Teaching people about Black history in the United States will allow society to make informed decisions in the future, according to Jeffery Robinson, a civil rights activist and the Rappaport Distinguished Visiting Professor at Boston College Law School.
“My view is that if we teach people the truth about how we got to where we are today, then as we look to the future, we can make decisions that are actually based on fact,” Robinson said.
Robinson is the founder and CEO of The Who We Are Project, an organization that works to shed light on the United States’ long history of anti-Black racism and white supremacy.
Robinson spoke on Oct. 3 at a screening of The Who We Are Project’s 2021 documentary, Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America. The origins of the film can be traced back to Robinson’s upbringing amid the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis, Tenn., he said.
“I didn’t read about the Civil Rights Movement in a book,” Robinson said. “It was what I walked out into when I left my house.”
Robinson said he experienced racism firsthand from a young age, but he struggled to explain the complexity of the issue to his son.
“When I started looking for help in raising a son, I didn’t find a whole lot of help, but what I did find was a whole lot of history that I didn’t know,” Robinson said.
According to Robinson, he began to devote his time to researching stories of the past and sharing his findings with others. He started giving three-hour long presentations on this history in various cities across the country.
In 2017, Robinson received a phone call from sisters Emily and Sarah Kunstler, who said they were interested in meeting with him to discuss his work.
“They started talking to me about making a movie,” Robinson said. “And I thought that was the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Robinson said almost one year later, in June of 2018, The Who We Are Project began filming the documentary.
“We were in Memphis in front of a packed house with seven cameras, and we filmed the theater presentation that was a part of this film,” Robinson said.
Robinson and his team went across the country to conduct interviews for the documentary, he said.
“We would then have contacts, and they would call us and say that there are people here who have lived a part of the story that you are telling, and that’s the way that we got to do the interviews,” Robinson said.
Robinson described the filmmaking effort as a labor of love.
“It just felt like something that I needed to do,” Robinson said. “And meeting Sarah and Emily Kunstler was the luckiest part about this project.”
The Who We Are Project plans to continue making documentaries and short films, according to Robinson. The project will also travel to various cities, such as Memphis, to hold screenings and discussions of the 2021 documentary
“We will be continuing creating documentaries, some of which will be shorter seven-minute ones,” he said.
Leah Gordon, associate dean for inclusive excellence, diversity, and belonging in the Connell School of Nursing, also spoke at the event. Gordon said the documentary is useful when discussing discrimination in the workplace.
“These kinds of films are very important tools that my colleagues and I can use to elevate the importance of anti-racism and anti-discrimination for so many who have suffered in this country,” Gordon said.
Robinson said he has been overwhelmed by the support received for the film, and he looks forward to the future of The Who We Are Project.
“I hope this film educates as many people as we can about the truth of our past and how we move forward together as a nation,” Robinson said.
