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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAs a pre-teen, my favorite book was Gone with the Wind<\/em>. I would devour it cover to cover far into the night, a flashlight illuminating the pages. As soon as I finished the book, I\u2019d start over, hoping to beat my previous time. I saw the film many times, too, the screen\u2019s imagery and Margaret Mitchell\u2019s words melting together into memory. Still, it\u2019s the thrill of my late-night, under-the-covers immersion at Tara with Scarlett O\u2019Hara that stays with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think it was Scarlett\u2019s 17-inch-waist that first reeled me in. And, of course, the tempestuous romance between her and Rhett Butler. These sad, misguided fixations alone make me cringe. The backdrop of the Civil War and slavery barely registered. Referring to it now as a backdrop makes me cringe anew, proof positive of how easy it is for me still to retreat from reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an early age, I knew the broad outlines of the Civil War\u2014Confederacy bad, Union good. Slavery was a horror, and Abraham Lincoln was right up there with FDR and JFK in the presidential pantheon. After all, my parents were active in the Civil Rights movement. Perhaps that\u2019s why I read furtively by flashlight. But I didn\u2019t sneak out of the house to see the movie version of Gone with the Wind<\/em>. I\u2019m sure we watched it together, and I don\u2019t remember any in-depth discussions. My parents pointed out that Mammy, Prissy, and Sam were stereotypes undergirding the fantasy of loyal black people happily serving benevolent masters. But mostly we focused on those incredible hoop skirts and what Scarlett saw in that drip Ashley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My first misgivings about GWTW<\/em> came not from a deeper understanding of structural racism but from feminist critiques. That scene where a half-drunk Rhett shows Scarlett how he could crush her skull between his hands, then carries her upstairs to the bedroom, where she wakes up all smiles the next morning? Not long after my dawning horror that the scene depicted rape, I had another rude awakening: Rhett was a charter member of the KKK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I relegated Gone with the Wind<\/em> to all the other things I\u2019d once enjoyed and could no longer stomach: Coming-of-age stories that romanticized child sexual abuse; Last Tango in Paris<\/em>; Bill Cosby. I moved on without giving GWTW<\/em> much thought beyond feeling ashamed by my clueless self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve evolved some from my oblivion over the decades, though I have barely scratched the surface. I still read in bed after midnight. Now the illumination is provided by my iPhone rather than a flashlight\u2014and also by the words of Nikole Hannah-Jones, in her brilliant New York Times Magazine<\/em> essay, \u201cWhat is Owed?\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf true justice and equality are ever to be achieved in the United States, the country must finally take seriously what it owes black Americans.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I will strive to repay my debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Worth reading:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n John Ridley, <\/strong>\u201cHey, HBO, \u2018Gone With the Wind\u2019 romanticizes the horrors of slavery. Take it off your platform for now\u201d<\/a> <\/strong>(Los Angeles Times<\/em>, June 8, 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacqueline Stewart, \u201cWhy we can\u2019t turn away from \u2018Gone with the Wind\u2019\u201d<\/a> <\/strong>(CNN, June 12, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sam Adams, <\/strong>\u201cGone With the Wind Is Back on HBO Max With This New Introduction<\/a>\u201d (Slate.com, <\/em>June 26, 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nikita Stewart, “Black Activists Wonder: Is Protest Just Trendy for White People?”<\/a> (New York<\/em> Times<\/em>, June 26, 2020). <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a pre-teen, my favorite book was Gone with the Wind. I would devour it cover to cover far into the night, a flashlight illuminating the pages. As soon as I finished the book, I\u2019d start over, hoping to beat … Continue reading <\/h1>\n\n\n\n