I am a genealogy enthusiast who has spent countless hours tracing my roots back through the generations, often discovering historical gems that connect me to people I had never heard of whose survival and life choices resulted in my existence. It is a sobering and soul-stirring experience.
When Bryan Sykes’ book, The Seven Daughters of Eve was first released, the genealogist in me was way stoked. Here was the Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford spelling out in words what many of us humans had already concluded in our hearts was true: All of humanity is, in fact, one family.
Blasting any lingering ideas of multi-regional human origins, Sykes, using mitochondrial DNA as a guide, shows how every human being alive today descended from an original “Eve” — an East African woman who passed her mitochondrial DNA to her daughters, and they to their daughters, and so on until your mother and mine.
What makes mitochondrial DNA so fascinating is that unlike recombinant DNA, which we inherent from both parents, and which recombines from one generation to the next to create the beautiful diversity in humanity, mtDNA is passed down from our mother only, and it does not recombine. Your mtDNA is like a relationship timeline that can accurately reveal your generational proximity to another person (that is, how recently related to another human being you are).
We have been conditioned to use physical features to determine our “racial” proximity to others, but the physical features we typically use to determine someone’s “race” (skin color, eye color, hair texture, facial features) are actually determined by a very small amount of human genetic material — less than 1% of who we are genetically has anything to with how we look! In Seven Daughters of Eve, Sykes gives countless examples of people who thought they belonged exclusively to one “racial” group, only to have their mtDNA reveal that their ethnicity was quite mixed and that they had recent ancestors of other “races.”
“These stories and others like them make nonsense of any biological basis for racial classifications…We are all a complete mixture; yet at the same time, we are all related…Our genes did not just appear when we were born. They have been carried to us by millions of individual lives over thousands of generations.“
The implications of Sykes’ work are potentially life-changing for us as individuals, and world changing for us as a human family. When enough human beings make the shift from focusing on imaginary racial and geographical boundaries, to recognizing how truly interconnected we all are, perhaps we will collectively move toward a more peaceful coexistence on this planet we all call home.
Sykes puts it in perspective with this analogy:
“I am on a stage. Before me, in the dim light, all the people who have ever lived are lined up, rank upon rank, stretching far into the distance…I have in my hand the end of the thread which connects me to my ancestral mother way at the back. I pull on the thread and one woman’s face in every generation, feeling the tug, looks up at me…These are my ancestors…These are all my mothers…“
I love that in every human cell mitochondria is the “engine” that uses oxygen to power everything. It is as if, there, in our mitochondria, is our GREAT grandmother Eve, telling us collectively to breathe deeply — and to remember our connection to her and to one another.
The Seven Daughters of Eve may sound too scientific to read for pleasure, but Sykes personalizes the science in a way that makes it a truly interesting read. I highly recommend this book!
A public declaration of love, respect, pride and appreciation between a son and his father. Kinda makes you wish something as inspiring as this wasn’t so rare. :/
Fathers and sons please feel free to leave your own video declarations of love in the comments… (Now, wouldn’t THAT be something if they really did it?)
After writing the post Waiting For…A White Lady?, I did some further research and found that LouAnne Johnson has a website where she posts articles and answers questions about her current work as a teacher and her past experiences writing the book “My Posse Don’t Do Homework,” which the movie Dangerous Minds is (loosely, according to Johnson) based on.
At that website, Johnson provides a link to a downloadable .pdf file of a letter she wrote to a grad student who contacted her via email in 2007 with similar questions my post raised. I love her responses to that student’s query. And, though I’ve never met, spoken or corresponded with her, I love her. Louanne Johnson speaks her truth about her experiences in a way that is informed, inclusive and non-judgmental. After a visit to her website you may come to the same conclusion I have: She is a teacher in every sense of the word.
I HIGHLY recommended reading her entire letter:
LOUANNE JOHNSON’S RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MOVIE DANGEROUS MINDS:
My Thoughts on the movie Dangerous Minds which was (very very loosely) adapted from my book My Posse Don’t Do Homework.
This was written in June 2007 in response to an email from a grad student:
Thank you for contacting me for input instead of just using what you find on the Internet or other resources.
Let me be clear: I think Dangerous Minds has its good points – it inspired a lot of kids to stay in school, it inspired many people to pursue their dreams of becoming teachers, and it inspired the brilliant song, “Gangsta’s Paradise.” I just wish that people would realize it’s a movie and not real life when they write about me.
I had very little input to the movie and much of it is fiction, at times so far removed from fact as to be ridiculous. My students never called me “white bread” for example – I had only one rule in my classroom and that was: respect yourself and the others in this room. I didn’t disrespect my students and they didn’t disrespect me. The producers couldn’t believe it could be so simple — that if you treat kids with genuine respect, they may not love you immediately, but they will learn to respect you.
I used rap lyrics to initiate lessons about poetry (not a Dylan-Dylan contest). Instead of a silly contest, we learned to write and analyze various forms of poetry, beginning with songs and ending with Shakespearean sonnets. Yep, they actually liked them, too. I never threw candy bars at my students to motivate them — I encouraged them to eat healthy foods. I didn’t fight with my administrators all the time — it was my principal who gave me the support and encouragement I needed to become an effective teacher. So, I would simply ask that you view the movie as a movie and not as a reflection of my personality, teaching techniques, teaching philosophy, and definitely not as a reflection of my attitude toward students.
I didn’t teach for one semester and then try to quit — I taught in the at- risk program for five years, starting as a part-time teacher and ending as a full-time teacher and department chair — and then I went back to grad school.
I agree with Bulman’s contention that the movie industry seems to think that white middle-class people can walk into a ghetto and ‘save the children.’ That’s a very very simplified version of his theory. But I would argue that whether the maverick teacher is middle-class, white or black, male or female — the key is in that person’s motivation. If you believe you are superior to somebody and you are going to save them, they will resist you, even if they are drowning, if they didn’t ask for your help. But if you truly respect and accept other people as they are, and your motivation is to encourage them to develop their talents and skills to pursue whatever goals THEY have set (or encourage them to set goals if they have none), then they will be interested in what you have to say.
People focus far too much on race, gender and money when they should focus on heart, soul and intention. It’s been my experience that when you have self-destructive or apathetic students, instead of trying to teach them lessons, you will make much more progress if you try to find out what they think of themselves. And when they have negative perceptions, you tell them what you see — a new perspective that they can’t see themselves. If this is an honest communication, it will change the way they think of themselves. Instead of thinking of themselves as hopeless, powerless, stupid, lazy, or whatever they have been taught or told to think — they begin to see themselves as human beings, separate from the school system labels, human beings with talents and abilities that will be valued by the world, if they can just survive school.
That’s enough. I’m writing you a book! Sorry for being so long-winded.
Oh, wait, I take that back. One more thing. I don’t think the Hollywood film makers are intentionally perpetuating stereotypes and simplistic plot lines. I think in some cases they genuinely believe their stories, in some cases they are trying to create a feel-good story to attract an audience, and in some cases they just don’t have a clue because they never attended public schools and their worlds are so insulated that they believe whatever expert they have hired. I was told, for example, when I protested the racial stereotypes in Dangerous Minds (all black kids are raised by crackhead single moms, all Hispanic teens are gangsters because their parents don’t care, black parents resent effective white teachers), I was told in a very haughty voice that the “gangologist” on their staff assured them that their movie was an accurate depiction. I laughed myself silly before I cried.
At LouAnne’s website is a brief Q&A where you can find out what happened to the real kids whose lives were portrayed in the movie. In one of her answers to a visitor’s question she wrote:
Durell and Lionel came back to school after their grandma made them quit and work for a semester (and she never called me a honky anything – she was very nice).
Hah! I knew that evil grandma didn’t exist. I guess the filmmakers felt making her so mean and angry would make for a better, more enjoyable viewing experience.
So, before folks get all upset at me, let me make it clear that I am in no way suggesting that there aren’t well-intentioned, skilled, concerned and effective White ladies doing great work in our nation’s schools. I have worked with and beside dozens of them. Just Google “Katie Haycock” and the “Education Trust” in D.C. if you want to meet one amazing White lady who tirelessly advocates for quality education for urban students of color.
Having said that, let me get on to the real point of this post, which is Hollywood’s portrayal of the “great White crusader” as the answer to the many ills that plague the inner-city. To this day, Dangerous Minds stands as one of my LEAST FAVORITE movies of all time. HATED IT. Not because the heroine of the movie was a nice White lady doing her best to inspire her poor urban students to learn, but because her sole comrade was a fellow White teacher–and every Black adult in the movie was portrayed as disinterested, self-serving, ignorant and apathetic.
I’m a writer, and when I sit down at my keyboard to create visual images for readers it is not a haphazard or accidental process. Writers have something to say, and the words we use are intentional–we are painting pictures with them.
So, someone please explain to me how the Dangerous Minds screenwriter (Ronald Bass, a quite skilled and prolific writer who is the genius behind a few of my favorite films) didn’t think it was important to have at least ONE non-white adult character in the film who cared about education? Did Bass really believe that the reason schools in the Black community are so abysmal is because there aren’t any caring Black adults in them who are going above and beyond to reach kids? That is an incredible insult to the many who are.
For those who will argue that the movie was based on a true story, please know that in Hollywood the term “based on” means you can pretty much add or subtract whatever fiction or reality you care to if that will make it a more marketable film.
The scary thing about this movie is that even today it is being discussed on YouTube, and many of the scathing comments about Black teachers and parents are coming from young people who have never stepped foot in an urban school, yet seem to believe every scene and every character in the movie is actual.
I have worked in urban education and school reform for over twenty years, and though I have encountered plenty of teachers and administrators of color who shouldn’t be anywhere near kids (no exaggeration), I have never been at a campus where there were NO teachers, parents or administrators of color who cared if kids got an education.
And, while I’m at it, I’m not denying that there are plenty of apathetic and confrontational Black parents, but I never once met a Black parent (or grandparent) who was angry and bitter about their child being taught a challenging English curriculum that would help them graduate and/or be better prepared for college.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Notice all the rose bushes in her yard? (Film directors don’t do anything by accident either, so you have to know that the roses in the yard are there on purpose.) So, this grandma is interested in nurturing and caring for those flowers, but her grandsons better not be wasting their time on poetry? Ugh. The screenwriter was making a point with that scene, and I’m having a hard time believing the point was well-intentioned.
Even if a woman like that mean grandma really did exist, she is definitely not the norm in the Black community. The vast majority of Black and Latino parents I’ve worked with, even the neglectful and uninvolved ones, saw high school graduation and preparation for college as valuable goals. The lie that Black and Latino families care more about vocational ed, and less about college prep, is just that–a lie.
Want to see how much inner-city families really do value quality education? Watch the documentary Waiting for Superman. The lottery scene will break your heart.
UPDATE
LouAnne Johnson (the real-life teacher Dangerous Minds is about) responds to the questions I raised in this post — I’m stunned by her comments. <<—Click to read.
Sadly, the majority of young people today have no knowledge of the TV mini-series “Roots,” and how groundbreaking it was to see a Black family’s journey through the Middle Passage, enslavement and eventual freedom. Roots brought the reality of American chattel slavery into the homes of millions of Americans in a way that would forever destroy the myth of the “contented slave” that so many people believed.
Based on Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, the program garnered 36 Emmy Award nominations and won nine.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications recounts ABC Network execs’ fears that Roots would flop:
“…the show’s consecutive-night format allegedly resulted from network apprehensions. ABC programming chief Fred Silverman hoped that the unusual schedule would cut his network’s imminent losses—and get Roots off the air before sweeps week.”
Despite the network’s fears, each nightly broadcast of the 8-episode series drew 61-71% of all television viewers (!) The final episode of Roots was watched by more than 100 million people. That episode (aired in 1977) was the most watched television program ever, and even after 30+ years, it still stands as the fourth-highest rated U.S. television program in history.
The series is available for purchase at many online locations, and you can watch Roots episodes on your PC at Amazon.com
Los Angeles Times Magazine celebrated the “50 Most Beautiful Women in Film” in their February, 2011 edition. Someone at the magazine was given the task of deciding what beautiful looks like and they came up with the following 50:
I laughed. And, I think he is telling a truth many people think but would never say.
I’ll try not to write any spoilers for those who are going to watch the video (you might want to stop and watch before reading further–the video’s only about 2 minutes), but the part about going to the year 2 was hilarious. Even his comment about the future is pretty telling. Do White people share a collective fear that the tables might turn? If that is a fear, why hasn’t that happened? (I can think only of Toussaint L’Overture’s uprising in Haiti in 1791 and Nat Turner’s war on slavery in Southampton County, VA in 1831. Are there other examples of Black people organizing violence against Whites en masse?)
When South Africa’s apartheid system was abolished and a Black president was elected, though Whites were vastly outnumbered there was no violent uprising to “punish” them.
Do/should White Americans fear one day being outnumbered? If that is a real fear, how does it affect race relations today?
The fact that President Barack Obama is the product of an interracial marriage has led folks of every ethnicity to argue about whether he should be calling himself “Black.” Many people are of the opinion that he should identify himself as “Biracial” to more accurately reflect his ethnic mixture.
It seems to me Obama’s own rationale for referring to himself as a Black man is the opinion that matters most, because what is being identified here are his life and his experiences. It astounds me that so many people have taken it upon themselves to inform the man that he is “not Black.”
It is true that in some places in the world Obama would not be referred to as a Black man because in some cultures the term Black denotes an African phenotype in which European characteristics are not visible–that is, the person does not appear to be mixed with anything that is non-indigenous African.
On this continent, however, “Black” is not a reference to dark skin or “full-bloodedness,” but to membership in a community of Americans of African descent who share similar cultural experiences and are exposed to similar social challenges that cannot be fully mitigated by economic or educational status (or by being mixed with European genes.)
Being Black is membership in one extremely diverse group of people who are daily responding to a supremacist construct in which any measurable deviation from Whiteness can make one socially “cast out” and deny one the many privileges White folks take for granted.
Being wealthy, well-educated and/or lighter-skinned can (and very often does) significantly mitigate racial discrimination, but smart, rich, light-skinned Black Americans will still experience countless instances in their lives where they are viewed (not just by Whites, by the way) through a supremacist lens that labels them LESS __________ (insert positive quality here) than their White counterparts. Driving While Black does not require much pigment, nor does being denied justice, housing or employment. All that is required is for the decision maker in the situation to view you through a lens that tells them you are less trustworthy, less civilized, less attractive, less responsible, less intelligent, less law-abiding, etc.
If the discriminating lens of white supremacy did not exist, ethnic identity would not be such a big deal. Racial labels would not come with such political and social baggage and Obama might actually choose to describe himself as bi-ethnic or multiracial, but so might millions of other “Black” Americans who do not have one white parent.
My Black father was mixed with White, but both of his parents were considered Black. Just how far back in our lineage should we be reaching to rename our black ancestors “Bi-racial” or “Multi-ethnic” when we discover they have some mixture of European, Native American, Asian or Hispanic DNA?
If Obama is not Black, then neither is anyone else who has a non-black ancestor or two. Spend a few hours on Ancestry.com and you’ll quickly recognize that millions of so-called “Black” Americans are actually “Multi-racial.” So, in America, “Black” already means “mixed” most of the time anyway. At some point the insistence on deBlackifying folks just becomes ridiculous and redundant.
How Black is Barack Obama?
He is as Black as it takes to be Black in America.
P.S.
This is old news, so why am I writing about it today? Because it is reflective of one of the major themes in my novel, Skin Deep, and this blog/fansite is dedicated to all things Skin Deepish! (My novel’s protagonist looks white, but has been raised by her famous Black jazz musician father to identify herself as Black.)
When Bryan Sykes’ book, The Seven Daughters of Eve was first released, the genealogist in me was way stoked. Here was the Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford spelling out in words what many of us humans had already concluded in our hearts was true: All of humanity is, in fact, one family.
Having said that, let me get on to the real point of this post, which is Hollywood’s portrayal of the “great White crusader” as the answer to the many ills that plague the inner-city. To this day, Dangerous Minds stands as one of my LEAST FAVORITE movies of all time. HATED IT. Not because the heroine of the movie was a nice White lady doing her best to inspire her poor urban students to learn, but because her sole comrade was a fellow White teacher–and every Black adult in the movie was portrayed as disinterested, self-serving, ignorant and apathetic.
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