If she were a slave, she would’ve worked in the fields.
I just saw something CRAZY on Twitter dot com.
As many of you know, the film ‘Queen & Slim’ written by Lena Waithe, was released nationwide over the weekend. The movie is all the buzz on Twitter…and its not because it slaps.
Here’s the TLDR of the movie (which I haven’t seen): A black couple (Queen and Slim) kill a white cop. They go on the run to evade law enforcement. A little black boy dies, and then they die trying to escape to Cuba, a known haven for radical Black Americans.
I intended to see the movie, which was branded as a FUBU of sorts. Indya Moore (of Pose) is in it! And Lena wrote it. I was on board!
But then, I read the reported casting call for Queen’s character. And….I was…appalled.
“Queen is a fiercely intelligent defense attorney…She’s brown-skinned, if she were a slave she would’ve worked in the fields, she has a tough exterior for a reason.”
When I think about this, I think about how a human being wrote these words onto a GoogleDoc and PUBLISHED it for the masses to come and AUDITION for a job where they get PAID to ACT.
Before we go any further, let me explain this: on big plantations, slaves were divided into at least two camps: field slaves and house slaves. Field slaves tended to be darker-skinned and labored in the field. House slaves tended to be lighter-skinned* and work closest to the slave masters and their families. This oration by Malcolm X is a great explainer. Here’s a lil taste:
And during slavery you had two Negroes. You had the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negro usually lived close to his master. He dressed like his master. He wore his master's second-hand clothes. He ate food that his master left on the table. And he lived in his master's house--probably in the basement or the attic--but he still lived in the master's house….But then you had another Negro out in the field…The masses--the field Negroes were the masses…When the master got sick, they prayed that he'd die…. If his house caught on fire, they'd pray for a wind to come along and fan the breeze.
Rape and American slavery is something history books don’t often mention. Why? Idk. When I first read Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, I realized how vulnerable house slaves were rape. Like many enslaved women in her day, Jacobs was in close proximity to white men who had free reign to sexually harass and rape. House slaves, by nature of their daily assignments, were extremely vulnerable to atrocities such as this.
That is why I have always been baffled by this dichotomy. Having a “tough exterior” should not synonymous with being a field slave. By the nature of the world we live in, Black women often have tough exteriors so they can survive—no matter their location.
Also, I find it very frustrating that we limit the ways in which we can imagine Black women. Queen has a rough exterior. So she has to be a field slave? Like?????? Why can’t she be like Han Solo? Or a Katniss Everdeen? Also, why is “field slave” something one would write to entice Black women to audition for a role?!
Also, this is mostly unrelated…but I read this super interesting critique of the film by Clarkisha Kent. Yall should read it too! I haven’t seen this perspective in what I’ve been reading. Here’s a lil sample:
Queen and Slim wants Black people to be immortal. To be comforted by the legacy we leave behind in our forced absences. But what if Black people just want to live? What if Black people just want to be?
Until next time girlies,
ERIN
PS: I saw this VERY funny TikTok. I desperately wanted to share it when I was tweeting like a crazy person (and losing followers) on Sunday. But, I didn’t share it on Twitter because I like to keep my feed family-friendly JIC Beyoncé sees a funny tweet and wants to share it with Blue. The likelihood Beyoncé makes it through this entire post is slight. So, here it is.
*Why were the house slaves light-skinned? Presumably, because their mothers were raped by white men in close proximity.