Open CallOpen Call: Pitch Reels
Race 2008 (3:24)
Karl-Rainer Blumenthal - Philadelphia, PA
The Pitch:
RACE has been a central issue in the media coverage of the 2008 presidential election. What has received far less attention in the popular press is the related element of RACISM. Senator Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency has motivated Americans to revisit their personal perspectives on the state of race relations in this nation, but what interests me in particular are the ways in which his candidacy has encouraged Americans to assess the historical role of racism in presidential politics.
On March 18, 2008, Obama delivered a speech on the state of race relations in America from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. In that speech, he made a particular appeal to parents of young children to seize this unique moment, and to introduce to them the historical presences of racism in politics, while revaluing its role in the present day. In this sense, Obama appealed to Americans to engage in a challenging new historiography, one that has influenced my own narrative style.
I believe that this style is displayed in my sample reel, an expert from an ongoing personal project (working title: Race 2008). This documentary video was shot principally on location at a Neo-Nazi rally at the Capitol building in Washington, DC, just three days before the Pennsylvania presidential primary election. It was my interview with Tom Nunan and his daughter Bridgitte that first motivated me to further investigate the significant, and deeply nuanced, problem of teaching our children about race and racism at a time of tumultuous change in their respective landscapes.
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Notes
I dig what you say here about Obama and the "challenging new historiography"; what struck me so much about "A More Perfect Union" was, for lack of a more sophisticated formulation, how correct he was: what he says about the links between corporate America fostering racial tension matches up with some of the most vibrant critical race theory written (see "The Posessive Investment in Whiteness" by Lipsitz).
As far as teaching the children: my experience with it is that exposing people to the topic of race doesn't necesarilly help them get clearer on the problem, but that exposing them to people who are different them them does. A lot of talking about a topic necessitate getting clearer on it, whereas making actual friends, companions, lovers, etc. from different backgrounds might do a lot to disabuse us of our flawed preconceptions.
A note of criticism: you talk about challenging people's perspectives on race, perhaps to get them to think in more sophisticated ways about the topic. Yet, you've sort of framed the topic according to Neo-Nazis. This is problematic, because people have a tendency to think that the most offensive and damaging racists are those that hold public demonstrations, wear white sheets, etc, whereas I'd argue that the biggest purveyors of racial injustice wear suits, appear regularly on the nightly news, and aren't quite as loud-mouthed. By highlighting the most virulent racists, and correct me where you see fit, I think you subtly degrade the discourse, turn Race into a spectacle that people can easily shake themselves out of ("I can't believe there are still people who think like that. I'm glad I'm not a racist. Should we tip the cleaning lady?").
Anyway, i'd be curious to see what you'd think of my post, it's called "A Moor Perfect Union". Good luck.