Waubonsee Community College

Black like who?, directed by Debbie Reynolds ; produced by USC School of Cinema & Television

eng

videorecording

For High School; College; Adult audiences

Black like who?

electronic resource

780753598

directed by Debbie Reynolds ; produced by USC School of Cinema & Television

26

Black studies in video

In this painfully honest documentary, filmmaker Debbie Reynolds explores themes of assimilation, internalized racism and self hatred. Debbie is a black student who grew up in a white neighborhood, went to white schools, had white friends, and did not think about being black. As she grew older and left home, her new friends at college noticed her inability to relate easily to other blacks. Debbie realized she had a troubling identity problem and she searched for its origins within her family. Interviewing her parents, she learns that her father's middle class aspirations led him to a tidy white suburb, safe from drugs and crime. Yet he recalls his amazement when six-year-old Debbie did not realize she was black. In retrospect, her mother mourns that they did not instill black pride in their children. Debbie questions her fellow black students about what it means to be black. "We are all searching," they say. Even those who grew up with a strong black identity are still not clear how they fit into the larger society. They each struggle to understand how their race and ethnicity shape their sense of self. This is a unique film to spark discussion on racial identity

general