Wednesday, July 22, 2020

You is good... You is kind... You is important.


I recently watched the movie "The Help." And wow, what a moving film.


The title of this blog post is a quote from the movie, which is based on the book of the same name, published in 2009.

The main maid character, Aibileen Clark, says the above to the children in her charge, currently a little girl about three years old whose mother spends little thought or energy on her. Aibileen has learned over the years that one of the few powers she has is to instill worth into the children she cares for and comes to love. It's heartbreaking at the end when she gets fired and the last thing she does is have this little girl repeat those words back to her, both of them in tears.

One of the minor plot devices of the movie is the notion of separate toilets for "the help." It was feared that Black people had different diseases than white people and that they'd catch stuff via the toilet seat.

But of course, the white folks entrusted the physical care and well-being of their infants and toddlers to the Black maids or the nannies... I really had to shake my head at the logic of that.

Anyway, it's a film worth watching.

Hope you're having a great week!

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