It has become controversial the situation in which Ben Affleck both movie star and director was hiding the truth about his ancestors from the public. It all began when PBS Genealogy series “Finding Your Roots” investigated that his ancestors had been slave owners, this caused Ben Affleck to respond immediately to hide the truth. Once discovered his urge to hide his ancestors, he stated, “I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery”; to any person it might be a joy to know about their ancestor regardless of who they are or what they did, although to Ben Affleck it’s something he wanted to erase completely without letting the public know. Many years have passed and the perspectives  of people have changed, it’s evident that people have become more open minded, unlike how they were back then, people will eventually be able to understand. Furthermore, it wasn’t necessary for Ben Affleck to hide his ancestors, he can’t change his heritage, nor what his ancestors did. There have been other actors on the program and none of them decided to ensconce the truth. Larry Wilmore host of the Nightly show, ḧad ridiculized Ben Affleck, by ¨summoning¨ his ancestors ghost, this obviously isn’t a professional thing to do or adequate, if he hid his ancestors is for a reason and no need for people to make fun of this.

So why was it important for Ben Affleck to hide his origins? “Unfortunately we all have skeletons in our closet that we would like to hide but we have to face the truth about our ancestors, its something that Ben Affleck should realize”, says Art teacher Paul Botello,  “I think he shouldn’t be ashamed because things change and get better; he’s living today in a society where people are more modern”, it’s obvious that knowing about our ancestors can trigger different types of emotions, but regardless of denial we still have to accept the truth.

Junior Kayla Mitchell says “His ancestors are part of who he is, even though his ancestor might not be good, no matter what; he will still be part of his family if he wants to or not; I don’t think people will judge him based on who his ancestors were, everyone will eventually forget about this in a couple of weeks¨. At the end of the day, Ben Affleck will have to get tired of denying his ancestor and see that not everything about a persons past is harmful, he has to learn to deal with this and continue his career as an actor.