BlacKkKlansman follows Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black cop to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1975. During the film we get to watch as Ron rises up from working in the records room, having to deal with the racist remarks from his colleagues, to heading an investigation into the Ku Klux Klan or ‘The Organization’ as the members like to refer to it as.
Stalworth poses as a white man who wants to join the klan on the phone and recruits the help of one of his undercover partners Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), a Jewish man who has had to pose as a WASP (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant) for all of his life. Throughout the film we are exposed to the members of the klan as well as members of the local Black Student Union, showing the conflict between the two die-hard movements.
The film feels as though it wants to be a social commentary on the reality we live in today. With many on-the-nose jabs at President Trump, one can’t help but feel that one aspect of reality the film really wanted to address —the racism that lies within White America — was not handled as well as it could be. Throughout the film, the audience is shown that all of the Klansmen are bumbling buffoons, barely able to speak proper english and having ludicrous delusions of grandeur. While these types of people do exist in our reality, they are not the types to go see this movie, especially because it is targeted at them.
Yes, the movie is wildly important for all to see, but it fails to address the implicit racism that could be held by some of its viewers. This gives us, the members of the audience, a false sense of hope realizing that yes, they might not be nearly as racist as the members we are shown in the Klan, but they fail to see the little prejudices they hold against people who are not like them. Essentially, this movie will fail to reach those who need to see it most. White moviegoers could feel a bit of a 'pat on the back' just for going to see it in an effort to forgive their implicit biases.
Logan Carr is a freshman studying political science at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Did you see the movie? Let Logan know by emailing him at lc300918@ohio.edu.
