Race - The Power of an Illusion
The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has became so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, three-hour series by California Newsreel claims.
RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION questions the very idea of race as biology, suggesting that a belief in race is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth. Yet race still matters. Just because race doesn't exist in biology doesn't mean it isn't very real, helping shape life chances and opportunities.
By asking, "What is this thing called 'race'?", a question so basic it is rarely asked, RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION helps set the terms that any further discussion of race must first take into account.
Running Time
173 mins
Nb videos
3 videos included
Kanopy ID
1066397
Filmmakers
Languages
Subjects
Show More
3 videos in this playlist
Episode One - The Difference Between Us
The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different…
Episode Two - The Story We Tell
The Story We Tell uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely…
Episode Three - The House We Live In
The House We Live In asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It…
Related videos
White Like Me - Race, Racism & White Privilege in America
White Like Me, based on the work of acclaimed anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, explores race and racism in the US through the lens of whiteness and white privilege. In a stunning reassessment of the American ideal of meritocracy and claims that we've entered a post-racial society, Wise offers…
American Denial - The Truth is Deeper than Black and White
In his 1944 study of the 'Negro Problem' in America, Gunnar Myrdal posed a simple, disturbing question: How can Americans espouse a belief in liberty, equality and equal opportunity while enabling openly racist Jim Crow practices against black citizens? American Denial uses 'the Myrdal question' to probe and expose the…
The Black Panthers - Vanguard of the Revolution
In the turbulent 1960s, change was coming to America and the fault lines could no longer be ignored -- cities were burning, Vietnam was exploding, and disputes raged over equality and civil rights. A new revolutionary culture was emerging and it sought to drastically transform the system. The Black Panther…
Banished - A History of African American Expulsion
From 1860 to 1920 hundreds of US counties expelled all of their African American inhabitants. BANISHED visits three of these still all-white towns today. Meanwhile the descendants of those displaced and disinherited seek redress.
BANISHED vividly recovers the too-quickly forgotten history of racial cleansing in America when thousands of African…
Two Towns of Jasper
On June 7, 1998, three white men from Jasper, Texas, chained African-American James Byrd to a pick-up truck and dragged him until his body disintegrated. This powerful documentary takes you to the white and black communities as it records their separate reactions to the most vicious racially motivated murder in…
Homo Sapiens 1900
Homo Sapiens 1900 is a stunning exploration of the history of eugenics, race hygiene and the quest to improve the human race.
Emerging at the turn of the century, eugenic movements spawned government sanctioned research projects, whose stated goals were the improvement of the human species through biological means -…
Evanston's Living History - The Fight to Escape Racial Discrimination
It is the story of a community's struggle for justice; with roots extending to the town of Abbeville, South Carolina and the horrific lynching of one of its prominent citizens, Anthony Crawford.
It is the story of Crawford's granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and great, great-granddaughter working alongside the families of Emmett Till,…
How Racism Harms White Americans - A lecture by John H. Bracey
Distinguished historian John H. Bracey Jr. offers a provocative analysis of the devastating economic, political, and social effects of racism on white Americans. In a departure from analyses of racism that have focused primarily on white power and privilege, Bracey trains his focus on the high price that white people,…
Don't Shout Too Soon (1917 - 1940)
In the aftermath of World War I, a new round of race riots and lynching broke out, yet this was also a time of increasing strength for Black resistance movements.
Episode Three chronicles the years between the wars as a time of massive Black migration out of the South and…
Streets of Dreams - Activists Preserving Affordable Housing
Inspiring portraits of grassroots activists in communities of color who are using a community land trust to preserve affordable housing and promote development without the displacement of longtime residents.
By combining community ownership of land with individual ownership of homes, the CLT gives communities a powerful way to shape and…
Welcome to Leith - Notorious White Supremacist Craig Cobb Attempts Town Takeover
A feature documentary chronicling the attempted takeover of a small town in North Dakota by notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb.
As his behaviour becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.
With incredible access to both long time residents of Leith…
Arc of Justice - The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a Beloved Community
This film traces the remarkable journey of New Communities, Inc. and the struggle for racial justice and economic empowerment among African Americans in southwest Georgia.
NCI was created in 1969 in Albany, Georgia by leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Congressman John Lewis, and Charles and Shirley Sherrod, to…
