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December 3, 1995
Web posted at: 7:05 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Susan Reed
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Racism is an age-old problem. It's at the root of the Bosnian war. It's responsible for the Holocaust and for many of the worst crimes committed against humanity. A California man has come up with a solution and is finding that it works.
A Korean grocer vents his rage after being attacked by rioters in Los Angeles. An NAACP office in Sacramento is firebombed. So is a synagogue. All are violent acts of racism. "What we see in America today is ... just the anger. We don't know the context. Where did it come from?" said filmmaker Lee Mun Wah. (66K AIFF sound or 66K WAV sound)
Answering that question has become a crusade for Wah. His film, "The Color of Fear," sits eight men down with each other to examine racism. It explores what it means to be white, and what it means to be a person of color.
"What is presented to me as an American does not look like me. Does not think like me, does not smell like me, does not cry like me."
-- Mexican-American actor in the film
The film is shown to small groups in comfortable settings where the viewers will feel free to bear their souls. The film's central figure is a man who claims that he is not racist, but says he is clueless as to why using the word "colored" is offensive. "I'm colored: I'm white," he says in the film. (325K QuickTime movie Courtesy Stirfry Productions)
African-Americans who see the film identify with the way the African-American in the film responds to the term. "Why don't you eat what I eat, why don't you drink what I drink, why don't you think like I like," an enraged Victor says on camera. "Why don't you feel like I feel, (expletive), I'm so sick and tired of this!" (215K QuickTime movie Courtesy Stirfry Productions)
It turns out that much of what the group in the film talks about in the context of racism is actually fear. "I come from this real strong belief that anger is not a primary emotion. I think hurt is," Wah says. "When hurt is acknowledged and invalidated, it turns into anger." (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)
His grass roots approach to ending racism, one person at a time, has never been tried before. Its goal is to change people's core beliefs first, hoping positive actions will follow.
Lee concentrates on using the film for diversity training in the workplace.
A group called World Trust brings friends of friends together in their homes. For many of them, the film acts as a catharsis, especially when they see the film's central character, the white man, transform. "I'm deeply hurt that you would consider my race as the oppressor," he tearfully tells the group in the film.
What the film does is open doors. "I don't think that there is a way to solve racism as such," one home viewer says. "I think all we can do is exactly what we are doing: work heart to heart."
The story of these men and their journey has so far been seen by half a million people. Producers plan to take the story to a worldwide audience.
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