Nate Parker’s “Birth of a Nation” Trailer Is Trying to Get You Fired

[divider type=”space_thin”] What a time to be alive, my peoples. And by that I mean, what a time to be Black, in a society that still ripples from slavery about 150 years ago (that’s only two generations by the way, fam) and still pay admission to see a new slavery movie every year. But I do not come to you humble readers with my head bowed with a typical “slavery was horrible, but at least there’s a White dude who was less terrible than most that helped the protagonist escape” movie. This meal, Birth of a Nation, has set in the stomach of many a Black folk that both love movies and know their history. There is no mistaking the storied name of this movie, as it is an attempt at reclaiming it from the cinematic symbol of White Supremacy by the same name. This movie, starred and directed by Nate Parker, which sold for a record amount at Sundance, tells the story of the almost mythical Nat Turner, leader of the largest North American slave revolt in history.

Now look, you’ve seen slave, segregation, good ol’ “racism that happened so long ago it doesn’t relate to anything in 2016” movies before [blink] …but the story of Nat Turner is one we never thought was going to be told, at least not on a big screen. Most of those movies show calm, dignified Black folk with unbreakable spirit, but easy to split bodies; they don’t talk back until the climax of the film and in the end, a White dude saves the day. But Nat… Nat killed a lot of White folks. Like over 70 in a couple of days. …