When Sony Pictures Classics offered Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America for consumption, many people probably thought this would be “yet another look at racism.” Regretfully, anything can cause burnout to people who aren’t truly invested in something. However, this is not an everyday look. It’s more of a deep gaze or an intense stare into an abyss that we may all be guilty of ignoring.
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America is a stirring introspective view about becoming a woke nation and reviewing a problem that has existed for more than 400 years on American soil. More importantly, this isn’t a lesson on the subject provided to us by a thought leader in their field. Jeffery Robinson takes us on a journey up to, what he calls, America’s “tipping point.”
Just watch the trailer:
“What are we going to do about it?”
Much like any lawyer, an argument begins with a question. Robinson asks that question and then forces everyone to answer it in their way. Who We Are allows America a front-row seat in what could be the most powerful TED Talk given in the past decade. From Jamestown to Black Lives Matter, no stone goes unturned, and no epithet goes unsaid. Stereotypes are challenged, hate is confronted, and hearts are changed.
So, who is this guy anyway? Jeffery Robinson is the executive director of the Who We Are Project. Before taking on this project full-time, he was the deputy legal director for the ACLU and overseer of the ACLU Trone Center for Justice and Equality. Remember the note about thought leaders? He more than qualifies for that.
His vitae is an impressive list of accomplishments fighting for people. He has stood in the gap for people who have been knocked down—or out—one too many times. And now, he is America’s Pied Piper of social justice. Believe that Robinson could not have blown a more motivational tune. The conversations he has and the people he meets in this journey will break your heart and piss you off, yet you remain confident alongside Robinson because something will change with him at the helm. Imagine this man standing in a room of students and posing the question, “If you have ever owned a slave, please raise your hand.”
Show of Hands
That happened and what happened next is what you may think. Robinson immediately grabs the room and commands everyone’s attention. Who We Are is no ordinary lesson on racism; it’s a walk through time and a charged, unmarked minefield.
“Slavery is not our fault,” he says. “We didn’t do it. We didn’t cause it. It’s not our responsibility.” But it is, he adds, our shared history, and when we try to turn that shared history into something that it’s not – “when we try to make more light of it than it was, then we are denying who we are.”
That’s the difference—it doesn’t matter that “your ancestors aren’t here anymore” or that “you had nothing to do with something that happened centuries ago.” As he puts it, this is a “shared history,” one that we all still have a part to play. Whether he is standing in front of Medgar Evers’ home, on the curb outside the Lorraine Motel, or the shoulder of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, Robinson’s allegiance to the truth is an undeterred stance everyone must-see.
This documentary leaves you asking more questions than the ones you just had answered by watching Who We Are. This country still honors slave traders, confederate militia and refused to recover lost property from people hundreds of years ago. And this documentary makes you accountable for it all. You can’t unsee this documentary. You can’t unhear Jeffrey Robinson’s words. And you absolutely can’t numb your heart to the visceral emotions that will pin you to your seat.
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America is about the normalization of white supremacy, the nullification of the Black experience, and what the hell we are all going to do about it. If there was ever a documentary for mandatory viewing in every school classroom across this country, it’s this—at least it should be.
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America is currently playing in select theaters.
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Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.