Why do we grieve for Celie the fictional character, but not the non-fiction Celie?
The Color Purple is one of my favorite movies. Since I was a child, I remember hearing about the film, and often caught snippets of it when it came on TV. I like most others who have watched it often cried and smiled during this film. I cried when Celie had to give up her child forcefully soon after its birth. I also cried when Celie and Nettie were forced to separate. I was angry at Mister for treating Celie like she was dirt. I was angry at the way how Miss Sophia was slapped by the white man, who was defending his annoying white wife who saw black children as pets. I smiled when Celie finally stood up to Mister and struck out on her own. I smiled and cried when Celie was reunited with her sister and children.
There’s one thing that sticks out to me more every time that I watch this film, that never really stood out to me before. What now sticks out to me is the molestation and violence that Celie had to endure, at the hands of black men. This sticks out to me because as I have grown, read more and engaged in discourse concerning what Celie went through this violence is very real.
I was often shielded from molestation, assault and violence occurring in the black community in hushes. The black community oftentimes hushed these topics, only talked about racism making it seem as if that was the only thing that black people faced. For many of us we tend to hear about the abuses of black women through slavery, by the white slave master. It was when I got older and went around other voices that I learned about the abuse at the hands of black men. I too used to want to believe the black man was innocent, and someone was trying to bring him down to be fed to the white supremacist system. I now am sorry for this type of mindset. I am sorry for in the past not believing the non-fiction Celie’s.
Recently I have been reading more about these abuses and through social media I have been raising awareness of these injustices. Look at R Kelly’s victims and how they were portrayed. The sick thing about that situation, is that people knew plus there were so many accusations that to me should have raised alarm bells. I often find that in real life, the victims are blamed for what happened to them. The accusations are deflected and the victims are…