White people suck!

Just watched I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a 1979 TV movie based on the book written by and about Maya Angelou's early years. Even though the movie is old and has a grainy look, it doesn't matter because it's a period piece. So, the non-HD-3D-Blueray quality of the picture actually works for it, giving the movie an honest feel.

The movie starts in Stamp, Ark., at Maya Angelou's childhood home. It's set in the mid-1930s, Maya is about 9-10 years old. The story follows Maya and her younger brother who are being reared by their wise and strong grandmother and their beaten-down-but-loving great-uncle.

In one scene, Maya's uncle has to be hidden because they have been warned the Ku Klux Klan is on the hunt looking for adult black males to torture. It's a powerful scene. The children are instructed to empty the potato and onion bin in the family grocery store, great-uncle refused help to get inside, then the children put back the vegetables on top their uncle until he is fully covered. No words are spoken. It's obvious this is a familiar routine.

We also are witness to the poet's early love of reading and words. We begin to understand the genesis of this woman. A wonderful teacher ignited Maya's curiosity of a world outside of Stamp. Then, an early trauma - raped by her mother's boyfriend while she and her brother were in St. Louis - engendered an appreciation for a rural life lived at a slower tempo.

I've shown and watched this movie multiple times now, and in different settings. Last night's audience so obviously connected to the story, I was moved by their reactions: singing, clapping, laughing, even tears. I couldn't join in as I had no real personal stake in the story, except, maybe, for the antagonists. I caught myself feeling ashamed of my ethnicity, of my white brethren. This a horrible legacy that sadly still breathes today.

I don't really have a clever way to conclude today's blog. White people suck? Naw. Some do, some don't. I try not to.