INTERVIEW: New Peacock film illuminates intergenerational stories of Black men and boys
Photo: Black Boys tells several intergenerational stories of Black men and boys. Photo courtesy of MPRM / Provided with permission.
Filmmaker Sonia Lowman has focused her lens on inequality in the United States. An earlier film of hers, Teach Us All, covers educational inequality, Brown v. Board of Education and the continued struggles in the American education system. Her latest documentary is Black Boys, premiering this month on the new Peacock streaming service from NBC.
Black Boys tells several intergenerational stories of Black men and boys against the landscape of the United States. Her film dives deep into the topics of education, sports and the criminal justice system, and she gathers voices such as two-time Super Bowl champion Greg Scruggs and Sharif El Mekki, a principal at a nearly all Black charter school in Philadelphia, according to press notes. Other interviewees include everyone from basketball star Carmelo Anthony to former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. John King.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Lowman about her new film. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to tell these stories, and how did you find each person to document?
Black Boys is a follow up to my first film, Teach Us All, which was acquired by Ava DuVernay (ARRAY). I became passionate about educational inequality in America while working for an educational nonprofit. In making Teach Us All, I met many passionate educators and social justice advocates, including Chad Williamson, who teamed up with me to make Black Boys. Between Chad’s superpower networking abilities and our combined educational contacts, we were able to include a range of powerful voices in the film.
We also consider this film a co-creation, for which strong working relationships formed the basis. Black Boys was made in close collaboration with organizations like My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, the Coalition for Schools Educating Boys of Color, the Center for Black Educator Development, the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, and the XQ Institute. And Black Boys’ many Black advisors included Dr. John King, sectary of education under President Obama; Dr. Harry Edwards, a lifelong civil rights activist and architect of the Black Power protest at the 1968 Olympics; and Malcolm Jenkins, an athlete activist on the frontlines of racial justice today.
How long has the film been in production? Did it take on new meaning after the events of this year?
Black Boys was conceived in late 2017, in the wake of the first Black Lives Matter movement and amidst the backlash to the Take a Knee movement. At the time, I found myself wondering: why don’t white people care more when Black people die? For us as the film team and all of the social justice organizations with which we partnered, exposing the dehumanization of Black men and boys in America — and celebrating their full humanity — was always extremely urgent. But it was hard to gain traction around distribution until the events of this year. We’ve been thrilled with our partnership with Peacock, as the NBC Universal team has really embraced the film’s message at every level. We’re hopeful that because of this year’s events and rise in consciousness around racial justice, audiences will be more receptive to the film’s messages than ever before.
What do you believe is the ultimate takeaway after watching the film? What do you believe the audience learns?
The ultimate takeaway of Black Boys is that there’s nothing inherently wrong with Black boys — what’s wrong is the racism that marginalizes, criminalizes and dehumanizes them. I hope everyone who watches the film can look in the mirror and ask: how am I contributing to racism, even if in small or unconscious ways? And ultimately, the film is a love story. Black boys don’t need to be fix[ed], changed or saved — they need to be believed in and loved. We believe in [an] America in which Black boys — and all of our children — experience unlimited possibilities and a full sense of belonging. I hope anyone who sees the film will become invested in helping turn this vision into a reality.
You have stories of men and boys, representing many different generations. Why was that important for you?
Black Boys was designed to be an ‘intimate, intergenerational’ conversation. We wanted to explore what beliefs Black men and boys internalize about their worth based on society’s messaging towards them. The film demonstrates how — across ages, income and circumstances — their experience of dehumanization remains relatively universal.
One of the topics in the film is the world of sports as it relates to Black men and boys. What motivated you to focus on this topic?
While making Teach Us All, I met a number of young Black men who articulated their dreams and opportunity vis-à-vis sports and entertainment — who believed that those were the paths to ‘get out’ of poverty and other challenging circumstances. Simultaneously, I was watching all of this backlash to Take a Knee — messaging that was essentially telling Black men to just shut up and entertain us. I started to draw parallels between slavery and sports, as well as our education and criminal justice systems today. For me, it’s all connected — a dominant narrative that has for hundreds of years told Black men and boys that their worth is in their bodies, and their minds, voices and hearts don’t matter.
When did you realize you wanted to be a documentary filmmaker?
I realized I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was working for an international women’s rights nonprofit in DC, writing specialized policy papers for extremely narrow audiences — and recognizing the limits of that. I had traveled the world and spent my educational and early career years devoted to social causes, but I came to see film as a universal language connecting humanity, with American storytelling reaching every corner of the globe. I realized that I could (hopefully) make a bigger and wider impact on social justice working within this medium of storytelling. I had zero film training, but I had plenty of passion.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Black Boys, directed by Sonia Lowman, is now available on Peacock. Click here for more information.
