contributing to Africa's educational, economic development and corporate structure, they should have come in the 1960s when independence was spreading throughout the continent. Many of the countries, like Ghana were open to black immigration, so African-Americans have missed the boat on that one.Some African-Americans are moving to South Africa at this time. There is a lot of work to be done there, but first they'd have to remember to leave behind the old 'superiority complex' that many have about being born in the United States. Also they'd do well to know that there are many highly educated people in Africa. I first became aware of this in the 1960-70s when I asked an African gentleman, "What area did you study for your Ph.D.?" to which he replied, "Which one?" Over here, people think they've achieved something if they've obtained a B.A.--shocking!! As for languages a good number of people speak Swahili, English and French, in addition to indigenous languages, while over here we are still stumbling over English. When I was living in Israel, there were Kenyan students who spoke fluent Hebrew also. Nowadays, they are learning Chinese (particularly in Mombasa). That's just a little 'eye opener' as to to the type of people you will encounter and how far behind we are.Bonita Evans, Ph.D.

Chaptered into the key themes 'legacy', 'racism', 'generations', 'identity', 'education', 'reparations', and 'changes', this is in many ways a worthy documentary that had to be made, had to comprehensively document the history of African enslavement and its legacy to the present day, including the sadly prevalent racism and de facto economic apartheid that perniciously persists in the West. However, for those familiar with the facts of the Slave Trade and aware of the inequalities and injusticies that to this day disadvantage non-whites, the documentary tells us nothing we did not aleady know, while those who know nothing beyond the vague platitudes may, by dint of such uninterest, be less than likely to choose ever to watch the film. Hence it's not clear who the intended audience is. Although that must on the face of it seem a very minor issue, it is a query that returned to my mind many times in watching this film, and remained unresolved until the final chapter, in particular the contribution by Paul Robeson Jr: the film, much as African culture itself, must be for everyone, whatever their colour or ethnicity. This may seem obvious; yet, I feel, becomes lost on occasions, especially in the chapter on education.I've a few misgivings about the film. First is the omission of any mention of Arab slaving that still continues to this day from Mauretania in the west to Sudan in the east, as well as in the Arabian peninsula. I have witnessed this with my own eyes and ears during the years I lived in Africa, black Africans routinely referred to as, often pejoratively addressed as, and frequently treated as 'abd' (plural 'abeed' = 'slave', in Arabic), children often no more than six or seven years old working fifteen or more hours a day in Arab households for no wage beyond beatings, insult, and degrading humiliation. It would be dishonest to deny the social ills and injustices that this has wrought in north and east Africa. Anti-Slavery International conservatively estimates, for example, that in Niger alone there are 43,000 people still living in slavery, hardly a platform on which to build successful modern economies and democratic societies that respect the rights of all irrespective of skin colour.A second issue that slightly troubled me is that, although replete with images of Africa, the documentary was dominated by the African diaspora to the extent that Africa itself, its peoples, its cultures, risked being lost. Even when speaking from Africa (Rabbi Kohain Halevi in Ghana, for example), the speakers were born elsewhere (Rabbi Kohain Halevi, for example, in New York): where were the Angolans? where the Nigerians? the Malians? surely they should be permitted to speak for themselves?The third issue I have is with a misquotation, and entirely out of context, from Charles Darwin's 'The Descent of Man': "At some future period, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world", in its restored context expressed with regret by a scientist, and son of an abolitionist, who elsewhere in the same volume wrote sternly of "the great sin of Slavery". Remembering how Fox News similarly decontextualised and misrepresented the views of the African-American pastor Jeremiah Wright ("God damn America") in the 2008 U.S. election year, I should like to hope that the mis-quoting and mis-use of Darwin in this documentary, and omission of Darwin's reference to "man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, than the Caucasian", was done in error rather than in ignorance or malice. Nevetheless to demonise Darwin (and I noticed in the Education chapter that question 4 on the blackboard relating to Darwin and evolutionary theory had, in the Africanised version, been removed) would be unfortunate in light of the fact that Darwin, unfashionably for his time, believed fervently and passionately that evolutionary theory would prove the *common* descent of *all* human beings. Wisdom is in recognising good science, whatever the skin colour of the scientist, a sentiment with which I am sure the makers of this documentary, in rightfully lauding great African teachers, would agree."There's a lot of black heroes that I've never learned about but I could tell you a lot about Henry VIII", says a black British schoolboy, tellingly revealing the arbitrary and arguably damaging anglo- and euro-centric bias of History education in schools. And yet I have mixed feelings about the chapter on education. The analysis of 'colonial education' is generally strong, while Rabbi Kohain Halevi's naming of important African figures such as Mansa Musa, Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, Frederick Douglass (unfortunately mis-spelt in the documentary), Thomas Sankara, Steve Biko, and other luminaries (though there are notable omissions, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal and Cynthia McKinney, two of the most cogent and inspired political voices of our generation) is a powerful reminder that Africa and the African diaspora have contributed immensely to the intellectual and moral capital of humanity. (On reflection, I also do not recall there having been mention made of Franz Fanon and Walter Rodney.) The film rightly showcases the Lotus Academy School in Philadelphia as a model of Africa-centric education. Yet with its annual school fees of $4,900, an initial payment of $490, a before-school programme for an annual fee of $350, an after-school programme at $1000 with a penalty fee of $25 for each 15 minute period after closing time, and a registration fee of $75, it places itself well beyond the means of those families whose children would benefit the most. Unaffordable school fees throw up as much a barrier to education in the United States as they do in Africa itself ("School fees are keeping children out of the classroom, and many of these are the most vulnerable children in our societies", UN Children's Fund); in Cape Town for example, while a monied elite may enjoy the luxury of sending their children to Bishops or Herschel, children in townships such as Guguletu and Khayelitscha will, under financial pressures, as often as not never complete their schooling. A far better model in this documentary for education in a British context might have been the state schools of Towers Hamlets, in the East End of London, where Black History is written into the curriculum, as is the Battle of Cable Street, celebrating the victory against fascism and the racist Blackshirts on 4th October 1936. I have no doubt that there are similar schools in the USA that, if an American model of good practice were wanted, would have served as more inclusive examples than the Lotus Academy School."The question is not whether but how", says attoney-at-law Nicole Devereux. The chapter on Reparations is one of the more interesting, addressing as it does what is arguably one of the most challenging and most hotly disputed issues arising out of the legacy of black enslavement. Should reparations take the form of cash payments? if so, to whom? to individuals? to organisations? to countries? "Give every black person something", suggests Ms Devereux. Give to Condoleezza Rice as is given to the family on Food Stamps? to oil-wealthy Nigeria as to impoverished Burkina Faso? There is no easy answer. Entrepreneur Chris Thomas offers some of the more thoughtful ideas, for example that African American students (and one can envisage the same in the countries of Europe) attend university for free. Parenthetically, I recall a black South African friend here in London telling me how, when asked what she was doing in the UK, replied with obvious relish to her interlocutor: "I'm collecting my grandfather's back pay"; a similar point is poignantly made in the documentary by student Shakeeta Sturden, reflecting on how accumulated inherited wealth has been a privilege only whites have enjoyed. Overall the statements of all speakers are interesting, some imaginative, and all deserving of our attention. No conclusions nor consensus are reached; but the real point, to bring the issue back to the centre of discourse on the legacy of slavery, is eloquently achieved.The final chapter, 'Changes', offers a sequence of proposals by which Africans of the diaspora might themselves make positive changes to their lives: 'Vote', 'Go to Afrika', 'Read', 'Get into business', 'Sankofa' ("go back and take" in the Akan language of Ghana). Inspired and inspiring voices, the most powerful for me being that of Paul Robeson Jr (but I confess his father, both as musician and as political activist, has always been a personal hero for me) whose restrained ecumenical message shifts Africa from the margins to the very roots and core of what it means to be human: "How do we reverse the after-effects of slavery ... how do we claim our full place in society. The first is to assert, to reassert, our identification with our cultural traditions ... Part of that is to see how universal it is, how connected we are to the folk cultures, to the people's cultures of people throughout the world, so that we tread not only on our own ground, we share this common cultural ground with the people of the world. ... We should give back to the cultures of the world from that richness."This is an ambitious film, largely successful, and one I would certainly recommend to others, whether Europeans or Africans.

I read the reviews for this and knew I'd enjoy it. I have a habit of ovr-hyping things like this, but this film did not dissappoint. This was an excellent film. The interviews with various people are excellent and very insightful, it's beatifully filmed and the soundtrack's perfect. Some of the film's strongest points are:1) It highlights important areas of african history, some of which are widely unknown2) It challenges western propaganda surrounding african history (i.e. africans enslaving other africans)3) It also challenges current views on how we are told to treat the subject of slavery4) Most importantly, this documentary not only highlights the causes of struggles facing the african peoples of the world, but also offers solutions. This feels like more than a film - like a movement.I think that all africans shoud see this, but I'd also recommend it to anyone else because it is very eduational and extremely important for our survival as people. Much respect goes to the makers of this.

good

Quality!

Goid