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I loved both the book and movie versions of this powerful, historical saga: I will never forget the indomitable Kunta Kinte. This book changed my very sheltered teenage world view. Decades later, I am now reading Esi Edugyan's Washington Black, and once again I am brought face to face with humanity's truly awful dark side. I have to read these gut-wrenching novels in bits and pieces, because my poor aging heart can no longer take so much horror in one long sitting.
With the perspective of time and and my own life experience, and after reading Roots and many other historical novels, I've come to realize this: We humans constantly abuse POWER, whether it comes in the form of money, position or some other sort of bestowed privilege. There have been rebellions throughout history, attempting to redress the imbalance caused by all the abuses of power in this world. I used to read historical novels almost exclusively during my teens and twenties, but as I entered my thirties and forties, I became jaded, and I turned to historical novels less and less. We don't ever seem to learn our lessons, do we? History just keeps repeating itself in a timeless loop: only the costumes, players and settings seem to change.
Lately, I've been listening to Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence, as performed by the group Disturbed.
"Silence like a cancer grows" - so very true! Our silence - our complacency - allows people like Trump to become our "Neon Gods". Because so many of us are afraid to think for ourselves, we surrender to what is fed to us by the media and other prevailing dogma. We have to examine all the crutches that so many of us need in this life: a religion or philosophy to believe in and blindly follow, stockpiles of money so we can build a false sense of security or create temporary happiness by indulging in luxurious status symbols (phones, cars, "mc-mansions," brand name clothes), and our consumption of food, alcohol and drugs - often to excess. I am just as guilty of all of this.
Those of us who love to retreat into the world of books need to support authors like Esi Edugyan, Alex Hailey and countless others who shine the stark light of truth on man's (historical and ongoing) inhumanity to man. Reading helps us to examine diverse thoughts and viewpoints. Hopefully, we can evolve our own notions of what we need to do to co-exist with tolerance and forgiveness. Keep reading... lest we forget!