Criminal defense/civil rights lawyer Jeffery Robinson wants all Americans to better understand their past.
In the movie, Robinson showcases how deeply racism and the oppression of Black Americans is embedded in U.S. history, shedding light on facts deserving of more attention — ones that may go untaught in school.
“The widespread availability of this information is something that can’t be controlled. And all of these laws saying we’re going to ban these books and we’re going to prevent teachers from teaching this stuff, young people learn in places other than the classroom. There’s a thing called the internet,” Robinson told moderator Quentin Washington, co-chair of B.A.G.
“Once people know it and understand it, I think they’re at a radically different place about where we should go in the future, once they understand the truth of our past,” added Robinson.
Jesse Wakeman/Sony Pictures Classics
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Robinson, a former defense attorney and ACLU member, explained that it’s key to not gloss over the details of the nation’s past, but rather fully know what got things to where they are today so history won’t repeat itself.
Sony Pictures Classics
“When you’re taught slavery is bad and ‘Oh, that was a bad thing but it ended and that was it,’ that is literally white-washing the issue,” he said. “And it’s not to make anybody feel guilty or to make anybody feel embarrassed. It’s to have people understand exactly what we did and why we did it.”
“When I say ‘we,’ I mean our ancestors,” continued Robinson. “We have to understand that the details are critically important. Because it is the details that give explanations about why America looks like it does today.”
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in Americaisnow playingin select theaters.
source: people.com
