A Review of ‘White With Fear’: A stirring documentary about dread and racism propelling American politics
A documentary about the culture of fear-mongering and covert racism in the U.S. and how politicians attempt to use such strategies to their advantage.
‘White With Fear’: A stirring documentary about dread and racism propelling American politics
Cast: Ian Haney Lopez, Leah Wright Rigeur, Rick Perlstein, Kevin Kruse, Joe Peyronnin, Aasif Mandvi, Wajahat Ali, Katie McHugh, Tim Miller, Eddie Glaude, Carol Anderson, Jean Guerrero, Sally Bradshaw, Steve Bannon, Sean Trende, Sam Nunberg, Stuart Stevens, Carter Wrenn, Terry McAuliffe, Rick Gates, Hillary Clinton, Kristi Draper, Jason Van Tatenhove, Jamie Raskin, Rev. Horace Sheffield, Garnell Whitefield, Rudy Giuliani (archive), Richard Nixon (archive), Kevin Phillips (archive), Roger Ailes (archive), Ann Coulter (archive), Stephen Miller (archive), Barack Obama (archive), Donald Trump (archive), others (archive)
Critic’s Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
Director: Andrew Goldberg
Duration: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Genre: Documentary, Politics, Racism
Language: English
Release: 2024
What’s it about?
A documentary about the culture of fear-mongering and covert racism in the U.S. and how politicians attempt to use such strategies to their advantage.
Review:
Here is a riveting documentary that sets out to examine the reasons behind the complex racial discord which plagues the U.S.A. today. Soliciting the informed opinions of a slew of American citizens in the realms of politics, journalism and academia, this eye-opening film seeks to uncover the truth behind America’s abrasive social fabric. This relevant and compelling cinematic investigation studies how the country’s White conservative elite subjugates and persecutes their minority fellow-residents through insidious strategies and political machinations. This well-researched celluloid venture aims to show how those in power have been employing every trick in the book to consolidate their control by instilling unfounded dread in their prospective supporters while scapegoating vulnerable communities.
White with Fear begins by expressing how the powers-that-are resort to strategic racism to gain political mileage, a game-plan earlier employed by President Richard Nixon. By launching his “war against crime”, Tricky Dicky, effectively incited the majority of White America to defend themselves from the country’s African American community, which came to be seen as terrorists. Many of those who left crime-infested cities were determined to keep the Black man out of the rising suburbs - usually with a gun handy. By using this conflict to set the tone, the documentary examines the various issues perpetuating racial tension in the U.S. These include political instigation; the role of the media; the 9/11 terror attacks; Barack Obama’s presidency; immigration; racial manipulation; the undermining of Critical Racial Theory, the January 6th’s storming of Capitol; and the fear-mounting Replacement Theory.
Non-fiction authors like Ian Haney Lopez and Rick Perlstein are shown to lambast Nixon and the Republican Party. Then, the film shifts focus to media moghul Rupert Murdoch and his “Political Pitbull” subordinate Roger Ailes, who was instrumental in launching the U.S.’s first ultra-Right news channel – Fox News. This TV network, fuelled by Murdoch’s insatiable hunger for money and power, would gain incredible momentum in the aftermath of 9/11. But former Fox News President Joe Peyronnin points out how the channel’s irresponsible and divisive reporting endangered the lives of innocent South Asian-American and Muslim-American citizens, who were viewed as the enemy. Actor Comedian Aasif Mandvi shares one such grimly humorous anecdote, while author Wajahat Ali mentions how the then Bush Administration had stirred up a perceived “clash of civilizations”. Lopez adds that this was essentially the notion that enabled President Bush to wage war against two Islamic nations.
The film then shifts tracks to scrutinizing Barack Obama’s Presidency, during which the media mercilessly attacked the African American leader for everything from a deepening racial divide, to higher taxes, to political doublespeak, to distributing food stamps and free cell phones to the poor, to his pitching of the universal health plan “Obamacare”. On this subject, author of ‘White Rage’ Carol Anderson, recalls that during this time, gun sales surged and militias rose over fears that (as Princeton University academic Eddie Glaude posits), the U.S. was descending into a “minority nation”. The documentary then segues into the complicated Immigration Reform debate, which many consider a double-edged sword. While the Republican Party saw inviting foreigners as a strategy to woo more votes, its elected members also publicly expressed fears of a “mass invasion”.
The film goes on to elucidate such racially-charged tragedies as the murders of Kate Steile and George Floyd; the violent White Supremacist protest in Charlottesville; the targeting of Asian-Americans for the spread of the COVID virus; and the propagation of the sensitive Critical Race and Replacement theories. This, while juxtaposing them with public statements by President Donald Trump and other politicians that downplay the severity of such instances and effectively condone the actions of the perpetrators. Sharing their incisive views on these various issues are – LA Times reporter Jean Guerrero; Trump’s former advisor Sam Nunberg; Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates; Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin; former Breibart News writer/producer Katie McHugh; ex-spokesperson for the Republican National Committee Tim Miller; former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe; ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton; and Rev. Horace Sheffield, among others.
Producer-writer-director Andrew Goldberg launches the views and arguments of his many respondents almost in militaristic fashion – bombarding the viewer with pertinent yet sometimes overwhelming information. The film’s editing is superlative, seamlessly splicing together soundbytes, imagery and archival footage with classical string music serving as appropriate embellishment. However, the frenetic pacing of visual and voice could have done with a few breather interludes and perhaps even a narrative voice-over holding the movie together. It is interesting though that many of the personalities figuring in his documentary seem to have undergone a crisis of conflict and emerged from their previous affiliation. In other words, Republicans who now identify as Democrats. Perhaps, with this impassioned production, Goldberg can “convert” others who currently believe in the outright hegemony of White America.
