New Docuseries on Race in America Says ‘We Gon’ Be Alright’
May 9, 2019
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The new trailer for upcoming digital series “We Gon’ Be Alright” dropped released yesterday (May 8) via Deadline, and it offers a glimpse into the project’s hard conversations on everything from inequality in education to why the country is becoming more separate and unequal.
In an emailed press statement, director Bao Nguyen said that he wanted to keep the four-episode docuseries consistent with the source material, author and journalist Jeff Chang’s 2016 book of the same title. “I was drawn to how Jeff described some of today’s most pressing issues with such a keen sense of narrative,” Nguyen said.
Chang’s critically acclaimed collection of essays examines social movements throughout history, from the Great Migration to #BlackLivesMatter. Via personal writings and interviews with activists, the book explores the idea of “diversity,” the origins of student protests, how ideas about what it means to be Asian American have changed and the impact of a century of racial separation in housing.
“We’ve reached this point of racial division in U.S. politics slowly—it’s been over five decades since the Civil Rights Act. Yet the last few years have quickly accelerated resegregation. So much of what we do in our daily lives actually obscures the reality of our separateness and we hope that the series helps us see what is happening and spark the difficult conversations about how we can move forward together,” Chang said in the statement.
In a tweet today (May 9), he emphasized the inspiration behind both the book and docuseries:
To all the young ones searching for the truth and refusing to bow down-the world is yours.
We Gon’ Be Alright is inspired by you.
And joy is also resistance.
Produced by ITVS in partnership with the Center for Asian American Media, each episode in the series attempts to unravel different events that happened in the country in the years since the book was published, including resegregation in Silicon Valley, Hollywood images, Harvard admissions and privilege and marginalization. Interview subjects include Rafael Casal, Kieu Chinh, Dianne Doan, Reggie Hudlin, Adam Rodriguez and Linda Sarsour.
The series premieres today (May 9) at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and will stream digitally on the Indie Lens Storycast channel beginning on May 14.
*Note: Jeff Chang is an employee of Race Forward, which publishes Colorlines.
