OUR SHARED PAST // A FILM REVIEW OF "WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA"
WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA is the brainchild of Jeffery Robinson. It's a project wanting to "correct the American narrative on our history of racism" that includes live speaking events, a podcast and now a powerful documentary directed by Emily and Sarah Kunstler. Robinson is an attorney for the ACLU and grew up in Memphis, remembering clearly when Martin Luther King Jr. was taken just miles from his home. He and his father even marched with Dr. King a week before his death. He's a man who needs white America to hear him. He loudly proclaims that, "America has demonstrated its greatness time and time and time again and America is one of the most racist countries on the face of this earth. Those two things are not mutually exclusive." What works so well with the documentary, and with Robinson in general, is the concept that we can be both proud and disappointed in our country at the same time, happy of where we are and angry that we haven't gone far enough. All of these feelings can and should happen at the same time, and throughout the documentary he sears this into audiences again and again.
Besides the 45th President, there aren't many people who will stand up for Andrew Jackson. Yet even for those (like myself) who dislike him immensely, small details about his racist past may surprise (He once took out an ad in a local paper, offering a reward for an escaped slave and adding onto the reward ten dollars for every extra lash anyone will give him. THIS is the man on our $20 bill). We go back and forth from his public speaking to intimate interviews with Gwen Carr (Eric Garner's mother), the daughter of a man lynched in 1947 and visits a slavery museum and we see shackles meant for a slave. For a child slave. As horrendous as shackles for any human being is in our minds, we must not forget that children were also enslaved and shackled. It's a searing image that doesn't fade from your mind easily. He engages in a man protesting FOR the Union Jack flag and has a very civil, if not frustrating, conversation with him (Robinson eventually has to walk away because the man proves that facts don't matter to him, only his opinion does). He wants to engage with those who share a different belief or who may be hesitant to truly understand our dark past. He tells his audience that "slavery is not our fault, but is is our shared past." That is what we have to understand. WHO WE ARE is a perfect companion piece to the podcast series and gives Robinson an impressive platform to speak from. Let's hope we are all listening.
GRADE: A-
WRITTEN BY Jeffery Robinson DIRECTED BY Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler FEATURING Jeffery Robinson FEATURED AS PART OF THE SXSW FILM FESTIVAL AND THE UPCOMING HOT DOCS FILM FESTIVAL. FOR MORE INFO: WHO WE ARE