movie

Between today's class and the movie yesterday, so much has built up inside me that I want to speak about. I wish I could speak about it in a class discussion but everyday English flies by and there is just not enough time for everyone to voice their opinions and thoughts. I am passionate about the topics we discuss in class such as race and what it means to be privileged. I would first like to talk about the movie we watched on Wednesday, February 11.

The movie about how blacks have been portrayed throughout the years really got me frustrated. I found it heart aching how constantly African Americans were portrayed as animals. There were many examples in the movie such as how the "mammy" of the house would breast feed the white child. To white mistresses, this was viewed as dirty and something a lady should not do. The white mistresses saw nursing their child as something an animal would do. The way that cartoonist portrayed blacks as wild and crazy and always out in the yard also added on to the racist image that blacks were animals. Also, the way that the cartoonist portrayed blacks with extremely over exaggerated lips really stuck to me. I was shocked to become familiar with the way the white people in that time saw blacks. To judge someone on the size of their lips really took the racism to the next level. It shocked me how ignorant the white people were back then when it came to African. At the end of the movie, there was a book called "Ten Little Niggers". This book is extremely controversial because of the way that it portrays black children as prey to other animals. Also, I feel that this children's book from long ago can relate to a more modern children's story called "Five Little Monkeys". I don't want to be or sound racist but i'm not sure how to explain myself properly. My thoughts on this are that the monkeys in "Five Little Monkeys" = the ten little black children. This goes back to the old cartoons and how the blacks in them had big lips. Monkey's are seen to have over sized lips, just as the blacks were seen as having over over sized lips back then too. Monkey's are animals that live in nature, and back then, African Americans were viewed as animal like, always out in the yard or near the streams. I personally feel that 5 Little Monkeys was based off the old story of "Ten Little Niggers". This may rise other questions about other children books as well; which may have racism in them and what are they teaching kids?