This image stayed with me long after the movie ended, for here was a glimpse of the untaught chronicles about African resistance to the international traffic in human beings. Scenes like this have the potential to educate, enrage, and propel people to make change. But instead of arriving home, the Africans end up on the shores of New York and are imprisoned. And there the emphasis remains.
Paternalism undercuts truth.
Once the Mende are captured, legal wrangling gets underway immediately. Actually, however, the clash was rooted in competing economic interests, and the cultural differences of the South - lifestyle, religion, etc. Especially galling was John Quincy Adams' moment in the sun at the finale. In his speech before the Supreme Court, Adams invokes the legacy of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as the foundation of his defense of the rebels. This invocation was insulting to the captives - and to me, as an African American woman, as well.