Children of color are now the majority of our nation’s youth. Historically left behind, these students are now positioned to lead America into the future; but their success hangs in the balance of a national debate about race that is fueling a culture war in America’s schools.
CWK Network, Inc., today announced the release date of their new documentary, Defining US: Children at the Crossroads of Change. Scheduled to debut on August 23, the film takes audiences inside the nation’s largest school systems to see and hear the untold stories of educators fighting to protect students’ rights to have open conversations about race and other issues that impact their identity.
The nation’s two largest school systems, New York City Department of Education and Los Angeles Unified School District provided unprecedented access to producers along with Atlanta Public Schools, Guilford County Public Schools, and others. Leading voices in education from Yale University, Columbia University, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and New York University (NYU) also participated.
“To not talk about race, is to not talk about what it means to be human,” says Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Defining US shares the stories of Black and Brown students who are directly impacted by the race debate and provides an up close and personal look at the commitment of educators who fight daily for the right of all students to know their history, celebrate their heritage, and access the opportunities they need to achieve and succeed.
The idea to produce the film began as part of a conversation between Paul Forbes, a Black educator from New York and Stacey DeWitt, a White producer from Atlanta who have different backgrounds and perspectives, but share similar hearts and minds. That discussion was the beginning of a friendship and many honest, sometimes uncomfortable, but always constructive conversations about race that informed the film and continue today.
“When Stacey and I met, I saw her as the director of a video shoot, but our relationship has blossomed into one where we are now co-conspirators blending our spheres of influence to disrupt and dismantle structures and systems that are leading to inequitable outcomes,” says Forbes, Executive Producer of the film, CEO of Leading with Hearts and Minds, and former Executive Director of Educational Equity, Anti-Bias, and Diversity, New York City Department of Education.
“Defining US lifts up teachers and students as a voice of reason in the divisive national dialogue,” says DeWitt, Executive Producer and Director of Defining US, and CEO of CWK Network, Inc., the company in charge of production.
“Our goal is to provide audiences with a fresh, new perspective on what educators are really teaching our children and what they can teach us about the hope and healing that occurs through a revolution of the heart and mind,” says DeWitt.
For more information about Defining US: Children at the Crossroads of Change, please visit definingus.org.
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