On August 1st, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said HBO’s planned series Confederate appears likely to further muddle history in a nation that still does not have a firm grasp of it.
“More than a century and a half after the end of the Civil War, we are still battling misconceptions about its causes and its context,” Morial said. “The battle over removing Confederate monuments shows that we still have a lot of educating to do about the dehumanizing horrors of slavery and the war that was fought to preserve it.”
Morial’ a former mayor of New Orleans, supported current Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s successful effort to remove Confederate monuments in the city.
“HBO and the creators of Confederate, David Benioff and D.B. Weis, don’t exactly have a great track record of racial sensitivity,” Moral said, noting that Benioff and Weiss’s show Game of Thrones has come under withering criticism for its lack of major Black characters and its depiction of a white savior liberating Black slaves who then devote themselves to her service. “HBO’s response – or rather, lack thereof – to Bill Maher’s recent use of an abhorrent racial slur is indicative of the network’s tone-deafness on issues of race.
“Our collective creative efforts would better be spent on constructing a clear and accurate view of American history and exploring the complex issues of racial justice within the world as it truly exits,” Morial said.
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