OAKLAND -- Approximately 200 people showed up at the Grand Lake Theatre to watch a documentary film about race and discuss inherent biases, prejudices and racism in a calm and open environment.

The film was "Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity" and featured interviews by poets, activists and scholars discussing the history of racism in America and beyond, how race permeates through our present culture. The March 2 discussion was led by Tammy Johnson of World Trust, the agency led by filmmaker Shakti Butler, and she welcomed discussion in a space where people could talk about race without a politically charged incident sparking the discussion.

"This is how we build community in a real way," Johnson told the crowd.

Leslie Caplan and several members of the gay and lesbian Sierra Club activity chapter attended the event. It was particularly exciting for her because she's been thinking a lot about white privilege and living in a changing Oakland.

"I've been reading a lot about race," Caplan, a Canada native, said. "I really want to understand what it's like to be African American in this country and how I contribute to making that less easy and less pleasant. I want to be part of a change."

The Sierra Club, she said, has a huge initiative going to change the club to reflect the people who live in the country and the Bay Area.

"This movie is giving us an understanding that diversity isn't the number of different colors, that diversity is deeper than race," she added.


"Cracking the Codes" was brought to Grand Lake Theatre's main theater by Oakland Neighbors Inspiring Trust, or ONiT, a neighborhood group that organically formed last year to discuss issues about race and inherent biases in Oakland after a discussion on the controversial website Nextdoor.com rattled nerves. A core group of Oakland residents, mainly from the Grand Lake area, held a well-attended meeting to discuss race in Oakland when then led to more meetings and visualization programs that drew around 100 people.

Omar Farmer of ONiT, which can be found on Facebook, said the group was able to screen the film by gathering $1,000 worth of donations on a crowd-sourcing website and offering tickets of $4.25 to $6.

"We always want to create spaces where you can speak your own truth," Farmer, a single father living in the Grand Lake Neighborhood, said. "We want to show our diversity as a sign of strength."

Johnson relayed that the film values authenticity, respect, empathy, fairness, openness, understanding and love, among others. She said talking about and addressing races is "something we must do, we must look at and talk about race and history without blame."

She added, "with all racial groups, all of those histories matter and all of them play a role in the movement."

The film was broken into several chapters about 10 minutes long. After each chapter, Johnson stopped the film to discuss its content. After one, an African American audience member spoke about how she turned to her Caucasian neighbor and talked openly about her white privilege. After another, an audience member talked about what it was like to grow up his race in Oakland.

Cleveland Heights resident Al Lam said he's interested in the topic because of this critical election year and the divisive rhetoric of some of the presidential candidates.

"I can't predict the outcome, but race is a very important topic," he said. "This film touches on how did we get here and what are some solutions and connects us with resources."

Chasmin Moses of East Oakland's Seminary neighborhood came to see the film because she is a lifelong Oakland resident and has become frustrated with Oakland's economic and demographic changes. She said her rent went up 15.5 percent last year.

"I see a lot of entitlement in all races," she said. World Trust distributes "Cracking the Code" to neighborhood groups like ONiT, schools, churches and other organizations for a fee and sometimes holds facilitated discussions like the one at the Grand Lake Theatre for various groups.

To learn more about "Cracking the Code," visit www.world-trust.org.

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