What’s one name you would never personally give to your child?

@whowasthatmaskedman Particularly after Alex Haley publicly admitted that ROOTS was a fantasy, not a true story as originally claimed.

@ChipmunkErnie Yes. Of course the damage was done then.. But there are supposed to be hundreds of birth certificates out there with that name. No idea how many "names" survive today.. On alother note, I saw another reply and thought it would be really cool as an adult to be called "Caligula" Imagine that on your coffee cup when your name is called...😷

@whowasthatmaskedman I don’t know a single one. I do know a couple of ”Kizzy”s, however.

@ChipmunkErnie It was based upon what is known to be true of the American slave experience, however. It’s a ”fantasy” like The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is one—aka historical fiction.

@bijouxbroussard It was touted as a true story of Haley's family at first -- then he admitted he made it up AFTER it was a best seller, TV series, etc. and he'd made his money. It was a powerful book and mini-series, but calling it real history based on Haley's family research was a lie.

@ChipmunkErnie The book and the tv series also got people talking about the reality that was the U.S. participation in the slave trade and what followed afterwards.

Now, in my community it had always been discussed , because my parents’ generation had known elderly family members who had been born enslaved. In 1976, when the book first came out, there were still people living whose parents had been slaves; the history isn’t as far away as folks like to pretend.


But what was different was, for the first time, white people were also speaking about it seriously.

That this specific story didn’t happen doesn’t change the fact the people were captured and brought on ships in chains to this country, and sold. That is documented fact, and its legacy remains.

@bijouxbroussard Never said the story didn't create discussion, just that it was NOT the historical truth it was first presented as so far as being the true story of Haley's family. And it wasn't the first time ALL white people spoke/took slavery and it's history seriously. Perhaps the white people you knew, but I grew up in an educated household. ROOTS was an extremely emotional TV experience, but bit wasn't news to anyone in my family, though we knew more of the Holocaust to be fair, since half the family is Jewish.

Re the captured and brought on ships, very true -- but the capturing was done by other Africans, not by whites. Not too long after ROOTS there were plans for a similar international production re the history of the slave trade, but the US backers reportedly dropped their funding when they discovered a major part of the story dealt with black slavers selling their fellow blacks in Africa.

@ChipmunkErnie I’m not arguing with you, simply relating my specific experiences and observations when the book and series came out.

But a big part of the racism that persists in our country and nationwide is the idea that Africans selling other Africans and having the institution of slavery in their countries somehow justified Europeans and Americans purchasing and selling Africans.

And unfortunately that IS why people need to make that point, in spite of the facts that A.In African countries there were tribal differences between slavers and enslaved. (Same way Europeans have different nationalities.)
and B. Americans were still bringing Africans for sale into the United States after the 1807 law prohibiting further importations.

The story of slavery in Africa and African slavers does need to be told. But it is probably closer to the stories of how slavery looked in places like Rome or Greece.

It is definitely not the same story as what happened in the United States, and cannot be compared, because here it was solely about race.