Director Roger Ross Williams has crafted a film that meticulously lays out the case that white supremacy has been baked into the design of the United States of America since its inception. Basing his film on the non-fiction book of Ibram X Kendi and speaking to scholars from many backgrounds, Williams makes a film that both outlines this uncomfortable truth but is truly watchable and deeply impactful.
Like Kendi's work it is named after, Stamped from the Beginning focuses on the experience of blackness in America under white supremacy (as opposed to the indigenous people's of the Americas experience of it) understanding how much of the economy and political structures that built the nation and continue to shape it today rely on racism and structural inequality to exist. The work here is sound but the film also is created in a way that makes it fascinating to watch.
A big part of this is the hope that it lays within its argument. It manages to celebrate black excellence while making its critique. The film ends with both a warning and a large amount of hope. History should make us uncomfortable (at least) and if it doesn't it's not real history.
Stamped from the Beginning
Director: Roger Ross Williams
Writer: David Teague
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