And We’re Off!

ABC began its new season by rebroadcasting Roots, which led Johnny Carson to quip that the network was “giving the viewers what they want: guilt.” It was really giving them a form of moral complacency. Few whites can feel soul-struck at the sight of antebellum crackers wielding whips and chains: most of our racial sins are nonviolent. Besides, Roots’ whites are just too gauche; we feel we are watching Archie Bunker’s ancestors, not ours.

For blacks, Roots offers moral nostalgia. It recalls a golden age of righteousness, when honkies were overtly nasty and oppression hadn’t had time to generate well-nigh ineradicable characterological problems. And how superficial it seems now: perhaps it’s a mistake to judge television by anything but first impressions. Kunta Kinte seems about as African as Tonto.

JS

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Joseph Sobran

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ABC began its new season by rebroadcasting Roots, which led Johnny Carson to quip that the network was “giving the viewers what they want: guilt.” It was really giving them a form of moral complacency. Few whites can feel soul-struck at the sight of antebellum crackers wielding whips and chains: most of our racial sins are nonviolent. Besides, Roots’ whites are just too gauche; we feel we are watching Archie Bunker’s ancestors, not ours.

For blacks, Roots offers moral nostalgia. It recalls a golden age of righteousness, when honkies were overtly nasty and oppression hadn’t had time to generate well-nigh ineradicable characterological problems. And how superficial it seems now: perhaps it’s a mistake to judge television by anything but first impressions. Kunta Kinte seems about as African as Tonto.