Tree in a Frame

One of the revelations that followed the Sony email hacking was that actor Ben Affleck lobbied to delete a slave-owning ancestor from his PBS Finding Your Roots episode, “Roots of Freedom.” I think it would have been a more interesting show if they’d ignored his request. The other progenitors mentioned were a mom who marched for civil rights in the 60’s and a great-great grandfather who claimed to speak with the dearly departed. (Nice man! He “comforted the bereaved!”) To his credit, after his actions were exposed Affleck offered an apology. “I was embarrassed,” he wrote. “The thought left a bad taste in my mouth. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors. We are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery.” I suspect in the journey to discover our own stories, we must be prepared to find chapters we’re not proud of. That doesn’t make the search any less worthwhile.