Breaking Ground & Agency

Hey all,

I hope you have been doing well. I wanted to send another update on the White Guilt documentary since my father and I recently returned from a trip to Chicago and New York. It was a tiring, packed, but rewarding trip.

In our first day in Chicago, we returned to my father’s south side home of Phoenix. In our last film, “What Killed Michael Brown?” we talked about how my father’s parents helped lead the first efforts to desegregate a school north of the Mason-Dixon line. At first, we were weary of repeating the same story in the “White Guilt” documentary, but as we interviewed more and more people we realized that education will play a bigger role in the film than anticipated. So we returned to my father’s old school with the intent of presenting this story in an entirely different light.

Personally, I had not realized how much I had forgotten about my father’s childhood. For example, he told the story of how a white teacher took his class down to the basement and opened the door to the fiery furnace and told them, “If you don’t do X, this is where you will end up.” I remembered hearing that story as a kid and thinking, “All of this because the kids were black?” While today is different from back then, the one key similarity is that race is an absurdity that will always undermine and undercut the education process. After all, race seeks to racialize, not educate.

In the above picture, Terrell Allen prepares the drone to film my father walking toward his old school. The original building is on the right side and of darker brick. The lighter half of the building on the left side is an add-on.

The above picture was a touching moment for my father. Iola Toler was like a second mother to him. Ms. Toler, as he always called her, worked with his mother, Ruth Steele, to lead the boycott that shut down the school for over a year. Ms. Toler never left Phoenix and passed away in 2010 at the age of 101.

The next day we traveled to the South Side to visit Pastor Corey Brooks of Project H.O.O.D. We plan to chronicle the building of his community center in the “White Guilt” doc as an example of how it is possible for America to renew herself.

Good news: the groundbreaking for his new $35 million community center will take place on September 18th. The pastor endured eleven years of obstacles to get to this point, a journey captured in my last video with him:

In one of my favorite conversations with the pastor, I asked him if the American Dream was alive or dead. Without hesitation, he said “alive.” Then added: "It is so important for me to believe in the American Dream. If I don’t believe in it, don’t talk about it, don’t model it, then how (will my community) know the dream exists?"

In the above picture, my father talks with the pastor on camera. In the background, you can see how the entire site for the future community center has been leveled. In just four days, the building will start.

Last but not least, we traveled from Chicago deep into the heart of the Bronx to visit Ian Rowe and his new school, Vertex Partnership Academies. (If you have not checked out Rowe’s new book, Agency, it is worth the read.) We have had many great interviews since we started filming last May but I have to say that Rowe simply knocked it out of the ballpark. The man doesn’t waste a word. Better yet, the man walks the talk. His new school is in its second year of operations and is very impressive. The students were enthusiastic, well mannered, and intellectually curious. The teachers (including Paul Rossi who we interviewed in June) and staff were of a high caliber. If I lived there, I’d send my own kids there.

In above picture, my father shakes hands with Rowe after the interview.

When I asked Rowe what he thought of the ongoing culture wars over America’s past, he quoted Tocqueville: “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

(His response was similar to Pastor Brooks’ and gave me the hope that there may finally be a movement to turn around America.)

Aside from giving his students a rigorous education, Rowe and his staff and teachers work everyday to build a stronger America by instilling the following virtues in their students:

Courage: I reject victimhood and boldly persevere, even in times of uncertainty and struggle.

Justice: I uphold our common humanity and honor the inherent dignity of each individual.

Temperance: I lead my life with self-discipline because I am responsible for my learning and behavior.

Wisdom: I make sound judgments, based on knowledge of objective, universal truth.

In the above photo, my father discusses the four virtues with three impressive students. Perhaps the most touching moment was when Rowe told my father that his book, The Content of Our Character, will be taught at the school.

All in all, it was a very productive trip. Our travels will slow down for now as we begin to edit the opening sequences and get the film on the right track. This likely will be the most difficult film we’ve ever made: how do you make a film about race, which is often an invisible force? But we are getting there and the film is slowly coming into view. If we can pull it off, I think it will be a powerful new addition to the “White Guilt” book.

As always, we value your support tremendously.

All my best,

Eli