Saturday, May 8, 2010

Saturday Afternoon Distraction: The Stono Rebellion...Reenacted with Legos



I have to admire this Lego ingeniousness. It reminds me of the Avant-garde style of art known as infantilism, where through a child-like depiction of reality its darkest truths are revealed. Here I am happy to see a (presumably) young respectable negro practicing his craft (he sounds a bit like me at that age, and we have a similar talent for the dramatic).

Also quite telling is how the White slave owner sounds like Darth Vader. I must ask: What does this semiotic code tell us about the relationship between the shadow figure, evil, Jungian psychoanalytic frameworks, race, and our collective political unconscious?



Random embarrassing ghetto nerd story: in the 4th grade I had in my possession a GI JOE novella/audio book. This was great stuff. On one side there was a full featured story with sound effects. The flip side was blank so that enterprising young JOE's could record their own story. Of course I recorded my own version of this adventure including original dialogue and homemade sound effects. Inevitably, I loaned said audiobook to a friend--with the cassette. Little did I know that I would come to school the next day and my recording would be blaring throughout homeroom. My soul died a little bit that Friday. One more story for my inevitable autobiography (random self-aggrandizing and pandering moment: if there are any publishers looking for a pitch please contact a brother).

Both because it is a powerful story that is little discussed--and I am always so surprised when students (black, white and brown) ask if we resisted our inhuman bondage--here is a short clip on the legendary Stono Rebellion.

Strength and honor:

2 comments:

Big Man said...

Damn son, I died a little for you when you told that story about your homemade Joe episode.

Your survival skills were not high in your youth. While I was probably nearly as nerdy as you with my addiction to science fiction and fantasy novels, I was able to code switch a bit better.

Lady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrelle said...

I have many stories far worse. Trust me we could have a black ghetto nerd version of American Pie.

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