The Butler

We went to see The Butler Saturday night and I've been thinking about what I wanted to say about it ever since. First of all, Forrest Whitacker and Oprah Winfrey did an incredible job. You know it's a good acting job when you forget the actor is someone famous like Oprah and you start thinking of them as the role they are playing.

In case you aren't familiar with the story, it follows a young boy from his childhood on a cotton farm where his father is shot in front of him for daring to object to the rape of his mother by the plantation owner. The plantation matriarch takes the young boy into the manor house to teach him how to be a house servant. He goes from there to jobs in hotels and is eventually recruited to work as a butler in the Eisenhower White House.

Forry and I lived our early married life during the period of time the film encompasses. I must admit that in our rural Eastern Washington farm home, we were somewhat isolated from what was going on in our country. While we watched the Freedom Riders, the Vietnam War protests and the riots on TV and agonized over the Kennedy and King assassinations, we really were on the very periphery of what was happening.

The movie follows the butler's career through the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Johnson and Reagan administrations. The very fact that the African-American staff was routinely paid less than the Caucasian staff for the same work underscores the disparity that was pervasive. We had seen 42, the Jackie Robinson story earlier this summer. I've come away from these movies thinking both of them should be shown in American History classes. They've given us a lot to think about.

Toad II got an engine and differential oil change today. AND he got a much needed courtesy bath as well. After our appointment at the Suzuki shop, we stopped at a Safeway and stocked up on groceries. I sure wish some of those nice people that help you take your groceries out to the car would come home with me and help carry them in and put them away!