Don't Want to Go Back 200 Years

Ancestry.com’s television commercials attract viewers who may be interested in locating their ancestors. Their recent commercial features African-American twins, and this has allowed the company to get their message across to Black viewers that they too have an opportunity to use the services. The twins are vibrant, convincing, and appealing as they talk about their experiences using the service …until one statement is made. The young man says that he would like to go back 200 years to meet his ancestors. A desire to want to meet ancestors is not an unusual wish. However, such a statement would have meant nothing and go unnoticed if these twins were not Black. Apparently, the producers let such a statement pass since they are ignorant that 200 years ago was 1815 during the height of slavery when slave families were being sold causing a separation of families rather than uniting loved ones. The twin, in making such an absurd statement, also seems ignorant that no Black person, who is aware of his/her history, would consider any desire to want to go back in history during a time when his/her ancestors suffered from mental and physical abuses daily. No one wants to go back to a time when they, too, would be considered slaves or free people with no rights.