I agree too that the movie was excellent!
It also touches on the HUGE effect that Black maids have had on modern society. They forever changed the children they cared for. Oh sure they were paid to feed us and change our diapers, but they loved us and showed us compassion by choice. It would have been easy for them to take out their anger on their tiny charges, and I'm sure a small percentage did, but most did not.
Instead they nurtured us, often when our own parents did not, and in doing so they broke a chain of racial hatred and oppression that goes back hundreds of years. For several generations of white, affluent offspring, brown skin equates to love because of "The Help"
My following comments are not meant to be offensive, just deliberative. Do you also know that enslaved Africans breastfed untold generations up until the 20th century, not because "they" wanted to, but because many/most of African descent had no choice. Secondly, if one does some research you can find how many inventions we still use today where created by people of African descent. So much so, that without that product being invented our lives would be remarkably different. Maybe this has to do with Karma.
I applaud The Help's ability to give a wider audience a peek into the lives of the mostly unappreciated "Help". As a person of Afro Caribbean descent, we are still judged by the color of our skin. Even in our own communities there exists a system of divisions created aeons ago based on skin tone/skin color. During Danish times the lighter your complexion the less rules you had to abide by. The darker you were determined your curfew. The lighter the person usually the better job they had, hence the term house "n***er". The darker the person meant limited opportunities, unless one had the will to change their destiny, by any means necessary.
My grandmother was the perfect representation of this. She was a coal black blue woman with blue eyes. Her grandmother was a German Catholic missionary who was eventually excommunicated for taking up with my great-great grandfather. The only opportunities for my grandmother were laundry woman, cook, farmer, seamstress, maid, etc. My grandmother decided that she didn't want to do any of that. At that time, the Moravians, http://www.moon.com/destinations/virgin-islands/st-john/sights/coral-bay/emmaus-moravian-church, were the only people teaching the slaves to read. Granny went to those schools up til 6th grade. She employed self teaching and by 14, she was teaching her peers. At 17 she was the youngest to pass the teaching exam and no one could take her success from her.
Her self hate was further ingrained when my Grandfather took her to meet his Mother & Aunties and their remark to my Grandfather in front of my Grandmother was "Couldn't you find a lighter skin woman?" So even though she pursued her dreams to their fullest, the system was always ready and waiting to pull back in.
Many of us have been given a steady diet of self loathing and so while "The Help" explores the lives of both women of African and Caucasian descent living in a Eurocentric world, society is uncomfortable with this movie/novel. There are those of us in the diaspora who understand the magnitude of the service/servitude our ancestors contributed to modern society on a whole, however, when/how does the discrimination become a thing of the past?
Visiting the mainland, a.k.a. the continent, for me requires an adjustment in attitude as a minority because my actions could mean the end of me (even though Jim Crow laws are not as prevalent, Jim Crow attitudes and behaviors still exist). In my home, I am also a minority in a majority of people of African descent, however in my home, we do not take kindly to the automatic assumption that "we" are here as servants in servitude. I can say to so & so, "Who do you think you talking to?" and be on equal footing with someone from anywhere else. There is a difference. Just because I'm being paid, does not mean that I should be treated any less than the person who is benefiting from the service being provided. And yet how many times do we equate other human beings with monetary value?
Our system of government is a carry over from one plantation system to another (governed under 8 flags) and has created divisions as well as the mechanism to exploit these divisions. People visiting the Virgin Islands automatically assume that the 70% of people of African descent living in the Virgin Islands are Virgin Islanders, not so.
Our tourism product as well as the spirit of Virgin Islanders has been exploited to the detriment of our inherent kindness, service to others, self sufficiency along with genuine well being. Today, our political climate controls the economic survival of the population. In actuality, only 15 to 20% of the population are Virgin Islanders (we are being dispossesed of our homeland due to exterior alternative motives.). The other 50 to 55% of our population are other people in the diaspora from other neighboring Caribbean islands seeking better economic opportunities.
However, many of the people who immigrate/migrate to the Virgin Islands come from places where their political status has been determined. We seem to be trapped inherently in a vicious circle/cycle of self-determination and continuous colonization. Being under many occupations has forced us to learn to read people and their intentions. In the Tourism business, it is critical to understand the different tones and mannerisms exhibited when interacting with people. After all The Virgin Islands used to be the #1 Tourist destination. This means we have learned to interact and tolerate many types of attitudes to include body language. There are things Virgin Islanders will accept and then there are things we will not.
In my culture, we are taught as children to look at people in their eyes when communicating. We are also taught that no one else is better or worse than us. Depending on where you are in America having direct eye contact can be taken two ways: 1) Arrogance or 2) Coming from a different culture and not understanding the nuances. All because of skin color.
