I read the article “Oppression and Entertainment” in the Feb. 16 of the Laney Tower and thought it was very interesting. 
It is always amazing when you can turn something so ugly into something beautiful. Artist Milton Bowen was able to shed light on slavery and the oppression of African Americans through entertainment. 
The mental conditioning in Bowen’s “Making of a Slave” is still relevant today. African Americans have endured hundreds of years of manipulation, torture, slavery, and mistreatment. 
There are things that went on in slavery that have affected the African American community in a negative way. Habits and behaviors have passed down from generation to generation. We tend to harbor these mentalities and behaviors and pass them on to our children. 
You have African Americans today that don’t know that a lot of these mentalities have come from slavery. 
The real question is how do you fix a community that isn’t aware of its brokenness?

Lajenia Jones-Grant
Film