Last night Ana and I went to see “BlacKkKlansman,” a film by Spike Lee.  This is the based on a true story movie about the first black police officer in Colorado Springs who goes undercover and uses his real name to become and member of the Klan.  He stays the voice and leader of operations of the undercover operation while another undercover cop plays him as the member.

Both Ana and I were eager to see it and found it in original version not too far away from us.  Berlin has lots of places that dub.  Boo to dubbing movies.  I was having a rough day so it seemed like a good movie night.

Here is what I say about the movie. It was really well done. The story was good. The actors were great.  Spike Lee did a great job of showing us that things that seem in the past are still not in the past and the movie ends with footage from 2017 in which we can see that things are not that far off from before in the United States.  Very powerful and the points are well taken.  There are even some really entertaining points.

But what struck me as we left the theater last night was how different it was to watch this movie…with American flags throughout and very cultural jokes in some areas and then other things that I didn’t think were jokes but the audience laughed around me, and lots of references to Neo Nazi groups, etc….with a mostly German audience surrounding me.  I was sitting next to my girlfriend from Serbia and Germans all around and who knows who else from other countries and here I was, the minority as an American in the midst while watching a movie definitely geared to make Americans think about the state of America right now.  I am guessing this would have felt different to me in America.

Still processing some of the implications of being that person in that space and what was happening in people’s minds around me.  I was glad to see a movie that claims that I come from a racist country.  Because the United States is definitely a racist country.  Hands down.  I get asked this question almost more than any other question about the US.  Is the US racist? And I have to answer yes but it also means we can do something about it.

Ok, just some thoughts and there will be more storytelling later….stay tuned….