The reviews are coming in. Not the critics’ reviews, but the resident reviews. I’ve gotten two lengthy emails from Greenwood residents about the film; neither of them was very good.
Both of the people who wrote to me felt as though Greenwood was not well represented. It struck them that people would get the impression that Greenwood was stuck in the past. I’m torn about how to respond to these individuals.
One of the initial thoughts Raymond had about the movie was to make a “Greenwood Now and Greenwood Then” film, one that would examine just how far Greenwood has come. In the end, that’s not what happened. The film we made dives deep into the story of Booker Wright, it examines questions surrounding his murder, and paints a picture of what Greenwood was like in the ‘60’s in order to create a proper context for what Booker Wright said and did. I think we accomplished this.
One of the things I know for sure is that being the subject in a documentary is nerve wracking. There is a complete loss of control. Many times during this process I have felt angst, even anger over the direction I thought the film might go in. Some of the people we interviewed, people who were kind enough to let us into their homes, spend an afternoon with us, get back to us quickly when we had urgent research questions now feel as though they participated in something that disparaged their community. They feel powerless, I know the feeling.
There are two lanes of thought going through my mind, running simultaneously side-by-side. The first is that Greenwood has changed. They’ve had a black mayor. Today the majority of the police force there is made of blacks. It’s a radically different place than it was when Booker Wright walked her streets. Longtime Greenwood residents love their town like people love their favorite football teams. They spoke with us because they hoped to see a different story of the South told. They wanted to see a film that would highlight how far they’ve come. I get that.
The second lane of thought and, I hate to say this, but Greenwood still feels very broken to me. People who’ve lived there their whole lives see the change, but they don’t always see how far they still have to go. I think that’s why our film angers them so. One person said to me that he didn’t think there was still a market for speaking poorly about the South or telling the story of lynchings, etc.
I know that Raymond did not construct this film based on what he thought would sell. There is no money to be made in documentary filmmaking. If he was trying to make a buck, this wasn’t how he was going to do it. When I went to Greenwood last year and I think Raymond and David had the same experience, I was taken aback by certain things that I observed.
Maybe for Southerners the story feels old. Maybe it’s hard for them to believe that everyone hasn’t heard it time and time again, but the truth is just that – many people still don’t understand the deep humiliation that blacks experienced day in and day out in the South.
A few months ago I was talking to a good friend who’s from Arkansas . I was explaining to her that I wanted to include certain details in my book to help people better understand what it meant to be black in the South. When I told her which details I was thinking of she expressed that most people knew those things and that she personally wouldn’t want to read a chapter like that.
I pondered this for a long time. Maybe this story and others like it have been told so often in the South that some white Southerners feel like they have done their penance and more. They have apologized, instituted holidays, hold meetings like the Bridge – they have committed themselves to change. But just because a story is old doesn’t mean that it’s no longer relevant.
Not everyone knows, but everyone needs to know.
To the kind and thoughtful men and women who helped make this film, lending their voices and their memories, I am endlessly thankful. I am deeply saddened that this story, or the way in which we chose to tell it, was so off-putting to them. I understand why it was. But I must stand behind the telling of this story. Because so many people simply do not know.
