By Cheryl Mattox Berry
I just finished watching the remake of Roots, which premiered Memorial Day on the History Channel and aired across three other cable networks. It was a beautiful, gut-wrenching, brutal and powerful story, more realistic than the groundbreaking original series in January 1977.
The new Roots, subtitled “The Journey of an American Family,” shows black men and women in loving relationships, a father teaching his son about becoming a man and a strong family unit – all against the backdrop of slavery, which tore families apart.
Viewers got the back stories about some of the main characters in the first Roots. We saw Kunta Kinte experience the rite of passage in his homeland and watched how black men learned respect and earned respect. Granted, the rape scenes were hard to stomach, but that’s what happened during slavery.
My biggest concern is viewership or the lack thereof.
1. Who watched the new mini-series?
2. Why did the four-night program start on the same night as TNT’s NBA Western Conference Finals Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors?
3. Why did it air on Memorial Day when most people are entertaining friends or on the road?
4. Why wasn’t the series shown during the school year or Black History Month so that it could get maximum exposure?
The first night of Roots drew 5.3 million viewers, compared with about 16 million viewers who watched Steph Curry and crew whup the Thunder. In 1977, the number of people tuning in for the first episode totaled 28.8 million. The numbers are increasing with On Demand and rebroadcasts, but they still aren’t high enough.
By Memorial Day, many schools have already let students out for summer vacation. If Roots had run earlier in the school year, there could’ve been classroom assignments across the curriculum – English, history and geography – to accompany the series. That is, if such a thing is allowed these days under the core curriculum.
I’ve complained in the past about how everyone stuffs black activities into the month of February, but at least Roots would’ve gotten the attention it deserves. However, it’s not too late.
Parents, take away your kids’ cellphones and laptops and make Roots a must-see program in your house. After each episode, have a Q&A with your children. Have a list of questions handy to start the conversation.
Educators, think of ways to introduce Roots to your students next school year. It’s important that this generation of children sees this story.
The images of black men and women, and black families that young people see today are a sharp contrast to our heritage. It’s time we turn the page and start a new chapter.
Update: My daughter got overwhelmed at work and wasn’t able to follow through with my challenge to eliminate slang.