Man charged with kidnapping woman, forcing her to watch ‘Roots’ to ‘understand her racism’

Enlarge Image

Robert Lee Noye faces charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.
Linn Co. Sheriff’s Office; Everett Collection

This is the wrong kind of captive audience.

Don’t worry if you can’t afford to pay $2,500 to have your white privilege checked — this Michigan man will do it for free. Robert Lee Noye, 52, was arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman and forcing her to watch the landmark 1977 miniseries “Roots,” the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports.

Noye is accused of abducting an unnamed woman of unspecified race, then holding her captive at a residence in the 700 block of Second Avenue SW, where she was forced to watch the nine-hour ABC miniseries “so she could better understand her racism,” according to a criminal complaint.

When his captive tried to move, Noye ordered her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago,” per the complaint.

Perhaps the misguided social justice warrior should have watched Netflix’s “Abducted in Plain Sight” to better understand kidnapping: Noye was arrested Monday and now faces charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.

Based on Alex Haley’s acclaimed book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” the TV adaptation chronicles the author’s ancestry beginning with Kunta Kinte, a young Gambian warrior in the 1700s who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

The acclaimed multigenerational tale — which received a record-breaking 37 Emmy nominations — goes on to document Kinte’s great-grandchildren fighting for their freedom during the Civil War. A remake starring Malachi Kirby as Kinte was broadcast on the History Channel in 2016.