★★★★

As part of a widespread campaign, through lectures, a podcast, articles, writing, and now a feature-length documentary, the Who We Are Project has set out to change the discussion about race and racial inequality in America. Created and led by civil rights attorney and current ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffery Robinson, the new documentary Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America is a film sculpted around a 2018 speech he gave at Town Hall in New York City. In his talk, he uses personal and real-life examples to chart an unimpeachable timeline of racial injustice in our nation from 1619 to present-day.

This is not merely a filmed speech, with some Powerpoint slides added for the viewer. As Robinson walks us through the arrival of enslaved people to discussions on the conflicts of today, we see interviews with an array of individuals - museum owners, tour guides, surviving children, siblings, grieving parents - all touched and affected by the horrors of violence on the Black and Brown community.

Robinson is a powerful, effortless orator. He speaks with conviction and invitation. He also is tired and understandably pained by the lack of progress made in the never-ending failures to make significant strides to combat racial injustice in an effective way.

To an affirming audience, the personal moments are where Who We Are… has the chance to really impact viewers. But that begs the question: Who is watching? This is a film that many on the progressive side of the aisle (Democrats, Liberals, etc.) will largely understand and remain open to the ideas and concepts around “white privilege,” for example. A discussion around the push for reparations, for example, is about as clear a case as one can make on the subject. And while exposing many of the apocryphal arguments made throughout history against racial equality, Robinson underscores the fact that many of the most revered figures of American history relied on, defended, and outright benefitted from the ownership of enslaved people. Also damning is the irrefutable evidence that the Constitution was built and borne on the backs of enslaved people.

And yet, it becomes hard to imagine that those individuals who believe that men, whites, and Christians face discrimination at similar or higher levels than Black and Brown communities (per a Pew Research poll in June 2020) will give Robinson much time. Obviously, that’s where the work exists: Grabbing people’s attention and turning people’s awareness up to the degree that they can understand the experience of what it both has meant and means to be Black or Brown-skinned in America. The generational, systemic challenges of racism are as pervasive in our society as ever before. Will Who We Are… reach the people it needs to? Sadly, I doubt it.

In no way does that diminish this film or Robinson’s work. To hear him speak is to feel his words and learn our shared, collective history. With a wider audience, this film and the Who We Are Project could easily change some hearts and minds. Here’s hoping the film earns that opportunity.

Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America was screened virtually as part of the 47th Seattle International Film Festival.