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A matter of race â and credit where itâs due
Updated May 9, 2021, 7:15 a.m.
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A still from the documentary A Reckoning in Boston. Lost Nation Pictures
In last weekâs Sunday Arts story âRace matters at this yearâs IFFBoston,â you attribute the quote âthis is not a typo,â about the glaring racial wealth disparities in Boston, to James Rutenbeck, a white documentarian who makes the comment in his film âA Reckoning in Boston.â
In fact, the original quotation â that, at $8, the median net worth of Black Bostonians was âno typoâ â is from Akilah Johnson, a former Globe reporter, who is Black, writing under her own byline on Dec. 11, 2017.
Kafi Dixon is one of the producers of A Reckoning in Boston and a subject of the film. (Courtesy)
Late one night in an adult education classroom in Dorchester, Kafi Dixon compares the toll of living in an environment that upholds white supremacy to a “slow drip, drip, on a hard stone.” Her comment prompts a burst of discussion. One student ups the comparison to a trickle and the group shares a laugh when another adds, “Turn that faucet off!”
Drawn to the intimacy and transformative potential of the Clemente Course in the Humanities designed to give adults with limited financial resources a chance to rigorously study literature, history, and philosophy Newton filmmaker James Rutenbeck thought he’d make a documentary full of scenes just like the one described, inspired by students like Dixon. And in fact, he tried.
By Daniel Sheehan, Reporter Staff
May 6, 2021
Dorchester resident Kafi Dixon is one of the subjects featured in A Reckoning in Boston.
“A Reckoning in Boston,” a new documentary film that focuses on two Dorchester residents enrolled in a night course at Codman Square Health Center, will make its debut at the Independent Film Festival of Boston today (Thurs., May 6).
Director James Rutenbeck initially expected to make a film about the Clemente Course in the Humanities, a free educational experience offered in Codman Square for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. But over the course of filming for five years, Rutenbeck decided to bring two participants in the course, Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler, aboard as producers/subjects in the film.
Here is
Radio Boston rundown for May 6. Tiziana Dearing is our host.
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