A new version of Roots premieres on American television today (CORRECTION: starts tomorrow, Monday May 30. Guess I am a bit too excited!). A natural question to ask right now is, quite simply, why a remake of a classic of American television? Remakes are, after all, always tricky products of a culture that is often accused of merely recreating what has come before, and shirking the responsibility of creating something new. But it is worth thinking about 2016’s Roots as an outgrowth of the “Age of Obama,” as well as in comparison to the cultural, political, and intellectual moment of Read more