MovieChat Forums > Black Panther (2018) Discussion > Just bury me in the ocean with my ancest...

Just bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped off the ships ---

posted 6 years ago by Robtimus (6)
21 replies | jump to latest

Why is it not possible for there to be predominantly black movies without the pathetic need to bring up a travesty that happened over 150 years ago? Anyone who believes slavery somehow affects their life now is simply making excuses for their own shortcomings.

Many slaves endured unimaginable horrors. It was a twisted time in this nation's history. Slaves were beaten, killed, tortured, humiliated, etc. Please enlighten me how anyone in today's society can delusionally compare their "struggle" to that. Maybe today's generation has dealt with some bullying. Some name calling. Got in some fights. All the things we've all been through. Yet people have the gall to constantly bring up slavery, as if they too know the hardships??? Those people should be embarrassed to even make a comparison. Not only do they minimize the nightmare slaves went through, they make themselves look weak and pathetic. Someone called them names and they now know suffering? Unbelievable.

Slavery ended well over a century ago. It's over. It doesn't affect anyone's life, past, present, or future. There are many peoples who've endured slavery. Some for thousands of years, yet we don't hear them harping about it now, since it had no impact on them. Despite all people being equal under the law, with all the same opportunities, there are still those who want to hang onto a tragedy that had nothing to do with them, as if they're owed something. They're not. No one owes them anything they've earned nothing. They don't get credit for the suffering others experienced. The only reason to keep bringing it up is to make excuses for their failures and to have something to blame. It doesn't get sadder than that.

Yes, people will always have hate in them. People will hate blacks, whites, polka dots, christians, those of the Jewish faith, Muslim faith, gay people, straight people, short people, fat people, ugly people, mean people, cops, lawyers, rich people, poor people, etc....The list goes on and on. You can't stop it on a personal level, but it's been stopped on a societal level. And the people who hate are are such a small minority. They only have a voice because people keep giving them the attention they crave. Stop. Stop validating them, and stop making excuses using past wrong doings.

The people who see themselves solely as people of a certain color will always be small, weak, insecure and useless. Try simply seeing yourself as a person, and stop labeling yourself a color, or anything else. Stop playing the victim. It's time to grow up and hold yourself accountable for any successes or failures. Stop crying and whining about things that had nothing to do with you. How weak must someone be, in order to feel name calling is the equivalent to whips and chains? The world really doesn't need, or want, people like that.

[–] papamihel (1574) 6 years ago

Actually the quote doesn't make any sense. It's obvious that ***his*** ancestors were the ones who didn't jump. Otherwise he would have been there.

[–] Robtimus (6) 6 years ago

That's actually a great point. I can't believe I completely missed that!

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

"Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors that jumped from ships because they knew death was better than bondage."

Not ALL of his ancestors SOME of his ancestors. Additionally Killmonger is relating by Skin-Folk and not just Kin-Folk.

[–] papamihel (1574) 6 years ago

What's "skin-folk"?

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

"Skin-Folk" means that you are related because you are the same people "As-In" the color of one's Skin for which they were group identified.

I am quite surprised that you weren't aware of that or couldn't just deduce that. It is kind of self-descriptive.

[–] papamihel (1574) 6 years ago

I'm not an American so the thought that people would think that something as shallow and insignificant as skin color can be a basis for kinship just didn't occur to me.
I thought it was something sexual to be honest.

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

I thought it was something sexual to be honest.

Sexual???? That is very enlightening. Most of the world has historically practiced some form of Colorism from beauty standards, through social status, continuing through intelligence, and just plain old acceptance. The number of countries where skin-bleaching and skin whitening is a common practice is also very enlightening. Pun intended.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Well I'm an American and hadn't heard "skin-folk" before, although I correctly guessed what you meant by it.

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

Well I'm an American and hadn't heard "skin-folk" before, although I correctly guessed what you meant by it.

Conservatives and the Right have cleverly and disingenuously hijacked one portion of a speech from MLK.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Skin-Folk vs Kin-Folk isn't something that I created or paraphrased they are terms that have been used.

When I oft-times have conversations with some people within the USA who hold extreme racial positions, when it comes to Skin-Folk, I offer up the following:

Everyone White is not your friend and everyone black is not your enemy. If they're white.
Everyone Black is not your friend and everyone white is not your enemy. If they're your black.

Killmonger was relating to Skin-Folk as indeed his oppressed and proud ancestry based on the Slave Trade to the Americas.

[–] DracTarashV2 (4475) 6 years ago

Uh, the Killmonger character spends literally the entire movie talking about the injustices his people have faced for hundreds of years. And, I know you’re gonna like this one, some things haven’t changed that much in 150 years (the fact that BLM gets called a terrorist group oughta tell you something.) Plus, it never gets old seeing conservative folks getting mad over facts.

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

I know you’re gonna like this one, some things haven’t changed that much in 150 years (the fact that BLM gets called a terrorist group oughta tell you something.) Plus, it never gets old seeing conservative folks getting mad over facts.

The additional concerning issue with BLM is the degree to which counter arguments against BLM has been prevalent around the world. You can point people to the BLM web-site but the counter narrative resonates more than the actual actions and deeds coming from BLM.

To Britishers and their rule Gandhi disrupted the functioning of British colonial society, as such he was a terrorist and was feared and branded as such. He no doubt would have been quite comfortable defining Brits inside of India as Colonizers and oppressors. The Caste system within India was and still is a mechanism that established Colorism as a an aspect of social status, desirability and acceptance. Go figure.

[–] Robtimus (6) 6 years ago

Uh, the Killmonger character spends literally the entire movie talking about the injustices his people have faced for hundreds of years. And, I know you’re gonna like this one, some things haven’t changed that much in 150 years

This ridiculous statement isn't even worthy of validation.

[–] TJLamb0518 (3316) 6 years ago

Sadly, it really, really isn't ridiculous.

[–] Robtimus (6) 6 years ago

Please, enlighten me then. How have things not changed? How are you going to convince anyone with common sense, and at least a high school education, that living is a black person today is pretty much the same as living as a black person 150 years ago.

[–] TJLamb0518 (3316) 6 years ago

Um...google about the two black men lynched this year. Google the disproportionate amount of convictions among African Americans. Google police shootings.

Learn SOMETHING

[–] Robtimus (6) 6 years ago

The irony of your last sentence is unparalleled.

Isolated instances of racism and violence will always exist. To take those exceptions and make the idiotic claim that blacks are no better off now than they were 150 years ago is a level of delusional ignorance that not many reach. Congratulations.

[–] kuku (3510) 6 years ago

For the very same reason Palestinians keep attacking Israel even when they've been offered peace and have their country years ago. It's the same psychological mechanism.

As long as you keep thinking that you're oppressed by something that happened years ago, you can feel that anything that happens to you is NOT your fault.

Of course, that doesn't make any sense. The farther are blacks from whites, the WORSE they live, no matter it's Detroit or Africa. They have been ruling Zimbabwe for 40 years now. Now it's third world. South-Africa? ruling for 25 years, now it's going straight to third world. It's gonna be the first country in history to lose the capacity to supply water and electricity in a major city in peacetime (yeap, it's gonna happen this year after the summer, clock is ticking).

But logic doesn't matter, because it's a matter of psychological needs. Most blacks think they can't compete with whites on equal terms, and probably most blacks can't. So you better be a victim than a loser. It's a fantasy, quite an unfair and mean fantasy since most black people in western countries live much much better than they'd do in Africa. But... it's a fantasy that keeps the self-image safe and sound: if you fail, it's not your fault, it's not because you lost, it's because some evil-white-nazis oppressed you.

[–] Frogarama (12942) 6 years ago

Slavery ended long ago, but the racism related to it did not.

The civil rights era was pretty recent, compared to that. But it all started with slave ships.

[–] Robtimus (6) 6 years ago

Blacks are not the only people to have been victimized by racism or discrimination. Far from it. On a personal level that type of hate will always exist. People will hate others because they're black, white, red, green, purple, Christian, Jewish, gay, straight, tall, short, fat, ugly.....the list goes on an on.

Most of us have learned to accept we're all equal under the law and don't make excuses when things don't go in our favor. We also don't harp on past travesties that were way before our time, and had nothing at all to do with us personally.

[–] kuku (3510) 6 years ago

Most of us have learned to accept we're all equal under the law and don't make excuses when things don't go in our favor.

Because this is what you have been taught. This is part of your culture and you have absorbed it up to the point of being essential to you... but had you been raised in different cultural values, you'd think otherwise.

In general, judeo-christian cultures are heavy in self-criticism. You don't blame others, you blame yourself and deal with the consequences. East-Asian cultures, however, are no heavy in self-criticism but neither in blaming others: they use to accept things as they are, adapting and flowing with them (the famous "be water, my friend" from Bruce Lee). And finally, Muslim and African/African-American cultures use to blame others for whatever problems.

[–] NorrinRad (5019) 6 years ago

Slavery ended long ago, but the racism related to it did not.

The civil rights era was pretty recent, compared to that. But it all started with slave ships.

Before you get hit with "Whataboutism" from the intellectually dishonest crowd. You're only speaking to the particularly insidious institution of the North-American Slave trade that started with those Slave Ships.

Slavery and indentured servitude existed prior to those slave ships making their journey across the Middle Passage with their primarily melanin infused cargo.