More involved than your personal association with whatever arbitrary and undefined racial name you call yourself, the Other Awareness Project (OAP) is a 95% guilt & anger free, thought-provoking and humorous documentary that looks into what I think is the continued incorrect categorization of people into racial groups by skin color and other arbitrary things.
WRITER/PRODUCER - MICHAEL JAMES BROWN
Despite everything we know scientifically, legally, religiously, practically any way you want to look at it, governments, institutions, and businesses STILL ask questions concerning your racial choice? In this era of keeping it real", Internet access, and DNA research, why does an intelligent person, using CURRENT information, STILL classify themselves into racial groups? Is it helping to solve any problems going forward? The project is about self-identification!
Toronto District School Board: FUTURES - Equity in Education Conference, Toronto, Canada); 22nd & 24th Annual National Conference On Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education; Clarion University; Santa Monica High School; California State University - Long Beach.
We appreciate the time and energy you put forth to share your work with our Male Academy young men at Cabrillo, Lakewood, Millikan, and Jordan Freshman Academy. There is always VALUE ADDED to our young men when real life relevancy and relationships are built when Guest Speakers of your caliber share their work. Let's continue to dialogue in the near future. Quentin Brown, Male Academy Administrator, Long Beach Unified School District.
Project History
Since 2003, Michael has traveled around the United States photographing and filming conversations with strangers who call themselves any of the completely arbitrary and legally undefined “racial” categories. One purpose of the project was to see why they chose the category they chose, how they supported that decision, and how it has or hasn't affected their lives. Everyone answered the same questions, from “Who is Al Sharpton?" to “Where is Caucasia?” to "What is the legal description of a _____ person in the United States?" No one knew the questions prior to filming. We didn't have pre-production meetings. The conversations are exactly as they happened with as little editing as possible.
Highlights include speaking with then Attorney General of the State of Ohio - Marc Dann, current Mayor of Carson, CA - Jim Dear, current Professor of Biology at NC A&T University - Dr Joseph Graves Jr., and Rabbi Brian Zachary Meyer - Los Angeles. All in all, more than 15 one-hour interviews with people from all stations in life.
