With much of Black America split over Snoop Dogg's call for a boycott of producer Will Packer's "Roots" remake, one television correspondent took him to task over his position, igniting a passionate discourse over the representation of African American history in film. TV One's Roland Martin unleashed a hail of tweets on Tuesday (May 31) that started by him suggesting Snoop's stance to be hypocritical and problematic, and ended with him challenging the rapper to take action in making what he wants to see out of Hollywood, happen. He followed up his social media rant with a segment on his News One Now broadcast.

"Why don't you stop smoking weed, and actually bother to call Will Packer, or Ava Duvernay, or call Spike Lee, or the countless African Americans out there who are trying to make those films and looking for folks like you who are looking to put their money where their mouth is," said Martin.

The controversy all started hours before the premiere of the four part mini-series, when Snoop took to Instagram to express frustration with what he deems is a redundant theme [slavery] in Black movies. Naming "12 Years A Slave", "Roots" and "Underground," the rapper spoke of feeling like the industry has over saturated the Black movie niche with a narrative of victimization. He then encouraged others to join him in refusing to tune in, and made a call for films that portray the success that has come out of Black society.

In Martin's rebuke he cites the dozens of television and movie roles Snoop has been credited, pointing out films such as "Soul Plane", and his time dabbling in porn production to put what he has endeavored to produce when he had the opportunity, into question. Martin also introduced the larger issue of Black society's embracing of their historical narrative, listing at least 13 films on the Holocaust before asking viewers to consider whether the Jewish people among other oppressed groups, reject the telling of their struggle.

"On IG, SnoopDogg says he's a "real n****," but in @RootsSeries, when KuntaKinte was called a n*****, he said, 'I'm a mandinka warrior,'" Martin stated at one point. "Maybe if SnoopDogg bothered to watch @RootsSeries, he would see the Mandinka warrior and not see himself as slave masters did: A n*****."

Snoop would later take to IG to post what appeared to be a response to Martin, with a photo that read (in graffiti): "The trick is to care about everyone while not caring what they think." Original "Roots" leading man Levar Burton eventually got in on the exchange himself, encouraging the discussion to continue with an invitation for Snoop to join him for a discussion over a beer.

Source: hiphopdx.com