Admissions Granted (2024): #ANTIBLACKNESS #SIFFTY

 

Produced and Directed by: Hao Wu (@beijingloafer), Miao Wang

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Rating: 0 Stars, The Worst of 17 Films Gus Saw @ SIFF2024

While the US Supreme Court was dismantling so-called “affirmative action” programs in higher education during the summer of 2023, Gus T. invited Dr. Jennifer L. Pierce to discuss her book: Racing For Innocence: Whiteness, Gender, and The Backlash Against Affirmative Action (2012). A White Woman/Suspected Racist and expert on both “affirmative action” and the System of White Supremacy, Dr. Pierce’s text exposes how dialog on this contested program reliably and deliberately misrepresents “black” people (especially “black” males) as “unqualified,” lazy applicants seeking unearned handouts at the expense of hardworking, scholarly Whites. Racing for Innocence details how decades of cinema and Supreme Court decisions suggest that because of “affirmative action,” “whites are disadvantaged vis-à-vis black Americans.”

The latest film in this White Supremacist tradition is the MSNBC documentary Admissions Granted (2024). Slated for mainstream release later this month, California’s VC Film Fest told moviegoers that “Admissions Granted takes an honest and thoughtful look at the complexity of the affirmative action debate.”

There’s little honest about Admissions Granted.

The documentary showcases a number of “asian” students with gaudy résumés and sincere frustrations about being rejected from the ivy palace that is Harvard. As they continued to suggest that there were specific efforts to exclude or hinder applicants classified as “asian,” I began to wonder what percentage of Harvard’s students are classified as “asian.” You’ll have finished your popcorn and watched nearly the entire film before you’re told (without graphics or fanfare) that 28% of the Cambridge scholars are “asian.”

The big lie is at the center of this film. This falsehood is so redundant, I expect it, and now, respond aggressively when any person mutters “affirmative action” to grouse about people classified as “black.” Dr. Pierce, a White Woman, stresses that the greatest beneficiaries of “affirmative action” are people like her. White chicks. This is not confidential or new information. Time magazine wrote about this in 2013. The Admitted White Supremacist known as Tim Wise penned an essay last century detailing White Women’s rejection of “affirmative action” in spite of the fact that they’re the primary beneficiaries of the program.

Filmmakers Hao Wu and Miao Wang know this. Audiences get more deceptive stalling and have nearly exited theaters before they’re told that White Women benefit most from so called "affirmative action." The fraudulence and cowardly filmmaking at the core of this project are laid bare with whom Wu and Miao chose to inform us about this.

Whoopi Goldberg.

Not Dr. Jennifer Pierce. Not an ivy league, critical race scholar. Not even a screenshot of that Time magazine report.

Whoopi Goldberg.

Wu, Wang and I were all present for the Seattle International Film Festival's May 13th screening of their film. During the subsequent Q & A, I asked why they chose this Lion King (1995) alumnus to share such a vital piece of information. Both filmmakers responded, saying that they wanted to pick someone that viewers would recognize. They also conceded that there are many aspects to the discussion of “affirmative action,” and they hoped the scene would encourage viewers to research more about who has benefited from this program.

Wu and Wang said what they said. Their documentary is dishonest and anti-black, and logic suggests they chose someone who worked as a comedian and is commonly thought of as a “negro" "jester” to minimize the import of the statement. Ms. Goldberg is not an academic scholar. This film has loads of prestigious-degreed students and faculty to give expert, respected opinion. Why would a five second soundbite of someone widely regarded as a “black” “clown” sway White (or non-white) opinions on this subject or even encourage them to investigate more closely?

I hoped this film would showcase many informed “asian” (non-white, non-black) people voicing their allegations of college admissions abuses and their views and frustrations about Racism in education. Many “asian” students and their parents get screen time to share a wealth of opinions. 

However, Admissions Granted is an ode to a White Man. Edward Blum.

Ward Connerly & Edward Blum

Blum has spent more than a quarter century court-clogging under the guise that “affirmative action” wrongs White people. Anyone suggesting people classified as White are somehow wounded by “affirmative action” is militantly dishonest and dedicated to White Supremacy. Blum is so refined in his practice, he’s concocted a code for showcasing his partnerships with non-white people. Decades before he met Wu and Wang, Blum teamed with “black” male Ward Connerly to scrap California’s "affirmative action" plan in higher education. Admissions Granted discusses how the elimination of California’s plan correlates with a substantial reduction in the number of “black” students in the California university system.

One glaring moment illustrates the cast and filmmakers’s overall contempt for "black" students in California and the universe.

But you have to watch a lot of Blum before you get to this part. We’re treated to Blum’s home life, career accolades, we meet his White Wife and even his hound. In contrast, "black” people are mostly shown gyrating and shouting at protests, denying their presumed welfare-ish and undeserving student status, or being called names by the filmmaker. In fact, Blum gets more screen time than all the other “asian” students, parents and faculty - who were supposed to be the center of this project. I wondered if MSNBC’s support or other funding sources for Admissions Granted were contingent on this White Man being a central component of the film. Perhaps there’s less interest for a documentary exclusively focused on genteel “asian” students’ flimsy claims of academic discrimination at Harvard.

We don’t meet Danielle R. Holley’s Dalmatians or goldfish. Classified as a “black" female, we don’t learn about Holley’s accomplishments at Harvard law school, if she met President Obama while there, or how White Supremacy/Racism hampered her pursuit of a law degree. However, Hao Wu chooses this moment to add his voice to the film. He brands then-dean of the School of Law at Howard University an “affirmative action baby.” In my technicolor dreams, Ms. Holley, the current President of Mount Holyoke College, channels the spirit of Howard alumnus Chadwick Boseman and buries a Black Panther fist in Wu’s esophagus, then has security roll him down Howard Hill.

This scene illustrates the cowardice and anti-blackness that's the bedrock for this film. Wu and Wang lack the backbone to track down Hillary Clinton, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, blond entertainment mogul Taylor Swift, or hoops phenom Caitlin Clark and publicly, correctly libel them as “affirmative action babes.” Wu didn’t raise a peep to challenge Blum in any of the scenes that made the final draft. But he finds his courageous voice to insult a “black" female and provide non-white narration to the Racist tropes of "unqualified" “black” people debunked by Dr. Pierce and many others for over a decade.

Back to that other anti-black moment in this project.

Jeff Wang is one of the “asian” students who felt aggrieved by the Harvard admissions process. He and his father, Michael, are given ample time to detail their nuanced perspective on the admissions process and “affirmative action.” When we first hear Wang’s cries of injustice, he’s sporting blond highlights. The film moves forward, with lots of Blum, and after what seems like years, Wang returns. Sans blond and well-rooted at the University of California at Berkeley, he and his “asian” pals fraternize and discuss the politics of Racism and college admissions. They briefly (nanosecond) lament the lack of “black” students on campus. Things aren’t perfect. Jeff Wang didn’t get into Harvard, but Berkeley is a world class consolation prize. Wang’s future's so bright, highlights are redundant. In their stead, seated girlfriend-ly close, a real life White Woman. With blond tips.

Blondness reigned throughout the conclusion of the film, into the Q & A period, and for the duration of the 50th annual SIFF. Admissions Granted closed with scenes of "black" people protesting in support of “affirmative action.” As the Supreme Court guts the program, a "black" female, who’s probably not going to Harvard or Berkeley, whales in despair while brandishing the US flag. Red, White, & blue frame her crown of blond locks and tears.

A few minutes after this scene, the film concluded, and the audience was allowed to ask questions. Someone I think would be classified as a “black” female shared that she really appreciated this film even though things don’t seem to be headed towards Justice. She had blond hair too.

Coloring hair isn’t criminal activity. However, what you do with your hair sends a message. And non-white people have been skillfully programmed (often with films) to poison and mutilate our bodies and minds in pursuit of White beauty standards. Standards most people classified as White flounder to achieve themselves. Non-white failure of standardized White beauty tests was a theme painfully reinforced throughout this international festival.

Admissions Granted features former C.O.W.S. guest and former Howard law professor Frank Wu. He wrote the book Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White (2002), which examines how “asian americans” have been victims of White Terrorism and their resistance. As the the term “yellow” applies to this film, it concerns the scaredy-cat filmmakers who were brave enough to confront the White man’s dog and mock a "black" female dean, but too chicken to examine White Women’s supremacy in “affirmative action.”

Wu & Wang didn’t want the White smoke with the Swifties.

** Dedicated to Akai Gurley, who did not take any Harvard slots from more qualified White or "asian" applicants.

Soul Man (1986)

My poor blog! I devoted my summer to The C.O.W.S. and neglected my blogging duties. I think my efforts yielded some productive programs; an Admitted White Supremacist revealed that she would be in "free fall" if the System of White Supremacy folded and a different Admitted Racist rebuked a White man while explaining that White folks ain't Victims of Racism. I hope the programs have been helpful to non-whites. But I want my blog to evolve right along with The C.O.W.S.. So I'll try to multitask because there are several things I want to write about.

First up, Soul Man. I hadn't seen this film in decades. But as I've become more informed about the System of White Supremacy, I've concluded that movies are phenomenal tools to illustrate and hone one's understanding of White Supremacy. Dr. Martin Kevorkian demonstrated this in his book and on the program. I knew it was worth rummaging for Soul Man - a White man turns himself black to get scholarship money for Harvard and "falls in love" with a black female to boot? Exemplary study in White Supremacy. Let's get started.

Mark Watson is a young White guy, has parents with über bankroll and gets accepted to Harvard Law School. He's moonwalking up the White Supremacist ladder until daddy withdraws his financial support. With his future disintegrating, Mark takes desperate action. He purposely overdoses on tanning pills donated by his White pal, and voilà, he's a nigger! Once darkened he's awarded the Henry Q. Bouchard Memorial Award for the outstanding Los Angeles negro heading to Harvard. With his wallet fattened and skin stained, Mark is off to Cambridge with not a care in the world. The implications of divesting from White Supremacy never crossed his mind.

Someone should have slipped him a copy of Black Like Me cause it can get right rough for coloreds. Mark gets a heapin' helpin' of Victimization; "Driving While Black," White people assuming he was shooting hoops before he could read, Racist jokes and malevolent White men vigilant to keep his sooty hands off their pale daughters. White people immediately and consistently recognize/categorize blackfaced Mark as a black person AND regulate their conduct accordingly; Even when Mark is oblivious - or incorrectly thinks being black is going to work in his favor, being non-white always has adverse consequences. White people are everything but color blind; they're hyper-cognizant of whom ain't a member of their club.

Soul Man predates the Nicole Brown Simpson and OJ fiasco, but someone should have also alerted Mark to the human hazard that is White women. Whitney Dunbar, moves into Mark's building with blue eyes for dark guys. And Whitney ain't just a White chic with money; she's majoring in political science and doing a thesis on the so called Civil Rights movement. Getting Mark in her bedroom is easier then getting 50 black males in prison. Straddling a negro gives her a chance to "feel 400 years of oppression and anger in every pelvic thrust." Yes, this is said verbatim in the film. And I've heard White people say things right close to this in real life. As if the bed room represents the colorless, raceless sphere of Justice. Disrobed, disarmed, cloaked in darkness we can finally work out our frustrations and achieve humanity and oneness so elusive.

Damn, that sounds good! It's exponentially more persuasive if a sexually attractive White person is pitching this at you. But it's about as logical as looking for polar bears in Hawaii. White people and non-white people been having sex together for eons. If that was going to Replace Racism With Justice... this blog would not exist! I'd be writing about the health benefits of being vegan and 100 things you can do with garlic. Overt White Supremacists engage in sexual intercourse with non-white people all the time; playin' in the slave quarters don't mean master is shuttin' the plantation down. Non-whites tend to get disoriented about this - I suspect White people are aware of this, and foolishness like Soul Man perpetuates the confusion. For all Whitney's oral service, she doesn't intervene when her own family members practice White Supremacy against Mark - or her non-white servant.

Even though Whitney and her clan are duped, Mark is White. The for real, for real miscegenation is Mark and Sarah Walker - played by the scrumptious Rae Dawn Chong. Mark preys on Chong's character from day one - even while logging time in Whitney's sheets. Sarah Walker is also a Harvard Law student. But she's non-white. No clever scholarship shenanigans for her; she's a struggling, dish scrubbing, single mom.

Mark penetrates Sarah's tough shell and secures a cozy l'il relationship. For icing and sprinkles on top, he gets in good with her offspring and family members. All's swell until he discovers his bamboozled, negro scholarship should have gone to Sarah.

Enter White Guilt. Mark had no compunction about swindling money for college and deceiving everyone in the process. But seeing the non-white Victim of his depraved acts is a bit much for Mark's stomach. So he comes clean. Ditches his bronzing medication, makes a public, pale face confession. Throws himself on the mercy of his peers and instructors.

This is White Supremacists at their devious best. They've done something incorrect. They have perpetrated a crime. Yet they use words to convince others - typically their non-white casualties - that they are the victims. Mark's White accomplice delivers a passionate plea requesting lenience and understanding. He implores Mark's cohorts to recognize that he is a "victim of society;" Mark was an ambitious young man in dire straits. He failed to get the help he needed and committed a fool-hardy act. Have the courage to forgive and show the White man mercy.

Mark, the White person, is our hero. We don't want his dreams eviscerated. We're rooting for him to get a second chance. And he gets it. Doesn't even lose his colored girl.

A tragic arrangement founded on a lie; Mark even deceives Sarah's child. No matter. Interracial relationships are alright if two people really care about each other. Mark, Sarah and her son stroll the Cambridge grounds hand in hand as the credits roll. Could anything be more heart warming then a post racial climax?

White Supremacy at it's revolting, obliterating best. Of course the System of White Supremacy has been vanquished if a White man nuzzles a darkie in broad day light. Mark even decked a pair of White guys for cracking Racist jokes. So he can't be a White Supremacist and non-whites got no mo' troubles or fears.

Unfortunately, the 1980's Hollywood version of Harvard confounds one's understanding of why Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was shackled and removed from his own home in 2009.

Soul Man does an excellent job illustrating the dehumanizing way that black people are seen and treated by White people; seeing the drastic change in Mark's quality of life, in how White people treat him in all areas of people activity is a stunning display of the ramifications of being non-white in a System of Racism. But Mark's relationship with Sarah is merely a refined version of his relationship with Whitney. Soul Man's final image of racial reconciliation and love's triumph over the boundaries of race is a recycled version of the same fodder the film ostensibly ridiculed in Whitney.

Mark doesn't grab Sarah and her child and impress upon them that every aspect of human life is engineered to preserve the System of White Supremacy. Mark doesn't demand that Sarah and her offspring remain suspicious of every White person as long as White Supremacy exists. To the contrary, the film implies that black people and White people are eroding Racism by being willing to date - get naked - with one another. Nothing could be further from the truth - and the film evidences this point explicitly.

In fact, as Rae Dawn Chong prepares to announce her endorsement of interracial relationships, she looks eerily similar to Halle Berry at the close of Monster's Ball. Confused, victimized.

**Extra Credit**

I think this film is consciously and/or subconsciously bragging about and exploring many White men's veiled belief that you're not really a man until you've split some dark oak. Mark's father announces his intent to terminate his financial support as a gift. The gift of manhood. I didn't attend film school, but the piece starts with a White man being given, seeking masculinity and ends with him brandishing Rae Dawn Chong as his belly warmer. I think I could be correct.

The accompanying soundtrack deserves a comment as well. This film is backgrounded with Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, Sly Stone, Vesta Williams... a hall of fame black ensemble. I've seen this trend in a litany of films where White folks indulge their black fetishes (Black And White, Lakeview Terrace, Boiler Room). Monster's Ball tossed Mos Def and P Diddy in the cast, and all of these films revolve around White people having sex with black people. A coincie-dink... I think not! Mark even comments that he's not feeling the Beach Boys as much after masquerading as a brotha - although he still likes some of their "funkier stuff" (What ever that means). White people's appetite for black music and love making seems compensatory - making up for something missing. What White people find and search for in the tunes, wombs and souls of black folks is a topic for another blog, book, dissertation, anthology.