Movies & TV Shows To Help Educate Us On Anti-Racism
Protests raged across the world this weekend over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis and sparked a lot of much-need conversations around race.
The issues around race not only require our attention and action, but a deeper understanding of systemic racism and implicit bias. Understanding begins with all of us looking inward, reflecting on our own attitudes, and of course, having difficult conversations with family and friends.
Taking the time to inform yourself is also an important step. We’ve already put together a list of anti-racist books to help educate yourself on white privilege, but books aren’t the only place where you can learn; there’s also some really incredible TV shows and movies worth watching to educate and broaden your understanding around racism.
We have put together a list of anti-racism movies and TV shows we think will be helpful during these frightening and frustrating times.
Movies & TV Shows To Help Educate Us On Anti-Racism
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give is more than just your typical YA book turned into a teen movie; it is an exceptional film that deals with topics that are incredibly relevant at the moment.
Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), an African-American teenager, faces pressure from various communities and tries to stand up for what is right after she witnesses the shooting of her best friend by a white police officer.
If you haven’t seen it, give this a watch ASAP and tell everyone you know.
The Hate U Give is currently available on to stream on Now TV.
When They See Us
When The See Us is based on a gut-wrenching true story. It looks at the lives and families of five teenage boys who were falsely accused and then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a white woman in Central Park, New York City in 1989.
When They See Us is a difficult watch but it shows the way that people of colour are continuously persecuted and failed in society.
When They See Us is available on Netflix.
Dear White People
Based on the acclaimed film of the same name, this Netflix-original series follows a group of students of colour at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics. Through an absurdist lens, the series uses irony, self-deprecation, brutal honesty and humour to highlight issues that still plague today’s”post-racial” society.
Dear White People is available on Netflix.
Just Mercy
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or those not afforded proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. In the years that follow, Stevenson encounters racism and legal and political maneuverings as he tirelessly fights for McMillian’s life.
13th
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
13th is available on Netflix.
Selma
Selma is a 2014 historical drama film. It is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by James Bevel, Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lewis.
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. In 1965, an Alabama city became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures is a 2016 loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about black female mathematicians who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the Space Race. Meanwhile, they also have to deal with racial and gender discrimination at work.