Word: haleys
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...Haley quickly grants that television can be "a positive social influence" ?how could he not??but then goes on to castigate the tube for widening the generation gap. "TV has contributed to killing off the old form of entertainment where the family sat around listening to older people. TV has alienated youth from its elders, and this has cost us culturally and socially...
Magic Bond. Haley even goes so far as to advocate an antidote to this trend toward rootlessness. Young people can "revolutionize" their own role within their families, he says, and he offers them a three-point prescription. "I tell young people to go to the oldest members of their family and get as much oral history as possible. Many grandparents carry three or four generations of history in their heads but don't talk about it because they have been ignored. And when the young person starts doing this, the old are warmed to the cockles of their souls...
...Then, Haley says, the history of the family should be written and a copy sent to every member. Haley encourages youths to rummage through attics, basements and closets for illuminating family letters and other memorabilia. "It's a simple thing," says Haley. "But the existence of a written history gives the family something it never had before. There is an almost miraculous effect once it exists." Finally, Haley urges, "have family reunions. There is something magic about the common sense of a blood bond. It's not less magic for black, white, brown or polka dot. The reunion gives...
Writing Cook. Because Roots is a black family reunion of sorts, Haley sees some distinct differences in why whites and blacks are so attracted by it. Discounting speculation that his work would unleash black rage, Haley says, "I've not heard one murmur of radicalization from blacks. I have heard ebullience and happiness that the story has been told. The blacks who are buying books are not buying them to go out and fight someone, but because they want to know who they are. Roots is all of our stories. It's the same for me or any black...
...origin of Roots is the very kind of storytelling Haley lauds. While a boy hi Henning, Tenn., he first learned of the "furthest-back person" his grandmother talked about?Kunta Kinte. Says Haley: "Grandmother would bubble with pride about 'Chicken George' [Haley's great-great-grandfather], but when telling about Kunta Kinte, her voice would fill with awe, like she was talking about a Bible story." Haley's college-educated parents were teachers, his mother in the local elementary school and his father at black colleges in the South. Haley took books out of libraries "like lollipops" but found...