AN ESTIMATED 80 million Americans streamed to their televisions and watched the same drama, the latest in a series of eight episodes called "Roots." On January 30, 1977, they set a new record for viewers.
"Roots" is the story of a black family who traveled from Africa through generations of American slavery and found ultimate freedom. But why did this "fictional story" attract so many interested parties?
While it is true that there are several reasons, it was perhaps most profound that they were impressed by all the effects of what it means to be a black slave. A great historical cruelty was "committed". As one woman put it, "Something inside me tried to say that slavery was not so bad, but now I know it was much worse."
In recent years, there have actually been many books and gigs about the situation of oppressed minorities. Extensive research was conducted on the circumstances that led to the genocide or extreme aggravation of one people by another, and the results were compiled.
Of course, these "new stories" can have their own theories and prejudices. But for the most part, they reveal terrible past events that are so shocking that some find it difficult to read. Perhaps human inhumanity towards man has been examined as never before.
Unfortunately, when studying history, one must realize that there were many atrocities and holocausts. The treatment of Africans captured and taken by ship to America is one of the most important in numbers. The Encyclopoedia Britannica (11th edition, vol. 25, p. 222) states: “Of the 100 sent from Africa, 17 died in about nine weeks and a maximum of 50 lived as good workers in the [Caribbean]. "As" estimates of slaves sent across the Atlantic range between 30 and 100 million "the number of deaths was indeed enormous.New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Volume 1, p. 283.
But with many atrocities, it is difficult to even estimate the death toll. How large was the indigenous population of the Caribbean islands and the American continents? But over time, "the indigenous people [of the Caribbean] are completely threatened with extinction." Think also of the North American Indians. It is generally accepted that the number has decreased from millions to a very small fraction. Today, many of the "battles against the Indians" are more realistically regarded as massacres.
If we look at new history, we can see that the number of known atrocities is increasing. Can we look at the most civilized world of our century when we look at the Nazi Holocaust? Documentation of Nazi policy shows a calculated genocide plan, not only against Jews but also against Slavic peoples, Jehovah's Witnesses and others. More than a million non-Jewish Poles and more than a quarter of a million Roma are believed to have been killed. And these cold numbers may not fully reflect the effects of the horrors of the concentration camp: starvation, beatings, "medical experiments" (often sterilization) and often gas chambers.
In fact, as the Bible says, "man has wrongly dominated man." (Eccl. 8: 9) And the fact that such atrocities have occurred in many places on earth shows that such wickedness cannot be considered a sign of race or nationality. Hatred has no color, language or flag.
When we realize this, we avoid taking extreme positions in the face of such a shocking story of racist or nationalist hatred. When a persecuted person enters, "Wait until we reach the top. Let's go back to our parents," what to do? Just a continuation of the atrocities!
Instead, we must try to understand what happened. For example, a British documentary "The Fight Against Slavery", as a newspaper reported, "showed that slavery is not just a crime against blacks, it is a crime against all of humanity." The blame must be shared by both races, as many of the slave traders were African.
Generalizations about any event or situation are also dangerous. In the worst case, people have been affected differently. For example, some black people were treated well during slavery. Others were shackled, raped, mutilated and separated from their families while on the run. The question remains: how to punish those responsible with those who are long dead? If all white people were persecuted, many innocent people would be injured.
On the other hand, it's the opposite extreme: I don't care; Everything is a dead story ”, it is also reckless. Should the persecution of your own family realize how horrible it is? Shouldn't suffering minorities help us show compassion for them? Can we afford to adopt such fictitious thinking, since many atrocities are based on myths about race or social inferiority?
In addition to this self-examination, there is another personal benefit to honestly looking into the past. The authentic story clearly says: Often people neither loved nor cared for their neighbors. Instead of mourning over what went beyond a people, it would be wiser for a person to take care of all the poor masses of humanity who suffered in tyranny after tyranny. In his time, Jesus looked at the Amharets (“the people of the earth”, “the common people”) and repented of being “skinned and thrown”. We would do well to imitate him.
This concern also takes us elsewhere for a real solution to the problems caused by the failure of human government. Where is the leader who loves everyone?
This is should a lesson and help change for the better