Spotlight on US racism

BlacKkKlansman

Directed by Spike Lee, 2018, 135 mins

Reviewed by Isai Priya

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is a thought-provoking movie of the first black detective in Colorado Springs Police Department. It shows a phase of Ron Stallworth’s life, from him joining the force in 1976 to his experiences as detective and then infiltrating the far-right, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan – which he does with the help of his colleague, called Flip Zimmerman in the film. The movie is based on Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, but it is important to mention that it is a fictionalised account.

One of the key themes is the institutional racism within the police department. Some scenes are critical of the police and show the racism that Stallworth had to deal with on a daily basis. However, it only really shows racism as something carried out by individual officers rather than the institution as a whole. It could suggest that all we need is more good cops and good people who are nicer to each other.

Ron Stallworth was a young black man who joined the police force because he wanted to make a difference. He viewed it as a proud achievement, and identified himself as a cop who fought against crime as well as for black liberation. Unfortunately, one nice cop with good principles cannot change the institutional racism inherent in the force.

The real question that needs to be asked is, in whose interests do the police function? The police form part of the capitalist state which ultimately defends the interests of the capitalists and big business, to maintain the status quo. The film does, in fact, highlight the fact that the KKK had allies in sections of the police and security services. Stallworth was eventually ordered to close off the investigation, destroy documents and delete all the evidence.

Racism is a daily feature of life for millions of workers and young people. In 2017, 81% of black people in the US said that racism is a big problem in society, up from 44% eight years before. Racism is also used by the capitalist state to divide communities and justify the exploitation and oppression of the mass of the people. BlacKkKlansman fails to really show that.

In Seattle, Kshama Sawant, a socialist councillor and member of Socialist Alternative – our co-thinkers in the US – has been to the fore of the struggle against racism and police harassment. Earlier this year, two Seattle police officers who in 2016 shot dead Che Taylor, an African-American, filed a lawsuit against Kshama Sawant. Taylor was killed after he had followed police instructions, was kneeling down and put his hands in the air.

In 2017, US police killed 1,147 people; 25% were black, despite being only 13% of the population. This year, 646 people have already died as a result of police shooting. The lawsuit was filed not only to silence Kshama but also to remove her from office.

Through her successful campaigns to improve the lives of ordinary people, including winning a $15/hour minimum wage, Kshama is a well-known campaigner against the exploitation on which profit-driven capitalism is based. State institutions such as the police and legal system are used to undermine and attack challenges to the establishment, including silencing socialists, activists and potential movements.

As a police officer, the real Ron Stallworth actually infiltrated a radical black organisation for three years – prior to his operation against the KKK. The movie, however, shows him attending just one speech by Kwame Ture, born Stokely Carmichael, a civil rights and former Black Panther leader. Undercover, he is seen taking part in a Colorado College Black Students Union rally where he meets the activist Patrice Dumas. They start a relationship without Stallworth telling her he’s in the police.

Ture’s speech is one of the most political clips in the movie. It is powerful and inspirational, calling on young black people to join the fight-back against racism. He concludes the rally with the famous Black Power call: ‘All power to all the people!’

Infiltrating liberation and socialist organisations is not a new thing. An exposé of the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Programme 1956-1971 revealed its aim to discredit and neutralise organisations ‘considered subversive to US political stability’. It included measures to provoke violence so that the police could arrest or attack activists or, worse, set them up to be killed. In Britain, spy cop infiltration of the Stephen Lawrence campaign after his racially motivated killing in 1993, of the Youth against Racism in Europe campaign, environmental activists and many others have shown just how widespread this tactic is.

BlacKkKlansman, whether on purpose or not, does not focus on the other black liberation organisations infiltrated by Stallworth. This is misleading and makes him and the cops out as heroes. Patrice Dumas, an important character in the film, is a passionate fighter for the black liberation movement and secretary of the Black Students Union. The racism, sexism and police violence faced by her and fellow activists show the difficulties and dangers of being a black activist in 1970s USA.

The tremendous civil rights movement of the late 1950s, 1960s and early 70s shook the US to its very foundations. In one way or another, it touched every black family in America. It won gains, including increasing the confidence of black people to fight for their rights. It forced a legal change to the constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In Britain, the Race Relations Act was also passed in 1968. Yet, 50 years on, the struggle continues.

We are in a time when Black Lives Matter and police violence, harassment and racism are hot bubbling issues. At the same time, we are also seeing a higher level of protest against racism, sexism and violence. We’ve seen a mass walkout of students against gun violence. Following Kshama Sawant’s victory in Seattle, Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, and a number of left-wing victories in Democratic Party primary elections, socialist ideas are gaining more of an echo in the US. Black youth are getting more active in fighting against racism and for better economic conditions.

Spike Lee’s inclusion of scenes that make the police look like our allies in the fight against racism raises the question of what message he is trying to give or, perhaps, was pushed to include. One scene in particular has Stallworth, Dumas and several police officers, including higher-ups, setting up and arresting a racist cop who says it’s OK to shoot black people. That never happened.

Despite these issues, the film is entertaining and packs the story with anger and humour. The scenes with KKK leader David Duke ridicule his white supremacist arguments and are both shocking and funny. In one phone call, for instance, Duke tells Stallworth that he knows he is white because he sounds it. "Negroes", he says, "pronounce ‘are’ as ‘are-uh’" – all the while, of course, talking to a black person. Other scenes make the Klansmen look stupid, exposing their illogical views that are racist, sexist and anti-Semitic to their core. In addition, Spike Lee includes multiple references to Donald Trump, linking the events in the 1970s to current times. He has Klansmen chanting ‘America first!’, calling to ‘take the country back’ and make it ‘great again’.

The film’s ending is a powerful kick in the gut for the audience, showing footage from the 2017 far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
It includes the real David Duke speaking and brutal attacks on counter-protesters. It also shows Trump refusing to condemn the white supremacists, instead saying there were ‘fine people on both sides’. BlacKkKlansman ends with a fitting memorial to Heather Heyer, killed when a car was driven at speed into the anti-racist demonstrators in Charlottesville.