Embracing Keith Magee’s Wisdom When I Hardly Know the Guy

Yes, Dear, I’m Reviewing a Film Review … But It’s More Than That

I don’t need to say much about this. I just discovered Dr. Magee an hour ago. I won’t pretend to know him well. I haven’t read his book. I haven’t seen the film, Origin, that he’s just reviewed on CNN. Nor, have I read the non-fiction book by Isabel Wilkerson on which the film is based.

But I know this: the Reverend Professor Keith Magee Th.D., FRHistS, FRSA, and visiting Professor of Practice in Cultural Justice at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) is my new superhero (though I’m worried about getting all those initials on the front of his super suit.)

Why am I suddenly so enamored with the Reverend Doctor Magee? Because, he just wrote what is introduced as a simple film review, but turns out more of an I-Have-a-Dream-flavored masterwork, simultaneously identifying and prescribing constructive solutions for the inequalities that still plague our country. (Dr. Magee, I’m guessing you won’t care for my author comparison — please forgive me for what is meant as a compliment to both parties.)

Listen, don’t take my word for it.

Yes, as a writer and historian, I salivated over the logic of phrases such as “intergenerational stamina.” Yes, as an ally-and-advocate-in-training for DEI and the balance it promises, I was impassioned by sentences such as, “We need to liberate the living and their descendants.” But, dear reader, you’ve got to make up your own mind.

I’ll give you a couple of quotes below as teasers, but read Dr. Magee’s “film review” and decide for yourself. And if you agree with me, Dr. Magee, writer/director Ava DuVernay, and book author, Isabel Wilkerson, take some action. The recipe is right there in Dr. Magee’s narrative, and I’d wager in the film and book (I’ll be testing that theory ASAP.)

Remember, our caste system = historically low wages and lack of inherited wealth = generational poverty = social instability = a higher crime rate = more police = more force.

Understanding is the first step to ending this trend.

“We watch Isabel [the film’s protagonist] exploring Germany’s poignant memorials to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, discussing in one scene how successfully post-war Germany condemned its 12-year caste system to the past. The US, however, is not Germany. Here, the battle to overcome hundreds of years of race-based subjugation requires intergenerational stamina.

Nevertheless, efforts to memorialize the US victims of racial hatred are vital and are gaining ground. Movies like this one have a crucial role to play in helping Americans confront their history. But we need to do more than learn about and honor the dead. We need to liberate the living and their descendants.”