STATEMENT BY JEFFERY ROBINSON

This project began in 2011, when my wife and I became parents. My wife’s younger sister died in 2011, and her son, Matthew, moved from Queens to Seattle to live with us during the summer before his ninth-grade year. The experience of having a young Black person in our home brought all issues of race that I dealt with as a criminal defense lawyer to a very personal level.

Matt was a young Black person stepping out into the streets of the United States, and I was afraid of what that would mean for him. My fear led me to dig deeper into anti-Black racism in this country, and I began learning aspects of our history that I had never heard before.

George Orwell warned us that “Who controls the past controls the future.” Knowledge is power. A false narrative about the role of white supremacy and anti-Black racism in the United States has led to our failure to make significant, lasting progress on the issue of racial justice. Knowledge can change people’s views, people’s opinions, and their behavior. I never saw this as a question of whether I would make this information public, but how I could do it in the broadest way possible. I started giving this presentation while I was in private practice as a criminal defense lawyer in Seattle because it was important to me. I continued to give the presentation when I went to the ACLU. And, in 2022, I continue to share this information in my role as the founder and chief executive officer of The Who We Are Project.

In 2017, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler contacted me and told me that my presentation was incredibly moving, and that they thought it should be seen by everyone. They explained that by turning it into a documentary film, we could do that. Any hesitation I might have had about two white women directing a movie about the experience of Black Americans was quickly resolved by their clear commitment to engage in anti-racist self-reflection and action. Just as important was what they proposed; they did not come to me telling me what the film would be, or looking for ownership of it, or looking for money or control of the narrative. They insisted that I would own all the rights to the film, and that I would have final editorial say on the content of the film. As we worked together, we built trust – I was reluctant to have personal stories included but they convinced me that some of my family history would help complete the narrative. I agreed because of the trust we built working together for 3 years, and the film is better for it.

Together, we created a work of art, as well as a tool that will help us advance the goal of The Who We Are Project, the organization that evolved out of the presentation – to correct the narrative about the United States’ history of anti-Black racism. There are many lanes to fill in the fight for racial justice. The Who We Are Project will focus on fierce and factual engagement with anyone who will listen to advance education about our true history.

What started as a search in my attempt to help my nephew deal with the challenges of racism in the United States turned into an education I was not expecting. The title of the film – Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America – is important. It is “A” chronicle, not “THE” chronicle of racism in the United States of America, which would take much longer to tell. My work focuses on the experience of Black America.

I hope that my son/nephew lives his life in the world free from crippling pandemics. I hope he can live in a country that has taken strides toward racial justice that go far beyond what happened in my lifetime. I hope we get to a point where the narrative in the United States about our past is one that is true, not to tear ourselves down, but to reckon with where we started and how far we need to go to get to the true promises of our country.