The Color of Fear

I walked into the the Crow's Nest not knowing what to expect of this film, The Color of Fear. I found myself watching a group of American men of many different races discuss about race.

The first thing that struck me was that the men were of such varying races. This was, of course, the most obvious thing. However, I also noticed that they were all middle-aged and men. This got me to think about how the conversation would have been different if there were younger persons or women. I believe that the choice of men of a single generation helped narrow the conversation to the singular issue of race-and that gender topics or the experiences of other generation would have made it less focused.

I also found myself wondering about the process that was used to select the men for this documentary. All of them were, for the most part, respectful of the others' opinions and willing to sympathize in the end. I believe that this selection of personalities greatly added to the overall positive results of the conversation.

One of the men talked about how no white man stands on his own ground. In fact, he said that white men stand on the bodies of women and other races. While I do not protest this, I also felt that this was not a singularly white issue. Any human or race today has used other humans or other races to climb to the top. That is the very reason they survive today.

I grew up surrounded by people who I can now see were extremely racist. This film helped illuminate the influence that these people have had on my own worldview. It was a mirror that reflected my own prejudices.