So last night I started the book THE HELP..it was gifted to be by my mother and with the recent release of the movie she urged me to read it..there is also some history in that my great aunt and my grandmother were THE HELP...The movie looked entertaining and it looked to touch on a subject that YES i was aware of BUT to the extent of the book NO...
So I began reading it and by last night I was hooked..it is a definite page turner ...I became engrossed at the stories of THE HELP or otherwise the great black mammy (sp) and maid...Ive seen Roots and GONE WITH THE WIND but the surreal part about this book is that the story was not so far removed from reality and from current day standing....
I have always been glad I lived in the North and while I LOVE my southern roots my southern roots don't quite compare to Jackson, Mississippi..there is something about the real DEEP south like Ole Miss and South Carolina that is humbling to me...Up north most people hide their hatred or their deep down beliefs and maybe that makes it ok...whereas down south down in those areas ..areas that still in 2011 are still segregated in many ways and still have separate proms and such...the BLATANT and BOLD hatred scares me and makes me ask WHAT or HOW FAR WILL THEY STILL GO
now do NOT get me wrong or mistake my words I am the first to recognize that while it's easy to point out the hate from the vanilla perspective hate among the chocolate folks runs just as deep
one is no better than the next...
it is sad to watch some of the old movies and read of "how things were" and then to know its STILL that way and not progressing or even to witness first hand racism in 2000s ...well its a sad testament to where we are as a society and how hate can be perpetuated and passed along from generation to generation
kids and babies they dont know hate all they know is play and yet those same kids and babies by the time they are middle school age and actually elementary have become products of their environment and able to repeat the evil and ill words and images they see
is there a solution? i guess be accountable for your family and your kids and if at all possible watch the company you keep..dont condone it...but the bottom line is and not to sound like polly pessimist but i do believe there will always be a certain level of hate and separation....whether its by color, class, has beens or has nots .etc
BUT back to the movie...after reading the book i dont know if i want to see the movie
in the movie there is a lot of smiling..a lot of smiling about a subject that now is near and dear to my heart and a bit of a touchy subject
i have heard accounts that the movie is excellent but gee is this entertainment....some people will walk away and feel like oh that was a MOVIE but the fact that its REAL LIFE and it was the life of my loved ones...it kinda just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth
the fact that there will always be people who hold themselves so far above others or the ignorance that runs rampant .....i am quick to hire people to do services for me...BUT i dont think i ever have treated someone the way they did in the book and the stories..
granted i was raised very differently BUT....