Timing is everything, is there is nothing coincidental about Amazon revealing news about their developing series, “Black America.” With HBO still battling the backlash over “Confederate,” which will take viewers through an alternate history, in which the southern states have successfully seceded from the Union, giving rise to a nation in which slavery remains legal and has evolved into a modern institution. It’s not a surprise that creators, “Game Of Thrones” duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with Nichelle Tramble Spellman (“Justified,” “The Good Wife”) and Malcolm Spellman (“Empire”) have come under some considerable heat for the button-pushing project. Now, Amazon is proposing their own reinvention of the past, but with a different twist.
In the works for over a year (again, the timing on this is too rich), “Black America” comes from Will Packer (“Ride Along,” “Think Like A Man,” “Straight Outta Compton“) and Aaron McGruder (“The Boondocks“) and it imagines a whole different post-Civil War future for African Americans. Here’s how Deadline breaks it down:
READ MORE: HBO Defends ‘Confederate’ Amid Viral Backlash
It envisions an alternate history where newly freed African Americans have secured the Southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama post-Reconstruction as reparations for slavery, and with that land, the freedom to shape their own destiny. The sovereign nation they formed, New Colonia, has had a tumultuous and sometimes violent relationship with its looming “Big Neighbor,” both ally and foe, the United States. The past 150 years have been witness to military incursions, assassinations, regime change, coups, etc. Today, after two decades of peace with the U.S. and unprecedented growth, an ascendant New Colonia joins the ranks of major industrialized nations on the world stage as America slides into rapid decline. Inexorably tied together, the fate of two nations, indivisible, hangs in the balance.
It’s easy to see why this concept is already being seen in a much more favorable light, as it doesn’t just imagine a terrible part of America’s past simply continuing, but truly twists history and presents a compelling alternative outcome.
“It was something that was personally intriguing for me as a black American,” Packer explained. “You would be hard pressed to find many black Americas who have not thought about the concept of reparation, what would happen if reparations were actually given. As a content creator, the fact that that is something that has been discussed thoroughly throughout various demographics of people in this country but yet never been explored to my knowledge in any real way in long-form content, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity to delve into the story, to do it right.”
To summarize, Shanelle Little probably says it best:
https://twitter.com/ShanelleLittle/status/892438730522238976
Thoughts? Let us know in the comments section.
