"Banished illuminates tragic and obscure episodes in American history; experiences that must be reclaimed and reckoned with if racial healing and justice are to be achieved. "
Review of
Independent Lens
"Banished"
by
Matthew Whitaker
Assistant Professor
History Department
Affiliate Faculty, African and African American Studies
Affiliate Faculty, School of Justice and Social Inquiry
Arizona State University
One hundred years ago, in towns, cities, and counties throughout the United States, white residents terrorized thousands of black families, and forced them to run away from their homes and land in fear. “Leave or die” is what white mobs in myriad cities around the U.S. told people of African descent in America between the end of the Civil War and the Great Depression. Even though a century has passed since these atrocities took place, most of these towns remain overwhelmingly white. Banished and it creator, Marco Williams (Two Towns of Jasper, 2002), shatter the deafening silences engendered by the stories of three communities, and their black progeny, who return seeking answers to longstanding questions, affirmation of their pain and losses, and justice.
At least twelve counties in eight states banished their black populations. More than 4,000 people of African descent were cast out from their homes. In the extraordinarily all-white communities of Pierce City, Missouri; Harrison, Arkansas; and Forsyth County, Georgia; the echoes of racial injustice during the past century still reverberate In Forsyth County, Georgia, where one thousand black residents were violently expelled, Banished explores the reality of land dishonestly taken, while trailing a handful of black descendants as they attempt to unveil the real story of their family's land, their expulsion, and the inability and/or unwillingness of white residents to acknowledge and address historic and contemporary racism. Williams journeys to each town, and often becomes the only black person in each community in the process, and meets with historians, politicians, business leaders and residents. His discussions with these individuals underscore the nature of institutional racism, and the difficulties associated with unearthing histories that are painful and contested.
In Pierce City, Missouri, one black descendent of terrorized and dislocated blacks outlines his own interesting form of reparation; the free disinternment and relocation of the remains of his great-grandfather, who was buried there unceremoniously before the expulsion, coupled with a formal acknowledgement of the banishmient by town’s leadership. In Harrison, Arkansas, home to the command center of the Ku Klux Klan, a white community is challenge to grapple with their city’s legacy of white supremacy. By exploring this relatively unknown episode in U.S. history, Banished examines the nation’s heritage as a society that hosted it own form of racial cleansing. Williams engages current residents and the descendants of those who were terrorized and expelled, and assists both groups as they seek closure in the process. The dialogue and exchanges that take place in the film ponder questions of identity, privilege, denial, responsibility, healing, and reparations.
Can past injustices redressed? What is the social, economic, political, and economic legacy of the expulsions on black families and communities they were forced to leave behind? Some of the implicit answers to these questions can be found in the stories Banished tells. The film demonstrates quite explicitly, however, that the limits of the U.S. legal system are clear and present, and the need for creative forms of reparation is essential. Banished illuminates tragic and obscure episodes in American history; experiences that must be reclaimed and reckoned with if racial healing and justice are to be achieved.
Independent Lens "Banished" airs Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 10 p.m. on Eight/KAET-TV.
