As part of Black History month, Cyclone Cinema featured the award-winning film “Dear White People.”

The film focuses on pride in black culture, pride in American values — in ways that relate to race and sexuality — and on white people inadvertently being racist by trying not to be racist.

The title comes from a Winchester University campus talk-show run by Sam White (Tessa Thompson), where she both makes fun of stereotypical white people — girls especially — and criticizes white people for their prejudices.

The revealing and inspired story follows several different students through their socio-political paths over the course of several months.

Lionel Higgens (Tyler James Williams) represents the mixed population that has never been black enough to fit in with the black crowd, but not white enough to escape racial profiling. He is also gay, which brings him even more abuse.

Sam White represents the mixed population that is confused between who and what they like to see themselves as. She is the leader of the black counter-culture and yet she is in love with a white man.

Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P Bell) represents the black male who has to deal with his proud black father, who would like to bring about change in his son. Troy’s father (Dennis Haysbert) also happens to be the dean of students at Winchester. Troy was also dating the president’s daughter, a cliché white girl, as a matter of defiance to both his father and her father.

Coco Connors (Teyonah Parris) represents the black woman who would rather be a part of ‘white culture’ than ‘black culture’. She is obsessed with making a name for herself.

Reggie (Marque Richardson) represents the black population that feels the most suppressed and yet would like to keep “white culture” and “black culture” separate. He is the real driving force behind the counter-culture.

Gabe, Justin Dobies, represents the white population that sees the racial tension but does not get why there is or needs to be tension. He is in love with Sam.

George, Brandon Alter, represents the white population that is ignorant to race issues and partaking in accidental racism. He also happens to be a member of the media, looking to pounce on the racial tension at the school, and is gay, which one would assume would give him perspective on discrimination.

President Fletcher, Peter Syvertsen, represents the white population that engages in racism, even going so far as to blame racism on minorities. He runs the school in a poor fashion, at least with race issues. His son, Kurt, Kyle Gallner, represents the wealthy and middle class white population stuck on reverse discrimination from black culture.

All of these characters cross paths and interact in ways to create different types of racial tension. The larger storyline follows the student political undertakings of Sam, Reggie, Lionel and Troy and the political battle among President Fletcher, Dean Fairbanks and the donors.

What the story creates is a sense of each one of the different perspectives that many students have on the subject of race. The writing is adorned with lines of wit, logic, logical fallacies and emotion to facilitate a moving satire.

The film is culminated by Sam’s own short film on the perspectives of race by the different races.

The satiric aspect of the film is genuine and asks the audience to take a look at the pride that both black and white cultures have. It asks that these separate cultures be respected for the different backgrounds they represent.

Then, the film asks us to take a broader look into culture and have a sense of pride in American culture — a  culture that, in theory, is blind to race, is accepting of all ideals and that does not see a need to separate “black culture” and “white culture,” but rather celebrates them together.

Finally, the film reminds us to be wary of indirect racism. Sometimes, the harder you are trying not to be racist, or the more you are trying to connect with a subculture, you seem almost as racist as someone who blatantly discriminates. It is a form of ignorance. It also works both ways, or even all ways, as this film can apply to more than just black and white, but people of all colors, as well as the LGBT community.

This film is commanding and fulfilling in its messages, brought on by the inspired writing and by the many talented actors and actresses who represent so many different perspectives in racial and sexual culture.

“Dear White People” was directed by first time director Justin Simien. Simien had similar experiences in his time enrolled at Chapman University, which, as you can guess, is mostly white. Simien himself is black and is also gay. These experiences and traits allowed him to write this story and give it credibility and conviction.

4.5/5