The Best of Enemies is about Durham, North Carolina determining if their schools should be segregated or integrated with funding and support by the school district in 1971.
The collective of parents and community members were equally represented 50%. The Co-Counsels were represented by local area Klan President, C.P. Elise and local lead activist Ann Atwater.
Polar opposites by every definition. I am always drawn to films like this based on true events. I see how far we as a society have come yet recognize how little we have all at the same time.
The final speech given by the character said it all. He showed his Klan membership card spoke of how connected he was and did not feel alone because he knew he was part of a brotherhood. He said he had a problem because being in the Klan meant he had to teach people to hate another race. His problem being he no longer felt hate for them. So he voted the final needed vote to pass the proposed change to integrate the schools shocking the entire community.
I find this so interesting because this was 1971. I wouldnt be born for another decade and would not be enrolled in Wilson, NC school for an addition six years after that. Durham, NC school district is an hour northwest of Wilson, NC. When I was enrolled there in 1987, I walked into a classroom when I was not the same. I was bullied and went from the girl who loved school in Indiana and my preschool since three years old to not wanting to get on the bus or go at all. When my mom discovered the reason she made sure her voice was heard.
Wilson had similar regulation passed with school budgeted busing to comply with the no less than the minimum 25% of any race in the school. Mandated busing was necessary because for those who don't know the neighborhoods community structure and traditions of the south are not easily forgotten.
In Flint, MI you have the same thing but with the auto industry (mainly GM) leaving behind what was one of the most vital city's with core manufacturing and workforce feeding it what was once easily determined is now list with vacant homes and boarded up buildings. There was segregation and areas in Flint but they were some what closer in proximity and on the other side of some main streets that divided the city.
In Wilson, NC it was more our neighborhood on this side of town and clear across to the other side was the other neighborhood. Busing for kids took over an hour to pick everyone up and get them to the other side of town for school. Just like the film it was mandated busing to help facilitate the integrated minimum was met.
The thought that in 1987 when we moved to Wilson, NC I would be walking into a segregated class is still mind boggling. The principle had control within the school walls based on what the school board told my mom when she attended meetings to ask how this was acceptable. If Wilson, NC had a 50% minimum why were classrooms within the school then segregated?
White classes were made, Black classes were made and the overflow went to an integrated classroom. When we moved the only classroom with an open seat happened to be a black class. I call myself a neon light beam because that is what I looked like when with my class.
I cannot comprehend to this day why we as a society don't say enough is enough. We know so much about generational trauma, learned hatred, and so many other reasons why do we struggle with equality?
If kids these days are so open to accepting everyone and over labeling themselves to identify themselves due to sexuality why can't we get past our skin?
I am not my ancestor who lived in Virginia and willed my slaves to my son with the specification they and their children could reside in their homes on the property for the remainder of their lives.
I am the neon light beam in 1987 who was singled out for my visual differences. My class in first grade was more integrated even though there was still segregation for the most part. B.O. Barnes principal acted in line with community acceptable views of how to manage the state mandated integration laws.
Even our skin color wasn't enough for acceptance. It came down to the simplest thing. A neighborhood full of single white candlestick lights in each window with the occasional string of white light emphasizing something at Christmas time. Then you drive by our house with the large bulb string lining the house in multi-color of red green orange and blue. Our house was deemed the "Yankee" house with our "colored" lights.
The fact I watched a film about 1971 and lived the miss managed result in 1987 and we still have problems in 2026 it is just to me unacceptable. We need to learn from our past and improve. This is not a tradition that should continue to be passed on through generations. We need to do better. End the generational trauma... it has to start somewhere.
Happy MLK Day... the dream is still a work in progress.
Amaysing Thoughts
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt4807408/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
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