lune 25, 2014
Fortiani» (Obstruer
Page 5
Black Girl in Suburbia
Filmmaker explores racial ignorance
and alienation of suburbia
by D onovan M.
S mith
Initially, she says she didn’t re­
T he P ortland O bserver
ally notice a change in culture; she
A young girl takes in a drink at the was still attending Sabin. But once
water fountain and the boy next to school in the ‘burbs began, Lowery,
her, well, he refuses. He fears the with her hair neatly braided and
color of the girl ’ s skin might rub off beads added for decoration, says
on him if he did. It was at this m o­ she was made aware by her new
ment in childhood that M elissa peers that she was somehow “dif­
Lowery says she no longer ques­ ferent”.
tioned if she was different. She knew
“I knew we moved but I didn’t
then she was a black girl in suburbia. realize the people until I started
That experience and many others school out there, and that’s when, I
have served as fuel for a film she was like, okay this is a little different
recently released entitled “BlackGirl than what I’m used to,” Lowery
in Suburbia.” The documentary ex­ says.
plores the tales of women of African
She credits the taunts, teases,
descent, some still in school, some and questions from her schoolmates
long past graduation, who were pri­ to a genuine ignorance, and lack of
marily raised and educated in mostly opportunity to interact with many, if
white communities.
any, black people.
It’s a story particularly close to
It was the moment at the water
heart for Lowery; not only did she fountain, though, that cemented a
spend almost all of her young life deep alienation rooted in cultural
living and going to school in West misunderstandings. Racial igno­
Linn, but now a mother herself and rance amongst her peers was some­
a graduate of media arts at Pacific thing she would have to navigate
University, her school-aged daugh­ up until she walked the stage for
ters are navigating the sometimes graduation at W est Linn High
turbulent racial currents of their School.
mostly white classrooms in subur­
She says her best-friend at the
ban Hillsboro.
time, May, who was also black, and
Lowery, 38, says she has quite a youth social service group she
vivid memories of her earliest years created in high school for some of
around what was essentially the the few students of color, helped
hub of black culture in Oregon, her keep a sense of pride in her
northeast Portland. She lived by culture.
Lloyd Center, went to school at Sabin
On the whole, Lowery reflects on
Elementary, and caught the Lord’s her childhood with fondness. She
word with her mom at Woodlawn says it was her own children’ s expe­
United Methodist Church. Black- riences with race and identity that
nesssimply ‘was’ for her at the time. caused her to explore the subject
But in first grade, hermomremar- deeper.
ried, and she her brother and new
In 2010, she began crafting “Black
stepsister would make the switch Girl in Suburbia” simply to validate
from northeast Portland to call West her daughter’s own experiences,
Linn home.
and share the stories of other black
photo by D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Filmmaker Melissa Lowery looks into the experiences black girls
face growing up in predominately white communities with her
documentary ‘Black Girl in Surburbia’.
women on film.
Though she and her husband
make a conscious effort to let their
two young girls know they are beau­
tiful on a constant basis, the couple
knows how negative perceptions
directed at them based on racial
prejudices can take place outside of
home.
When she released the trailer for
her film as production got under­
way in 2011, she realized just how
potent and relatable a story about
growing up in predominately white
communities was for others. People
from Florida to Illinois began re­
sponding to Lowery detailing how
much they related to the story and
how they anticipated the film ’s re­
lease.
From there Lowery made it an
even higher priority to focus the
documentary’s directive on creat­
ing conversations around race, gen­
der, identity and other subjects.
“I want it to spark som ething
inside,” she says, “Because th at’s
my way of starting change, be­
cause once you have a conversa­
tion with som ebody, you take that
continued
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