“Roots” hit the scene back in 1977 and changed the game forever. But not in a good way. That TV miniseries? It’s a straight-up myth, a fake story that a whole lot of people — especially black folks — bought into hook, line, and sinker. It told us this was our true history: the journey of Alex Haley’s ancestors from Africa through slavery in America. I watched every episode, just like millions of you did, and I felt the anger, the pain, and the racial tension it stirred up. But here’s the truth they don’t tell you: “Roots” is a lie. It’s a story built on deception, and it’s been messing with our minds ever since.
Let’s Talk About the Lies and the Plagiarism
In 1977, Harold Courlander sued Haley, claiming he stole from his book The African. Guess what? The court agreed — Haley was guilty of plagiarism and ordered to pay half a million dollars. His book The African was similar enough to Haley’s work that you’d think they were twins — 81 passages, same ideas. And Haley? He admitted parts of “Roots” were fictional, saying it wasn’t meant to be “history,” just a “symbolic” story. Basically, he was saying, “This ain’t real — it’s fiction with a little truth sprinkled in.”
But the real scandal? Journalist Philip Nobile dug deeper. Turns out, Haley’s entire story about his family — about Kunte Kinte — was a total fabrication. None of it was real. Haley’s early writings never even mentioned Kinte. “Roots” was a complete hoax, a story made up to sell a myth.
The Historical Lies Are Worse Than You Think
Don’t get it twisted — just because Haley said some parts were fictional doesn’t mean the inaccuracies are excusable. They’re downright criminal. The scenes meant to make us mad — like Kinte getting snatched by white slavers — are pure fiction. Europeans didn’t go into Africa to kidnap people in the 1700s like that. Nope. They relied on local African traders, war, and kidnapping to get slaves. The idea of white slavers storming inland is fake news.
And that village Haley calls Kinte’s homeland, Juffure? It was a busy port involved in the slave trade — not some innocent, quiet village. The truth is that Europeans didn’t venture deep into Africa to grab slaves. They waited on the coast while African tribes did the dirty work, selling their own people to Europeans.
The Mandingo Myth: The Biggest Lie of All
And here’s the kicker, the biggest lie of all: “Roots” paints the Mandingo tribe as innocent victims. Nah. They were notorious slave traders long before Europeans even got involved. They captured, bought, and sold slaves, playing just as big a role in the trade as anyone else. Haley’s story tries to make it look like they were victims. Wrong again. They were perpetrators, plain and simple.
And the whole idea that Europeans introduced slavery to Africa is another myth. Slavery was already happening in Africa long before Europeans showed up. Many tribes, including the Mandingos, were active in the trade — selling their own people for profit. Haley’s version is a distortion meant to hide the truth: Africa was part of the slave trade long before Europeans got involved.
Time to to tell the truth. “Roots” is a fairy tale — a sanitized, plagiarized, twisted version of history designed to manipulate us, divide us, and keep us blinded. We have to face the real story — brutal, complex, and sometimes uncomfortable — but it’s ours. And we deserve the truth, not the fairy tale Haley sold us.
