There’s been a lot of controversy about The Help that I don’t remember seeing about the book, but maybe I just missed it. The gist that I’ve seen is that people resent a story where a white person or perspective is “necessary” to tell the hardships about another race or why having it told from that perspective makes it more palatable to the larger public. I know this is sharing my perspective late, but whatever.
From my end, I don’t care why or how people learn about racism and discrimination that existed and exists in our country. I just want them to learn about it. And maybe that isn’t fair or nuanced enough, but there you have it. Several months ago my book club read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Everyone loved the book and several people comments on how many things they read that were completely unknown to them prior to the book. My question back was, and I swear I posed this in the nicest way possible: Why is it that so many white girls I know (and I am one) read books about all sorts of atrocities around the world like the holocaust but so few read about the atrocities that occurred in our own country? Why were the things in the Henrietta Lacks book new knowledge?
This question has really stuck with me since then. I feel like I have gone out of my way to learn about racism, past and present. I’m still learning all the time. And while I still have a long way to go, at least I am trying.
So many people remain ignorant to our nation’s history. People who go out of their way to learn about the history of other nations or people from other countries. What about learning about their neighbors? And while The Help might be flawed, if it teaches anybody anything or inspires anyone to learn more, then all of my other opinions aside, good for the movie. That’s a huge accomplishment.