http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15396673
By Sean Maher
06/28/2010
OAKLAND Activism for racial justice is a worthy endeavor, but like
any other well-intentioned effort, it can lack long-term impact if
its champions aren't careful, a local filmmaker cautioned as she
works to complete a movie about exactly that.
World Trust Educational Services is an East Bay nonprofit that
examines social justice through film, holding screenings of
self-produced work and engaging the community in conversations after
each screening. Its annual fundraiser was held Sunday at Samuel
Merritt University, drawing more than 100 people to preview footage
from the latest film.
"We're trying to shift and deepen the framing of race in this
country," Executive Director Shakti Butler said. "The conversation
right now is supremely shallow. It's stuck in, 'Am I racist or not a
racist,' which is irrelevant. You also hear, 'I don't see color,'
which is born out of the need to really be a good person. It's all
looked at individually, when the major problems now are systemic."
The Third World Trust film, a work in progress titled "Cracking the
Codes: Race, Relationships and Healing in the 21st Century," is an
effort to inspire exploration of the structure on which today's
racism is built, Butler said.
"For example," she said, "if you ask my son, 'Why did you think that
to be cool in high school, you had to hang with the kids who were not
doing education, but you'd come home and do your homework?' He
couldn't tell you. But it's based on how people fit in."
Understanding the structure behind that social and societal pressure
is critical to making any real impact, Butler said. For example, she
said, a group of parents could raise funds and buy books and
computers for a low-income school, buying paint to fix it up, but
without establishing long-term changes to the system that funds that
school, it would fall back into disrepair.
"Would that be a wasted effort? No. Would some people benefit? Yes.
But would it produce change in the long run? No," Butler said. "It's
time for us as a nation to look at how complex racism is, so that
we're not just putting paint on the problem. That means understanding
the systems that keep it going, and also how we absorb false
boundaries into our own personalities."
Ericka Huggins, a former leader in the Black Panther party and now a
college educator, is interviewed in the new film and said she hopes
it inspires not just action, but introspection.
"Activism without reflection is not really serving," Huggins said.
"(Butler) is setting it up so we can look at ourselves in the mirror
and also look at both sides of the coin. I think it's a beautiful construction.
"It's about how each of us can lift the veil of denial about the
impact of race on our lives in the U.S. and begin healing the trauma
that is the result of racism. The way to do that is begin to have
honest conversations about what we can do to heal and how we can
practice reflection so we don't pass this on to the next generation."
Oakland performer, teacher and author Ise Lyfe, also a part of the
film, echoed Huggins' generational concern.
"For my grandfather, he tells me stories of being 22 years old in the
south and an 8-year-old white boy walking past. He'd have to step off
the sidewalk to let the boy go by," Lyfe said. "That's different from
what I experienced growing up in the crack epidemic in East Oakland."
"We don't talk about that in history classes," Lyfe added. But its
aftereffects are huge and include a new, unnatural view whereby black
families are seen as almost naturally ripped apart, he said. Among
the results are a new set of boxlike identities available to young
blacks: being a rapper, an athlete or a drug dealer.
"I don't think we've created those boxes within our community," Lyfe
said. "It was passed to us, and we accepted it. It's like the radio:
They choose what 10 songs are the hot songs, and we choose our
favorites out of the 10.
"I see that as an obstacle in every oppressed community. We don't
take the initiative to find ourselves and who we are."
"We are being given these slots, and we all compete for them without
defining our own space," he said. "At some point you absolutely
become subservient you don't have a choice.
"There's no way out if someone is always telling you how to gauge
what your boundaries are, what you have to overcome and also what are
the things that bring home prestige, that qualify you as successful.
In the long run, we're not defining ourselves."
Samina Sundas, founder of a Palo Alto-based Muslim organization
seeking to bridge gaps between cultures and religions, attended the
fundraiser Sunday.
"I think the event was very timely and really wonderful," Sundas
said. "If we don't stand together, there's no way to change. It's
time we break down these barriers and really work together it can't
just be black for the blacks, Muslims for the Muslims and so on.
That's the message I came away with."
For more information on the film and fundraising efforts for its
completion, go online to http://world-trust.org or call 510-632-5156.
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Contact Sean Maher at smaher@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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