'Antebellum' filmmaker rebuffs calls to end Hollywood movies about slavery

Source: John Sciulli / Getty

Over the past few years Black folks have not-so-quietly lamented the release of slave films that show our people being beaten, abused, and in bondage. However, Gerard Bush, the writer, producer, and director of Janelle Monae’s new flick Antebellum, is pushing back pretty forcefully against the idea of doing away with the stories of our past. Gerard wrote the film with his boyfriend Christopher Renz and the interracial couple sees value in making sure these films continue to see the light of day and have support from the community.

Here’s what Bush told the New York Times:

“For me, it’s really uncomfortable seeing people that look like me in bondage,” he told The New York Times. “But what I’ve come to understand is that it is a detriment to us when we are participants in the erasure of the truth because of our discomfort with confronting it.”

“I look at our wonderful Jewish community and how they are vigilant in the protection of the truth and making sure that the horrors of the Holocaust are examined and re-examined,” the 47-year-old Texas native added. “We do ourselves a gross disservice in our unwillingness to explore these stories. The past is going to continue to haunt our present and rob us of our collective future if we don’t confront it.”

The conversation about “slave movies” is not a new one by any stretch but what do you think about Bush’s position? Do you see value in making sure Amerikkka never gets to live down its crimes against humanity?