#hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick

[mitchellkriegman]

Requiem for a Rabbit Despite what you’ve heard - it’s tragic. With the end of Splash Mountain at Disney World, the last popular iteration of Bre’r Rabbit has been been vanquished to the cultural dumpster. The original versions of the Bre’r Rabbit tales came to America from Africa. Bre’r Rabbit was the first truly collective creation of Africans in American. These classic stories are as compelling as “Winnie the Pooh” or Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” or “Aesop’s Fables” with a really important distinction - the Bre’r Rabbit stories are American. Africans have always used stories to inspire young people, to entertain and teach social and moral values. As families were tragically split apart, the tales provided a comforting world of characters as well as an entire African Cosmology that children encountered wherever they ended up, regardless of their dire circumstance providing the spirit of their elders, their culture. Besides being smart-ass clever and funny, Bre’r Rabbit is like Charlie Chaplin and other classic scamps and tricksters. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? Is there any better story than the one about Bre’r Rabbit and the Briar Patch? It’s about turning the table on your oppressors to get the advantage and gain freedom. I know what you’re thinking... what about Uncle Remus — isn’t he synonymous with “Uncle Tom?” s never part of the Bre’r Rabbit stories. In 1880 a white journalist, Joel Chandler Harris created the fictitious slave character of Uncle Remus, to put the stories in a colonial frame. Despite being painted with a racist brush, the stories triumph offering models for succeeding over adversity and oppression. Br’er Rabbit still has true smarts. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, he could “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” he could “make a way out of no way.” Why can’t our culture treat this subversively original, vibrant, snappy-ass character with respect? Drawing by the great @mulliganjimmy #splashmountain #brerrabbit #zoranealehurston #hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick #disneyworld #briarpatch #africancosmology https://www.instagram.com/p/Comyd0buBIx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mitchellkriegman]

Requiem for a Rabbit Despite what you’ve heard - it’s tragic. With the end of Splash Mountain at Disney World, the last popular iteration of Bre’r Rabbit has been been vanquished to the cultural dumpster. The original versions of the Bre’r Rabbit tales came to America from Africa. Bre’r Rabbit was the first truly collective creation of Africans in American. These classic stories are as compelling as “Winnie the Pooh” or Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” or “Aesop’s Fables” with a really important distinction - the Bre’r Rabbit stories are American. Africans have always used stories to inspire young people, to entertain and teach social and moral values. As families were tragically split apart, the tales provided a comforting world of characters as well as an entire African Cosmology that children encountered wherever they ended up, regardless of their dire circumstance providing the spirit of their elders, their culture. Besides being smart-ass clever and funny, Bre’r Rabbit is like Charlie Chaplin and other classic scamps and tricksters. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? Is there any better story than the one about Bre’r Rabbit and the Briar Patch? It’s about turning the table on your oppressors to get the advantage and gain freedom. I know what you’re thinking... what about Uncle Remus — isn’t he synonymous with “Uncle Tom?” s never part of the Bre’r Rabbit stories. In 1880 a white journalist, Joel Chandler Harris created the fictitious slave character of Uncle Remus, to put the stories in a colonial frame. Despite being painted with a racist brush, the stories triumph offering models for succeeding over adversity and oppression. Br’er Rabbit still has true smarts. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, he could “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” he could “make a way out of no way.” Why can’t our culture treat this subversively original, vibrant, snappy-ass character with respect? Drawing by the great @mulliganjimmy #splashmountain #brerrabbit #zoranealehurston #hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick #disneyworld #briarpatch #africancosmology https://www.instagram.com/p/ComYOlFOqb6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mitchellkriegman]

Requiem for a Rabbit Despite what you’ve heard - it’s tragic. With the end of Splash Mountain at Disney World, the last popular iteration of Bre’r Rabbit has been been vanquished to the cultural dumpster. The original versions of the Bre’r Rabbit tales came to America from Africa. Bre’r Rabbit was the first truly collective creation of Africans in American. These classic stories are as compelling as “Winnie the Pooh” or Kipling’s “Jungle Book,” or “Aesop’s Fables” with a really important distinction - the Bre’r Rabbit stories are American. Africans have always used stories to inspire young people, to entertain and teach social and moral values. As families were tragically split apart, the tales provided a comforting world of characters as well as an entire African Cosmology that children encountered wherever they ended up, regardless of their dire circumstance providing the spirit of their elders, their culture. Besides being smart-ass clever and funny, Bre’r Rabbit is like Charlie Chaplin and other classic scamps and tricksters. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? Is there any better story than the one about Bre’r Rabbit and the Briar Patch? It’s about turning the table on your oppressors to get the advantage and gain freedom. I know what you’re thinking... what about Uncle Remus — isn’t he synonymous with “Uncle Tom?” s never part of the Bre’r Rabbit stories. In 1880 a white journalist, Joel Chandler Harris created the fictitious slave character of Uncle Remus, to put the stories in a colonial frame. Despite being painted with a racist brush, the stories triumph offering models for succeeding over adversity and oppression. Br’er Rabbit still has true smarts. In the words of Zora Neale Hurston, he could “hit a straight lick with a crooked stick,” he could “make a way out of no way.” Why can’t our culture treat this subversively original, vibrant, snappy-ass character with respect? Drawing by the great @mulliganjimmy #splashmountain #brerrabbit #zoranealehurston #hitastraightlickwithacrookedstick #disneyworld #briarpatch #africancosmology https://www.instagram.com/p/ComWMzJOCL0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=