Kindred by, Octavia Butler

History is the root to how we live and history is often forgotten. History can bring back good memories, sad memories and sometimes painful memories. Many people today disregard history as being “the thing of the past” but what many don’t know is that history is what got you where you are today.

The most recent book I’ve read on my own was a wonderful fantasy fiction titled Kindred by Octavia Butler. The book starts out with a woman describing the feelings of her freshly dismembered forearm. The events leading up to the arm is a result of various times the main character Dana, an African American woman, is sent back in time to the antebellum south of Maryland. Her purpose of going back in time is to rescue the life of a white boy named Rufus who seems to repeatedly put his life in danger throughout the story. After Dana saves the boy, who she later finds out is her great (plus some more greats that I do not know) grandfather whose life in danger could end hers, she returns only when she feels her own life is in danger.

Not only is the story a very interesting read, it’s an excellent look back into the past of slavery that many have forgotten to this day. Butler uses good sense on imagery when describing the horrors of slavery and expresses some of the hidden truths that some history teachers don’t teach. She has you either teary eyed or surprised when she describes the feelings of the whip being cracked against Dana’s back. The story has you feeling sympathy for the people who suffered from taken and sold family members, to hanged or tortured to death loved ones, to the sheer example of what I call brainwashed African American’s aka Uncle Toms. It greatly expresses the fear that was put into many African Americans during the time that could greatly damage the mind. The discovery or the reminders of the horrid truth keeps people in touch with their past and how it established where and how they are today.

The book Kindred is also a reminder of why many African Americans think some of the ways they think to this day. A lot of the acts of dehumanization, assimilation, and verbal and physical abuse often fused many minds of African Americans at the time. Many of the thoughts of inferiority in many African American’s minds today could trace back as far as slavery in America. The verbal abuse such as derogatory terms like “nigger”, “coon” and many other terms and sayings created a low feeling in African American’s minds and many might have the desire to become more like “the white man” or even have feelings of utter hatred towards white people. It traces back today with the diverged term “nigga” many African American’s use, same for the desire for lighter skin, lighter eyes and straighter hair or what many African American’s call “good hair” and the hatred for their opposites. Or even bitter hatred towards white people today.

The book, if looked into deeper, could also explain some of the many reasons why African American’s find themselves living in situations of poverty and crime. When the civil war was over and many African American’s where freed, in many places such as the South things called Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, Grandfather Laws and Literacy Tests and even the creation of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were established to keep African Americans “in there place.”

Although slavery had ended segregation, racism towards African Americans was strongly existent in the South and the North. Many African Americans found it extremely hard to get a job and a good sense of living. These issues could have led to many crimes committed in the black communities over time, theft and violence from anger and resentment. Over time, the black communities have failed and racism in America that still exists towards blacks (and other races but this article is about blacks) are secretively made to “keep blacks in their place.” Although things are getting better (very slowly), Kindred perfectly explains why some things are the way they are for blacks today.

Kindred is an excellent book in explaining many of the issues African American’s had and still have till this day and it’s also good to remind black youth of where their problems came from and many ways to make things better. So go to the book store, library, etc. and pick up the book today. I’m sure anyone who loves history and learning new things would love the book also.