- Mike Anderson is a senior at the quintessential New-England liberal arts school, Frost College. And Mike is eight weeks away from graduation. On this particular day he has his African-American Literature class with his favorite professor. But today, Mike is feeling sadness. He's feeling isolated. He's feeling Angry.
- Mike Anderson has been arrested. A friendly officer removes Mike's and offers him some water. He learns that Mike Anderson is from Chicago and attends Frost College, a quintessential New-England liberal arts school. Then the officer's superior enters and the real questioning begins. Mike refuses to talk about the incident. The detective says he believes Mike will remember, after he is convicted, that the detective was the one person who tried to help him. Mike is left alone until Derrick Hodges (Tim Moriarty), his public defender comes in to announce that Mike is free to go. Mike questions how his life could have been ruined by simply walking a girl home, but Hodges has no details on what subsequently happened in the case. Mike meets Eddie (Ramon Nuñez) and later Michelle (Dahiana Castro) in a coffee shop. They all discuss their previous night's sexual exploits. Michelle is a lesbian. The three are set to present in their black literature class that morning. They arrive at their 8:30 a.m. black literature class together and greet other classmates. Carla Williams (Daphne Danielle), their teacher, arrives and Mike, Eddie and Michelle begin leading the class through James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time" in terms of its view on the black male experience. The class discusses how Baldwin was an optimist and had hope for the black condition when compared to a Ta-Nehisi Coates book they had previously. Coates was more pessimistic, had a separation from God, and a lack hope of ever overcoming racial prejudice. Mike takes exception that the belief in God is a virtue and its spur-of-the-moment optimism. He cites that God has done little for yet is loved the most by black people. He argues that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr were not as divergent at the end of their lives as they were initially. Each saw a similar view of what the country would become if the issue of racism was not solved. Mike discusses a presentation by Coates that he attended as proof that the Coates book had more appeal than just to white liberals. The class takes a break. Mike takes freshman Kenda (Isi Laborde-Edozienaside). She is the girl he had slept with the previous night. Kendra admits she to may have had a significant other and kisses Michael. Michael meets his friends outside who are smoking and again talking about hookups. Lukas (Richie Dupkin) is tardy as class resumes. Carla begins a discussion on the life of Zora Neale Hurston, her life and her book "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Carla claims her publishers altered her writing to appeal to a white crowd by reducing the sexuality she expressed in it. As the conversation progresses, Rachel (Danicah Waldo) says some of the imagery in the writing triggered her to dark places. Kyle (William W. Wallace), a white conservative, argues that triggered is a silly word' particularly when one becomes emotional about incidents they never actually experienced. Mike agrees stating his whole life would be triggered simply because he was a black man walking down the street. He tells of how his brother died in his arms and is not triggered by a book with a similar plot. He accuses his classmate of her unaffected triggering as white privilege. The Trump election is suggested to be as a result of racism. Carla asks Kyle, the class's sole Republican, to explain Trumps victory. Kyle explains what a flawed candidate Hillary Clinton was. He proves his point by polling the class and learning that the only person who voted for Clinton in the primary election in the entire class was the teacher. They then try to compare Hillary as a white feminist to Hurston who did not define her feminism in terms of the patriarchy. Kendra explains she laughed out loud at portions of the book where Hurston reflects in her life. At this point, Rachel has had enough and believes Mike has called her a racist. Maggie (Amanda Jane Stern), a consistently apologetic liberal, tries to defend Rachel by saying as a woman she is also persecuted. Mike, in disbelief, says no white woman is persecuted at Frost College. Rachel is too upset to continue and excuses herself from the room. Carla points out that many contemporaries, even black make authors of her time, were highly critical of Zora, because she was free and did not care what others thought of her. An older adult student, Ellen (Elizabeth Saunders), makes the observation that most of the literature was about black people struggling through social transitions. Carla says this is a good time to reference August Wilson. Carla explains how Wilson changed and provided opportunities for blacks in theater. The students react to some of his plays, particularly how Wilson had a confrontational relationship with God. Maggie says Wilson monologues are history lessons given by largely ignored people. Carla asks for reactions to "The Piano Lesson". The class explains that Sawyer's ghost maintains while the siblings are still in conflict about selling the piano which is a metaphor about how they are dealing with the slavery in their family's past. The class moves back to the introduction of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" book where WATCHER is capitalized. The book cannot escape a religious context despite the main character not being a religious person. That character has found her voice by going out into the world and living and appreciates freedom in ways a less experienced person would not. Carla Williams keeps Michael back while the rest of the class takes a break. She encourages Mike to see a therapist to discuss his arrest incident. Michael admits hated Frost College at first before he found black role models. Now he realizes how quickly all his efforts at education can be rendered mute. He asks out loud, "What's the point?" in frustration. He tells Carla of his estrangement from his brother after his mother died and how he would not be attending Frost. Carla tells him he needs to believe in something and again encourages him to seek out a therapist. They head to break with a new understanding. When class resumes, Kyle is admonishing campus liberals who banned Milo Yiannopoulos with anti-feminism views from being allowed to speak. Kyle says the free exchange of ideas is American and critical to education. Kyle declares the riot that ensued when Milo was to speak as cultural fascism. He appears to be winning the argument. Maggie asks for the students of color to chime in. She is surprised when they do not back their position. Mike says that he and Kyle are friends but agree on nothing. Michelle is from Cuba and knows full well what it is like not to have free speech. Eddie then tells a story of his own experience where his father was in prison, his mother in a drunken rage put a slice in his back and eventually drank herself to death. He compares his situation to the worst thing that will ever happen to the rich white liberal students which is hear a different opinion and as a reason why he could care less if Milo spoke on campus. With only 10 minutes left in the class, Carla ends the discussion. Mike asks what Carla's position is on free speech, Milo, and the protests. Carla says that while protest are important, you cannot protest an idea but only replace it with a better one. She invites all speakers, however crazy, to have the opportunity to speak. She then asks the class to close their eyes, sit back and reflect on the class, something that Mike is not fond of. She randomly calls on students to offer some of their reflection. Various students comment on the depth of conversation, the fear they have for the harshness of the world, the need to be honest with the story like the authors they consider. A female student says she loves Zora Hurston as a writer expressing the realities of love. Another white male student says he needs to think more deeply about the literature because he cannot easily see the insights of his classmates until they are disclosed. Kyle wishes they could talk more and appreciates how the writers were brave to express ideas when such ideas could get them killed. Maggie apologizes for dragging the students of color into an argument with Kyle and just feels guilty she has grown up with her white privilege. The students are grateful to Carla for creating a class where they could have such discussions. Kendra, as a biracial woman, believes the content of the class has helped her understand her blackness. Rachel reveals she was the white girl who Mike accompanied home when she was drunk and saved from a sexual assault that got him arrested. She apologizes to Mike and reveals her shame. When Carla asks Mike for his reflection, there are sirens and reporters heard outside. Mike peers ahead angrily and says nothing.
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