review by William Copeland
I had never
watched a movie where I knew every person who is featured.
Watching “We
Are Not Ghosts,” a new Bullfrog film directed by Mark Dworkin
and Melissa Young, was a very personal experience.
"(There
are) Professors who care to teach, (there are) men who raise
their seeds, (there are) people who look like me," Aku
Kadoga's black theater class sings. The class's song forms a
powerful opening image crying out "My city, My city, My city."
This is a powerful beginning to the film because most narratives of
Detroit use striking visuals or historical analysis but are silent on
the voices of those of us who claim "My city," often for
decades or generations.
It's amazing and no coincidence how
often the word "we" is used in interviews. "We live
here and we love it here" "We in the lower class right now…
We used to be number one" are sentiments from interviews of
Detroiters early in the film. The film shows a collective
identity that is strong in Detroit. This identity is a
foundational identity that leads to action. Many folks in the
film are shown describing what "we" are trying to
do.
"We are not ghosts" contains some biting
criticism of the contemporary American economy, particularly looking
at the myth of the information society and how the current American
economic system is based on a conception of what makes a secure
middle-class life that has been narrowed over decades and leaves
hundreds of thousands of young people behind.
The survival
projects highlighted in the film are built because of this feeling of
being left behind or left out of the economy. This brings
decreased life expectancy, families losing their homes, unemployment
and imprisonment which gnaw at our community’s strength. The end of
the film shows specifically Detroit's struggle against police
brutality and neighborhood devastation.
Baba Murubaki
reflects on his work as a teacher in Detroit when he asks "How
do we raise children particularly African American children to have a
quality education in a safe, nurturing loving, environment that gives
them a cultural foundation they can respect and appreciate other
cultures as well as their own and give them the responsibility… to
have the awareness to use those skills to help?" The film’s
closing sequences highlights the challenging work to retain our
humanity and the challenge to maintain and develop African identity
in these contexts.
What is not
included:
Viewpoints of those who would start their analysis
of the current moment in Detroit, not with all the good work going
on, but with an analysis of what "we" are up against. Many
of those may offer that we are losing the fight in important
ways. The phrase "destruction of our neighborhoods" is
mentioned. Maybe the filmmakers felt this is a story too often
told, but I feel that it makes the hope brighter to shine a light on
the systems of disinvestment and despair that we are embedded
in.
The film describes the land as being abandoned and
"free." In the last few years, probably since the
filming of the movie, gentrification and land grabs have been
accelerating with the proposed aim of introducing scarcity into our
economic system. Corporate developers are eyeing Detroit
neighborhoods. In some cases, the even use the success of
Detroit's urban agriculture to justify their intrusion into the
city.
In other words, the acts of survival are not just
beautiful acts of collective self-determination but increasingly are
leading to direct confrontation with the existing power system.
"so
don't write eulogies for detroit, no uninspired folk song of gloom,
some of us are coming home to show how we make the planet move"
poet jessica care moore proclaims.
Also not included in the
movie: what is at stake with the narrative of Detroit. The bold
assertion "we are not ghosts" is made and depicted, but who
is asserting that Detroit is a ghost town? How is the ruin porn used
to destroy communities and limit the agency of Detroiters? What
is the white savior narrative and how does that affect viewpoints on
Detroit? Detroit is currently awash in "eulogies" and
"uninspired folk songs." The Communicators I work with in
Detroit talk about the challenge of flipping or transforming the
dominant media narrative. It's unfortunate that these questions are
unasked in this film but I hope you ask these questions, Dear Reader,
in order to understand how rebellious the assertion that "We are
not ghosts" truly is.
That's just context and
criticism. This powerful film contributes to the struggle over
the narrative of Detroit by focusing on the Black, multicultural,
urban "we" that acts not only to survive but also "to
make the planet move." The film should be viewed and
discussed in schools, colleges, neighborhoods, and prisons. I
feel that the film encourages but does not challenge. It's left
up to you to understand the system of disinvestment, exploitation,
and misinformation that surrounds us in the D. When you do,
you'll appreciate the projects, organizations, and individuals in the
film that much more. And then you will know why "We Are
Not Ghosts" is not just a title of a great, informative
documentary but a twenty first century battle cry.
William Copeland is Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Coalition's Stand Up Speak Out Youth Coordinator. He is working to create the Whole Note Healing Collective, and he served as one of the local coordinators for the 2010 US Social Forum. He participated in the 2011 Detroit 2 Dakar Delegation to the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal.