We do not fear censorship, for we have no wish to offend with improprieties or obscenities, but we do demand, as a right, the liberty to show the dark side of wrong, that we may illuminate the bright side of virtue–the same liberty that is conceded to the art of the written word–the art to which we owe the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
Introduction, Birth of a Nation (1915)
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The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation… until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country.
Special attention is paid to Reconstruction, the emphasis placed on a perception Northern abolitionists were determined to replace native Southern leaders with black men who were beholden to the North for having ended slavery as explained in this title card from the movie.
The policy of the congressional leaders wrought… a veritable overthrow of civilization in the South… in their determination to ‘put the white South under the heel of the black South.’
One might call it the origins of the replacement conspiracy movement.
To further convince the audience this is a rigged scam, one scene depicts black voters stuffing ballot boxes to ensure the election of the protégé of a Northern carpetbagger, a mulatto named Silas (are you ready?) LYNCH.
Despite it’s controversial content and efforts by the NAACP to ban future showings, the Library of Congress, in 1992, declared the film to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” and announced it would be preserved as part of the National Film Registry. In addition to the content, there were other factors leading up to the designation.
- Birth of a Nation was the first 12-reel film, with a running time of over three hours.
- It was the first movie to be shown in two parts separated by an intermission.
- It was the first film accompanied by an orchestrated musical score.
- It introduced cinematic techniques such as close-ups and fade outs.
As one might expect, the designation was greeted with protests by the NAACP and others. In response, the Registry Board affirmed its decision in a January 4, 1993 article in the Los Angeles Times.
As we see it, the selection and preservation of “The Birth of a Nation” is no insult to anyone. Nor is it an accolade to racism. As (board member and African American director John) Singleton noted, the film is a vivid reminder of the dark side of American history.
[NOTE: A month earlier, Singleton told the Hollywood Reporter he had personally nominated the film for the Registry, despite its racist themes, to serve as a “history lesson.”]
It is therefore, with great trepidation, I announce that I have begun drafting a screenplay for a sequel, Birth of a Nation II. Unlike the original in which Part I ends with the assassination of President Lincoln, the first half of my version concludes with the pending end of the Obama administration and the beginning of the 2016 campaign. The second half continues with the emergence of a new force led by Donald Trump which, this time, portrays Hispanics as the ne’er do wells who threaten true Americans’ hope to return to an imagined golden era. Now it is not black men who are coming for your women, murdering your children and flooding the streets with drugs. The others are now brown-skinned. Instead of title cards, we hear the protagonist articulate this threat.
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
These words become the clarion call which re-energizes the white supremacist movement. And like their 19th century ancestors, these faux patriots adopt the replacement directive. At first the attacks are verbal, marching to the chants of “They will not replace us!” But that is not satisfying enough. Enabled and emboldened by their leaders, sympathetic media outlets and social media, the chants morph into lethal violence. First, a single death at a Unite the Right rally in a college community. Two years later, inspired by the rhetoric warning of invasions and replacement, a gunman targets Hispanics in a city along the Southern boarder.
To further demonstrate the lengths to which his enemies will go to stop Trump’s vision of what will make America great again, he echoes the 1915 rendition of illegal voting. The scene takes place at a 2019 conference of young Caucasians.
Illegals get out and vote. Those numbers in California and numerous other states, they’re rigged. They’ve got people voting that shouldn’t be voting. They vote many times, not just twice, not just three times. It’s like a circle. They come back, they put a new hat on. They come back, they put a new shirt on. And in many cases, they don’t even do that. You know what’s going on. It’s a rigged deal.
The ending of this cinematic portrait of our times is yet to be penned. Will it result in a parade of white supremacists and neo-Nazis being cheered as frightened Hispanics retreat to their homes, reminiscent of the final scenes in the 1915 narrative? Or will this period of division reach a tipping point when the vast majority of Americans declare enough is enough? This is not who we are. In the latter case, the closing credits are flanked by two flags. To the left, the stars and stripes. To the right, one with the words, “E pluribus unum!”
Regardless of the final scenes, there will be one major difference between the original and a sequel? Woodrow Wilson only screened the 1915 movie in the White House. The current occupant is the producer, director, writer and star of the contemporary version.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP
If wasn’t the two interns in the Secretariat horse costume. Or his animatronic sidekick Geoff Peterson, operated and voiced by celebrity impersonator Josh Robert Thompson. It was the fact Ferguson did not tell jokes, he told stories. Whether during the opening monologue or sitting in the host’s chair with his feet up on his desk, this Scottish born naturalized U.S. citizen had your attention as he methodically wended his way from set-up to punchline.