Woman forced to watch ‘Roots’ to ‘understand her racism,’ Cedar Rapids police say

By: Kat Russell Feb. 17, 2020 1:29 pm Updated: Feb. 17, 2020 11:18 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids man who was arrested Monday is accused of holding a woman captive and forcing her to watch 'Roots” - a nine-hour miniseries that chronicles author Alex Haley's family line from the capture and enslavement of his ancestor Kunta Kinte to the liberation of Kinte's descendants.

Robert Lee Noye, 52, forced the woman to sit with him, at a residence in the 700 block of Second Avenue SW and watch the series 'so she could better understand her racism,” according to a criminal complaint.

When she tried to move, Noye told 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,” the complaint said.

Noye faces charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.

Comments: (319) 398-8238; kat.russell@thegazette.com

Robert Noye