By Steve Rhodes
Who knew Todd Bridges could act? And that I would learn this seeing something I thought I’d never see on TV – black people on Little House on the Prairie? And that I would actually watch an entire episode of LHOTP, as I assume fans call it? Holy crap was it good.
In “The Wisdom of Solomon,” Bridges played a young boy (and son of a dead slave) tired of working in the fields with his mother and brother. He longed to get an education and be something more than an oppressed farmhand. So he ran away from home, found himself in Walnut Grove, and hopped on the back of Pa Ingalls’ wagon when he wasn’t looking and ended up at the home of our favorite prairie family.
Pa Ingalls enrolls Solomon in school and sets him to work on chores around the house while the townspeople subtly and not-so-subtly show their disapproval. Meanwhile, little Laura Ingalls is enthralled to be in the presence of “a real Negro person” while coming to realize she is the unknowing possessor of what academics 100 years later would call “white privilege.” She comes to see how much she has taken for granted, sparking a renewed interest in her schoolwork, for example.
There is another black person on the show who is not related to Solomon – a black doctor who takes care of Indians on the nearby reservation. He’s not allowed to doctor white people.
This is actually a heartfelt and multi-layered episode that ought to be shown in classrooms (and to adults once a month) for its insights, as well as the arguable issues. Pa Ingalls, for example, asks Solomon why he said in class one day that the thing he hates most about himself is being black. Solomon asks Ingalls if he would choose to be a black man who lived to be 100 or a white man who lived to be 50. Ingalls is left searching for a feel-good answer that does not come.
Almost against my will (I’ve never been interested in the show; too dusty) I watched the whole thing and was kind of disappointed when it ended – and not necesssarily in a happy way. The ending, in fact, is ambiguous; it could bring many a man to tears if the mood is right on, say, a Saturday afternoon.
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I spent some time Saturday night searching for programming that really wouldn’t demand my attention, as I was doing some work at the same time as watching, but something interesting enough to merit actually being on. Cold Mountain? No, I couldn’t commit to that. What, three hours? Kill Bill – both volumes back-to-back? So tempting. But not serving my purpose. Raising Helen? Geez, a lot of movies on a Saturday night. And why this one? Seems like it’s always on, and it sucks pretty hard. Little People, Big World? Now we’re talking, though I might be tempted to give it too much attention.
I love Little People, Big World, though I spend a lot of time trying to figure out their finances. Matt was a software salesman and did well, apparently, but there’s gotta be family money doesn’t there? This is too distracting, I need TV that doesn’t make me think.
Shocking Moments on Tape? No. I would actually want to watch. I need something intermittently listenable.
Scrubs? I’ve only just started watching this show, in reruns. Kind of like that Elliot. Nah.
Jesus Christ, that Mellencamp truck commercial is still running. Hey John: the 1980s called, they want their vibe back.
The Tube Musical Network? Beck’s “Loser” video is playing. Actually cool enough. But no.
George Foreman is fighting Evander Holyfield on ESPN Classic. It’s from 1991. I’m not a boxing fan, but I can ride this right into Baseball Tonight.. Wow, Foreman is really taking some blows.
Where did my night go? Before the Internet, there was channel surfing. Some things really don’t change, just the way we go about them.
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Check out the What I Watched Last Night collection.
Posted on May 14, 2007