This flap over Ben Affleck’s attempt to suppress the truth about his ancestors seems odd to me. Do you know the story? He was a guest on the popular PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, where celebrities give permission for their family histories to be thoroughly investigated and then react to what they learn about their lineages.
Ben Affleck found out that one of his descendants owned slaves.
He was embarrassed and lobbied the show’s producers not to share this information publicly. The producers complied with his request. (Affleck has since expressed regret, but only after a reporter’s discovery of his efforts threatened to tarnish the reputation he was trying to protect.)
During his interview with Gates, Affleck talked about his mother, who was a civil rights activist in the early 1960’s. He was clearly proud of her willingness to stand up for what was right even though it placed her in danger. I guess he was troubled by the incongruity between his mother’s example and the ugly truth of slavery in his family’s past. He was apparently concerned about his – and his mother’s? – image.
But how much more powerful would that interview have been had Affleck reflected on how his mother, the descendant of a slave-owner, became a champion of civil rights for the descendants of slaves?
In addition to being true, that’s a story of redemption and hope.