” project — a series of five features, some little more than an hour, designed to educate and inform audiences about the experience of London’s West Indian immigrant population, about the expectations of assimilation raised by a white-majority country and the obstacles such a society puts in the way of that goal.
Set in the 1970s, this 63-minute film focuses on a 12-year-old, Kingsley , who appears “normal” enough to our eyes, but is singled out by the administration as inferior to his classmates. When Kingsley acts up, the teacher sends him to the headmaster, who recommends to Kingsley’s parents that they send him to a “special” school, one better equipped to deal with his unique needs.
Under the new arrangement, Kingsley goes to his usual school, where he is loaded onto a bus and transported to another for those with learning disabilities. During the intake interview, he sits beside a white girl who makes barking noises. And “class,” such as it is, amounts to a kind of day care, as the teacher pulls out his guitar and plays folk songs — if he bothers to show up at all.
In some cases, the signs of racism are overt. At recess, Kingsley asks the white lady with the whistle, “What are we supposed to do?” and she shrugs, “Swing from the trees like you’re back home in the jungle for all I care.” But more pernicious still are the assumptions never articulated outright but built into a system that sees Black children as “sub-normal.
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Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »