NO MATTER WHAT RACE, ETHNICITY, OR GENDER a person may be, I feel they were either born with the capacity for good or evil. This is my belief system. As far as I am concerned every group, no matter the nationality, the class, the religion; each group is made up of individuals who are good or bad. The issue I have is when one group thinks they are better than the other one. Though I did not understand completely what was taking place, I remember during elementary school there was a place of worship near us who had a group of students who formed a gang. Whenever they were off for one of their holidays, they would come to our school to try and start a fight with us. They would call us “bad” names. I was so young that I did not fully understand the meaning of the words they were shouting. It was later when I came to the realization, they were trying to put us down as if we were inferior to them. This was my first taste of discrimination. All my mind could comprehend back then was to assume that all the people of that place of worship were mean and liked to start fights. Honestly, I carried this misconception with me for a few years; no matter who I would meet or be introduced to, if they belonged to that place then I did not want to have anything to do with them.      AS I WAS GROWING UP AND continuing with school, I learned my reaction was not an uncommon thing. In our studies, we learned about many events that took place because of one group of people “hating” another group. Wars across the world happened because one group felt superior to another and wished to dominate them; so many examples after examples we studied. I could not believe the amount of effort, time and money that was poured into such hatred. Later in my studies, I was fortunate to work part-time at a company where I continued working after closing time. It was there that a met an elderly employee who finished his day by cleaning up the workspaces. Because we were usually the only two there, we struck up several conversations. It was not right away, but later after we got comfortable with each other, I asked about his family and if he had been born in the city. From that question he opened to me about his family’s history; he came from generations of slaves. I was speechless. Up until this time, I had never met someone whose past relatives were slaves. We shared stories we were told; I talked about the relatives I had who were killed in the war. I do not want this to sound dramatic, but it was a profound experience for me, having met and talked with him. Hearing about such cruelty and hatred was heartbreaking; yet confirmed my beliefs about good and bad human beings. From my teachings and life experiences, it should not be a surprise that I loved this film festival winning history drama.      RESEARCHING A NEW BOOK, AN AUTHOR is convinced that there is a connection between the hateful acts done by humans to humans, no matter where they lived in the world. The only problem now was to prove it. With Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Ray, The Color Purple) as Isabel Wilkerson, Jon Bernthal (The Accountant, The Wolf of Wall Street) as Brett Hamilton, Niecy Nash (Beauty, Reno 911!-TV) as Marion Wilkerson, Emily Yancy (Nine Months, Cotton Comes to Harlem) as Ruby Wilkerson and Finn Wittrock (Luckiest Girl Alive, American Horror Story-TV) as August Landmesser; this film inspired by true events, was powerful and moving. I thought the acting was wonderful and I thought the directing was outstanding as the story interwove itself into another story. Both were equally interesting in their own way, and I did not have an issue with the stories playing out in segments. The script was well done, even if it could have taken more chances with the subject matter. The way the subject matter must have been presented in book form would be difficult for anyone to transfer to the big screen, yet I felt it was accomplished in this thought-provoking movie. Following my beliefs about good and evil, it was quite apparent to me that Isabel was a member of the good side.

3 ½ stars