PBS recently ran two fantastic documentaries by film maker Llewllyn Smith. Race: The Power of an Illusion dissects the idea of race as anything but a social construct, using a class of high school students sequencing their DNA as a frame for a larger discussion of similarities and differences between races. The series' goal is described by Executive Producer Larry Addleman in this way:
"In producing this series, we felt it was important to go back to first principles and ask, What is this thing called "race?" - a question so basic it is rarely raised. What we discovered is that most of our common assumptions about race - for instance, that the world's people can be divided biologically along racial lines - are wrong. Yet the consequences of racism are very real.
How do we make sense of these two seeming contradictions? Our hope is that this series can help us all navigate through our myths and misconceptions, and scrutinize some of the assumptions we take for granted. In that sense, the real subject of the film is not so much race but the viewer, or more precisely, the notions about race we all hold.
We hope this series can help clear away the biological underbrush and leave starkly visible the underlying social, economic, and political conditions that disproportionately channel advantages and opportunities to white people. Perhaps then we can shift the conversation from discussing diversity and respecting cultural difference to building a more just and equitable society."
More information about the series, including links to articles and online resources can be found at the PBS page for the documentary here.
The second series shown in the film festival, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? focused on the ways in which systemic racism has
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