THE CHILDREN ARE ALL RIGHT Before joining the Chapman faculty, a professor of color does her homework. In the end, she opts to influence the culture and help change an industry. BY LEAH ALDRIDGE
Recently a colleague extended a traditional Masai greeting to me that gave me great pause before responding: “Kasserian Ingera?” or “And how are the children?” Deceptively simple, this greeting is, yes, an interrogative to the individual, but culturally, can be understood as a pulse check on the surrounding community or larger society. To inquire as to the wellbeing of the young, vulnerable and impressionable really translates on some level to “How are you holding up as a community, a culture, a species?” I resisted a rote response: I wondered if I could confidently reply “All the children are well.” Rewind to mid-2019, where a crisis unfolds at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts over the poster display of “Birth of a Nation,” a white supremacist treatise from 1915 held in high regard by film schools and some cinephiles around the world ostensibly because of its cinematic innovation. Narratively depicting the Reconstruction era, the film uses the melodramatic mode to denigrate Black Americans as it advances Lost Cause ideology, casts white southerners as victims of northern aggression, and celebrates the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. Dodge students’ protest of the school’s uncritical presentation via promotional posters was met with resistance. The path to resolution included faculty review, in an effort to avoid unilateral action, but that lengthened the process. The eventual crisis made the local papers, throwing not only Dodge but the entire Chapman Family into discussions regarding the school’s need for diversification of its faculty, curricular content, staff and student body.
BEFORE CONTEMPLATING A MOVE, A CONSIDERATION OF HISTORY Shortly after the resolution of said controversy, I was contacted by Dodge Film Studies faculty to possibly teach Black cinema classes for Chapman. Real talk: I had to give Chapman the side-eye. Orange County’s reputation as unfriendly to people of color “behind the Orange Curtain,” and the timing of the request gave me pause yet again.
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CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
I knew, based on research, that the City of Orange and, by extension, Orange County practiced its fair share of white supremacist racism. Practices included restrictive housing covenants, sundown towns (where people of color were expected to leave by sundown), and conventional racial segregation and discrimination commensurate with the rest of the United States. When coupling Dodge’s “Birth of a Nation” poster crisis, questions regarding Chapman’s historical lack of diversity, and that of the surrounding community, with a two-hour round-trip commute from Los Angeles, I did not see a serious relationship forming between Chapman and myself. But I did wonder: And how are the children? As 2020 unfolded, the pandemic necessitated a complete reordering of personal and societal priorities, further fraying our national social fabric.
HARSH REALITIES PROMPT A PERSPECTIVE OF RESISTANCE To be clear, 2020 was a pretty extraordinary year, the specifics of which are too numerous to enumerate here. But as the nation grappled then (and continues to do so) and attempts to reconcile perennial white supremacy with the nation’s democratic ideals, the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd (on the heels of Elijah McClain, Atatiana Jefferson, and countless other victims of fatal force at the hands of law enforcement) on top of growing pandemic, proved to be too much for those of us who understand these occurrences are not isolated incidents. They are the unfortunate outcomes of state-sanctioned excessive use of force against a Black polity always already presumed to be criminal just by walking down the street or simply being. As Donald Trump fomented white ethnonationalism as his chief re-election strategy, how could thousands of multiethnic protestors not pour into the streets around the globe, professing what should be without question – that Black Lives Matter? So, when
Dodge College Dean Stephen Galloway circled back to me from the previous year’s conversation, this time to join Chapman as a full-time faculty member, in my mind I had to ask, “How will this particular community reconcile its past with the present moment as a strategy toward a better future for all?”
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS INFORMED BY PERSONAL HISTORY I resisted more of the side-eye and engaged in a mutual vetting process between the school and myself. I’m not sure how many people know this, but it is not uncommon for Black people to think “How much racism will there be?” when considering employment anywhere. It’s just a part of growing up in the United States. As such, I cannot divorce my Black womanhood, which began on the south side of Chicago, came of age during Los Angeles’ crack cocaine epidemic, and forged feminist bones by working with sexual assault and domestic violence organizers, from the way I navigate the world. In my previous travails, I had a history of building things – programs, organizations, curricula, products, relationships; if you needed something created, people knew they could count on me. Did Dodge have stuff they wanted built? Would I be allowed to participate, be heard and respected? The dean and other key administrators helped me come to see this as an opportunity to positively contribute to the changing culture at Dodge. As the industry realizes the economic viability of generating filmic and televisual content that actually reflects global populations, so too do our film schools. I would be in position to influence how students change entertainment industry culture, which has broad influence across the U.S. and transnationally. I needed to understand that my hire would not be an act of tokenism but instead be part of a concerted effort and commitment to creating access and opportunity for diverse students for whom representation is an important aspect of their academic experience.
