User Reviews

Any hope for becoming a better, stronger nation in which all Americans have a chance at attaining the American Dream is best built on awareness of our ugly past. In this powerful, ambitious and far-reaching documentary, Bob Herbert combines interviews, stunning archival footage, and skilled analysis to describe the interconnected social and economic drivers that have shaped black life in America since emancipation. Herbert takes on a large task and succeeds: naming the forces that deprive Black Americans of their potential and the fruits of their efforts. The film exposes the linkage between the personal and the institutional: white privilege, bigotry, and fear yield systemic discrimination in lending, housing, employment, and education. This is a devastating, must-see portrait of American racism and its past/present impact on Americans of African ancestry. Remarkably, and to Herbert's credit, it is also a call to action and a hopeful statement of faith.