As I watched Katrina Browne's Traces of the Trade, I was struck most by the reactions of the townsfolk of Bristol, Rhode Island. There seemed to be an underlying feeling amongst some of them that they needed to hide their town's past, as they felt revealing it to be the slave trade capital of the United States would shatter its glorious history and reputation. I understand that many people would view being somehow linked to the slave trade, whether it be by bloodline or where you live, as shameful, but how can these current residents of Bristol and descendants of DeWolf be held accountable? However pessimistic it may sound, I was not truly convinced by some of the group members that their intentions of the journey were genuine. I felt as though some were participating merely for good public relations, in order to appear remorseful. Do not take this as ignorance, for I am by no means saying that they did not feel bad for those men and women who were enslaved by their ancestors, just that I am not so sure about how they truly feel. All but one of the group members attended an Ivy League University, yet they almost all refuse to acknowledge that their family's legacy had anything to do with their acceptance to such prestigious schools. These people have been given great advantages in life because of their past, and the fact that they deny it upsets me. Had they spoken up about this, I would have felt differently about them and most likely had more faith in their actions. My biggest gripe with Browne's film is what I saw as being a lack of the emotion of regret amongst some of the townsfolk and descendants, thus leaving me not entirely sure on what they would actually be willing to do to set things right.
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That is interesting that you bring up the townsfolk, i really didn't pay attention to their interest, but you are 100% right, you would think that even though they knew this past and they tried everything to cover it up, getting this into the open would help set things right. Its all about the name, Salem has a name of witch trials, that town doesn't want a name of Slave traders....
ReplyDeleteJeff you bring up many interesting points on the documentary Traces of the Trade. Overall, I believe that the DeWolf family was in search an experience that can never be reproduce. Jeff you had touched on the fact that some of the members of the DeWolf family did not seem “remorseful.” That might be true in many ways, but I believe that many of the family members were clueless on what the main purpose of the entire trip was. They wanted to say there were sorry, and attempted to make things “right”; which eventually lead to confusion, and had the DeWolf family in a search of answers. Throughout in class we spoke about people in our current generation trying to relive history. No matter how hard we try we have to face that fact that historical experience such as the Holocaust nor the slave trade cannot be experienced. A perfect example would be the DeWolf’s experience of what they called a “slave’s meal.” In actuality, it was a tourist attraction, and what was considered a “slave meal” was a joke. Overall, I agree with Jeff point of view on the fact that the trip was not based on ignorance, but the DeWolf family seemed rather confused on how to make things right.
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