The SLAVE Narrative and Why It is Important To Be Told

Throughout time, there has been many movies and series created that highlights and brings awareness to American Slavery. Some of these are Amistad, Roots, Django, and 12 years a Slave just to name a few.


2016 looks to be a year that highlights the story of the slave and I think this very action is very important and definitely needed in our society.


The history of slavery is a dark one from our nation's past that many present day folks like to pretend  does not exist or that it did not happen. Slavery has even been identified in some American textbooks as something that Africans volunteered to do, or that the experience was somewhat pleasant. Other textbooks skip over the history of Slavery completely as if that wasn't one of the main causes of the American Civil War.

The History of Slavery needs to be told for multiple reasons.


1) The fact that slavery occurred needs to always be acknowledged and never sugar coated
2) The acts of slavery plays a vital role in the current state of America and the Black Community. specifically the division we have within the nation and the division that can be seen within the black community when it comes to overcoming colorism.
3. The current distrust that minorities have towards police officers, also can be tied back to the original police force which was the slave catchers who's sole job was to police minorities.
4. The acts that Blacks endured during slavery contributed to making us such the strong race that we are today. Slave masters use to breed the strongest man with the strong woman with the intent to produce strong off springs. This could be why physically some of the best Athletes in America are of African descent.


The SLAVE has a voice and a story that needs to be told. Although the history of slavery was brutal and sometimes hard to tolerate, we need to know and understand how breaking up slave families, effects the current broken black families in America. We need to know why theirs a rift between lighter skinned blacks and those of darker complexions. We need to understand why black women are so tough and sometimes hard, and that's can simply be because throughout American History the black woman endured beatings, rape, and seeing her family torn apart. Slavery had a cause and effect and that we still are able to feel today.


About a week ago a new SLAVE series premiered on WGN entitled UNDERGROUND. John Legend is one of the Executive Producers, and the narrative focuses and highlights the slaves seeking out their FREEDOM.

Additionally there will be a remake of Alex Haley's mini series ROOTS hitting the scene soon. ROOTS was definitely a slave story that had me in tears. I cried quite a bit when I watched the original ROOTS series, therefore I know going into watching the remake I need to be fully prepared.


I definitely think overall we as Americans should support the story of the slave. We watch horror movies and action movies where individuals are murdered and killed, so why not pay tribute to the nation's history, embrace what the ancestors of blacks endured, and learn to understand how Slavery still effects America in modern day society.

Remember To Always Be

Fierce and Fabulous

xoxo Lela Victoria

RACE (Jesse Owens) "movie review"

When many people think of Track and Field greats many big names come to mind such as FLO JO, Wilma Rudolph, and the amazing Jesse Owens. The movie RACE was absolutely great. Going into seeing this movie, I forgot to get my mind right. By this I mean I forgot to take into consideration that the setting of this movie was in the 1930s which also meant that no matter how fast Jesse Owens was he was still subjected to being treated like a second class citizen and dealing with racism.

For those of you who do not know Jesse Owens is not the legal name of our great Track Star. He was named James Cleveland and was nicknamed J.C. When in school after his family moved from Alabama to Ohio he introduced himself as JC and the teacher thought he said JayyyyySee. Southern people have some of the thickest accents. The teacher recorded Jesse and that name stuck with him for life. 

The movie opens with Jesse and his family in Ohio and I immediately gave the side eye, because it was at that moment I noted that they skipped over the fact that Jesse Owens was born in Alabama. I am more than sure that the audience would have been interested in knowing about his childhood and given a quick glimpse at his time spent in Alabama, it more than likely contributed to the man he would eventually become.  

Knowing of Jesse Owen's accomplishments and watching his  life as a black man in the movie was interesting to digest. He had to sit at the back of the bus, deal with racism while he was a student at Ohio State, and also dealt with the typical hard life of being a black man during that time. The part that got me the most was the fact that Jesse Owens made the USA Olympic Team and was force to stay/sleep in the Black ( Lower Class) quarters on the ship that took the American athletes to Germany. This man was good enough to represent his country but not good enough to receive the same fair and equal treatments as his American teammates all because he was born with additional melanin within his skin. 

 Jesse Owens was faced with the decision on whether or not he would go compete in a country where other humans were being mistreated, which was similar to what was going on in the United States towards blacks. Telling someone who loves running to not run is a painful stab in the back . No one can understand the joys that come from running and racing unless you yourself participates in these acts. When you run, you run for yourself and no one else( I mean your team is considered but it's still you out there on that track)  and those who wanted Jesse to not run at the 1936 Belin Olympics would not be able to understand the fundamentals of what it means to RACE. 

Jesse Owens went on to win 4 GOLD OLYMPIC Medals ( 100, 200, 4x100m relay and long jump). He set world records and brought honor to the great USA. Adolph Hitler refused to congratulate Jesse Owens, but chose to congratulate other Olympic Gold Medalist and this was simply because Jesse was Black. Upon returning back to the United States Jesse was a hero but there were no endorsements waiting for him upon return and he became a working class citizen who focus was on uplifting the youth. 

On of the things that bothered me the most about Jesse's story is the fact that the President of the United States, during the time that he became an Olympic Champion, refused to invite him to the White House. Jesse was good enough to win for Team USA but not good enough to meet and shake hands with Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Overall the movie was great. I would just say brace yourself for the racial bigotry that goes on during this time towards because if you're not ready it can catch you off guard. Jesse's story was told and his legacy has once again been embraced. 

Remember To Always Be 

Fierce and Fabulous 

xoxo Lela Victoria