Great black hopes

The second day at Urbanworld I saw The Pact, a documentary directed and produced by Andrea Kalin. The film's based on a book by ex-Washington Post reporter Lisa Frazier Page (who I once upon a time worked on a project with) and tells the story of three black men from Newark who started up in the projects and wound up as three doctors.

It's one of the best documentaries of its type I've seen--not cheesy, but sufficiently inspirational that if they indeed get copies of it in every school in America it'll definitely help increase the number of black professionals, at least to the extent the Cosby Show did. Which shouldn't be understated.

All three doctors are amazingly personable, down-to-earth and good people, in no ways forced or fake. Dr. Sampson Davis--his coworkers call him 'Dr. Hollywood'--is probably featured the most of the three doctors--he strikes me as the most 'normal' one. And a significant subplot centers around his attempt to balance his work at Beth Israel in Newark with his growing inspirational role (Oprah and everyone else comes calling). He seems to still have some demons, one of those people who are always observers, taking everything in, assessing; but with all the right intentions.

Dr. Rameck Hunt is shown initially lifting weights in his apartment; later on his way to an event he's changing in his SUV, which seems par for his life. He also takes in his sister, and attempts to motivate her. He seems to have a pretty cheerful attitude about things, just keeps moving forward.

Dr. George Jenkins--who's a dentist--is tall and spare, is on screen the least. I found out online that he's actually the one who convinced the other two to apply to the special Seton Hall program that set them on their paths to being doctors. (Hmm, you also find out online that Hunt at 16 was involved in the beating of an old man).

If I had one criticism about the film, it's that you don't get enough of the interaction of the three, there's no sense of what the group dynamics are like. There is a scene where they express reservations about whether the documentary will intrude into their personal lives, so maybe that was a deliberate condition (you never see any of their wives, either).

The emotional heart of the film aside from the doctors is Malique Kenny Bazemore, who with his mother attends a book signing--after reminding her of it every day for a month, she says--and who the three doctors adopt as one of their many mentees. He's a great kid, but a normal one; I think it's his mom who keeps him on the straight and narrow, along with the situation with his sister.

The film actually sparked an interesting discussion with a couple friends over the weight the factors of motivation, intelligence and environment play in personal success or failure. I think having any one of the three is enough to make you moderately successful, but realistically, since a kid can only directly control one of the three, it's all about motivation--which is also the only factor that, I think, can overcome deficiencies in the other two.

The documentary focuses most on motivation; it's obvious all three doctors were pretty smart to begin with and had at least one caring parental figure, but I think it only buttresses my point that one of them was involved in armed robberies even with his 'advantages,' and only turned his life around after the resulting attitude adjustment.

As one of the doctors said in the film and in the post-film Q&A (the place should've been packed, instead there were only about 40 people), he can't help someone who isn't first motivated to help himself. In our post-Jim Crow society, as Bill Cosby says in the film, there are all sorts of of remnants of institutional discrimination and unfairness--but there are also plenty of programs for those who want to take advantage of them, opportunities that often go begging.

I once read an interview with either Harold Bloom or Norman Mailer, who said if he could, he'd want to be reincarnated as a smart black man. It was kind of a dumb statement--he was assuming he'd have the same childhood and outlook, except he'd be black. The trick is to get inner city kids into the frame of mind where they see those opportunities and are able to take advantage of them, aren't hobbled by dysfunction.

It's something that either requires a good upbringing, or certainly not an equivalent replacement but possibly sufficient, the intervention of a film or book like The Pact. The best school system in the world may also suffice; but that, of course, requires billions.

Because it's pretty unrealistic, it's a way I think for people to feel better about themselves--look at me, I support spending all this money on these poor black kids--but there's also an air of patronization about it (without shiny new buildings of course these kids can't make it; without the intervention of us outside folk this community can't do anything, they need us) and because there are always huge political obstacles in the way it lets well-meaning liberals twiddle their thumbs for years, while engaging in their favorite sport, bashing conservatives.

Much more realistic are the Barack Obabamas, Oprah Winfreys and three doctors of the world, who in essence say fine, let's let people try for structural changes and do their job, in the meantime we're going to do ours and try and inspire kids one at a time. Granted, they can't possibly have the impact of parents; but maybe they can jump-start a fire within.

If nothing else it gives kids something to aim for apart from basketball nets and the end zone. And it's not unknown in human history that something like a book can, all by itself, turn around someone's life.

Photo of l-r Jenkins, Hunt and Davis from their foundation's website.