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African American man abducts white woman, makes her binge-watch TV show on slavery so she 'understood her racism'

Robert Noyes Noyes reportedly threatened to kill the woman and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago if she tried to run
UPDATED FEB 18, 2020
(Cedar Rapids Police)
(Cedar Rapids Police)

An African American man reportedly abducted a white woman and forced her to binge-watch a nine-hour slavery mini-series 'Roots' in a bid to make her 'understand her racism'. 

Robert Noyes, 52, was arrested by Cedar Rapids police on Monday on charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment, Daily Mail reports.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was allegedly forced to accompany Noyes while watching the 1977 TV mini-series, especially after he threatened to "kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago" if she tried to run.

While the woman is not clearly described to be white in police records, Noyes reportedly forced her to watch the nine-hour show which details the ancestral lineage of author Alex Haley "so she could better understand her racism."

Actors Irene Cara and Beah Richards clasp hands while sitting on a porch in a still from the television miniseries, 'Roots,' (ABC Television/Getty Images)

US author Alex Haley penned 'Roots' in 1976, and the show was first aired on TV a year later. The series recounts the struggles of one African American family that has been told over multiple generations. It starts with African warrior Kunte Kinte, who was sold into slavery and takes us through to his great-grandchildren fighting for their freedom during the Civil War.  

The series begins in the late 1700s with 15-year-old Kinte setting off to undertake a semi-secretive rite of passage — a story that includes circumcision, war games, as well as hunting. Once, while being tasked with catching a bird unharmed, Kinte comes across a group of slavemasters and their captives.

While he manages to escape during his first encounter, he is eventually captured by the slavers after they conspire with his family's arch enemies. The embattled teenager is subsequently sold and put on a ship headed for America.

The disheartening series follows Kinte's journey on a stinking, overcrowded vessel to Annapolis, Maryland, where he is sold to a Virginia plantation owner for the price of ten mules. 

Kinte's master then forces him to adopt a new Christian identity, while he seeks to retain his African and Islamic heritage.

After refusing to eat pork and attempting to escape by using a tool he finds on the plantation, his master orders a fellow slave to whip him until he accepts his new Christian name.

The series goes on to follow the lives of an adult Kinte as well as the tormented lives of his descendants, who eventually win their freedom and settle 40 miles from Memphis in Henning Tennessee.

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