"But There Are No White Heroes..." - Danny Glover's Struggle For a Eye Opening New Movie!

The prediction is that a movie will not do good anywhere in the world, more like Europe, Japan etc, if there is no white hero.  This is the problem that Danny Glover ran into when attempting to get funding for a Haitian story for film which reaches back and tells the story of Toussaint-Louverture, who is a Haitian hero of independence.  Now, Danny has had to work hard for the monies necessary to bring this true story to film, but it was a hard road as he asked and asked for funding but was rejected due to there being no white heroes in the film.

So why is it that any minority or minority group for the most part has to be 'rescued' by someone who is Caucasian on film for the industry to take the movie seriously?  This has been shown in countless movies even when it comes to movies about high schools and teachers when they import a white teacher to "save" the black and hispanic children from themselves.  Is it truly because they movie won't be successful without a white hero?

Doubt it.  There have been many successful movies without a white hero or heroin.  Maybe more than not, the movie industry doesn't believe in the story line itself thus making an attempt to alter the truth for personal gain or personal feelings toward more of the truth when it comes to slavery. 

For the most part, when people, black or white, think of slavery, they only see many black men and women being led without fighting back, when that isn't the case.  There were many rebellions and many slaves who rebelled against the slave owners, who at the time, attempted to control them.  Many died and many slave owners died as well.  Fighting back was a challenge, but there were thousands that made the resources to fight back against the slave owners who tried to take their natural born God given right to family and freedom and won, causing widespead fear and panic amongst them which in the end caused more fighting and death.  The slaves had to arm themselves somehow and some way to be free. 



So, no, most of the slaves go against what movies portray them as being - passive and unintelligent. That would make no logical sense anyway.  Why?  How many people would simply allow, with no fight back ever, someone to take their child or family away, beat them down, etc without figuring out a way to get around the guns and fight back?  There was always a fight, some may have died, but they fought. 

Furthermore, truthfully, most of the slaves as a matter of historical fact, didn't spend all day in the fields as we see on television.  No, instead, they fooled those who thought they were in control of them, told the eldest slaves to relax and they would take up their slack.  Yes, many times they would finish very early and chill unbeknownst to the owners.  They found another way to communicate through song, and even had organized meetings to defeat the system and stay alive at the same time. 

Of course, they knew it was to their advantage to "dumb down" when before a slave owner so they wouldn't detect their true intelligence.  Yes, many of them could read, they just wouldn't let it be known and then some would.  It all depended on that slave and their own situation.  Doing things like this gave them back rule over their families and themselves outwitting their owners, even laughing alot at how dumb their owners were to think that they were so unintelligent.  

For the most part, according to one slave named Fountain Hughes, they were treated worse than dogs.  He would have rathered died if he had to be a slave again.  Read his account now from xroads.virginia.edu with one click here.  There were far and few that were treated like real human beings. 

Haiti was a place where slavery wasn't going to last long.  As a different look on life as an African descendant and slave, Toussaint-Louverture, according to history's recollection, was a brilliant military man, politician and leader that needed no other race to free him.  He freed himself and may others in a bloody battle for their lives, and then started a reform.  He wasn't a racist - he just wanted to be free, and he even institued a constitution for equality while working with different races.  This is a totally different look at a black man under the grips of slavery, a look into their lives as rarely seen by many, in this film that Danny Glover is trying to make reality.

The film is to shoot in Venezuela now that it has funding, and Don Cheadle, Mos Def, and Angela Bassett are few of the stars that are cast.

There is an old spiritual that goes like this: Before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave, and go home to my Lord and be free.  The lives of black men and women under slavery were very complex and unless the stories are passed down, they are mostly forgotten.  Digging deep enough, there is always someone old somewhere who remembers what wasn't written down in a history book. 

For more information on slaves of the USA or to even hear some talk in a recorded interview, see below:

Read Slaves' Accounts Right Now

Audio - click here


What they have to say is heartbreaking and even amazing the strength of the black men and women of that day.  How strong!  All are different but the struggle is evident in the things they say.  This film of Toussaint-Louverture being brought to us by Danny Glover is just one of the many varying stories of a former slave who isn't at all as passive and unintelligent as most see on film today. Can't wait!