Resisterhood

Posted on December 30, 2025 at 8:48 pm

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Protests, arrests, references shootings, natural disasters,
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the movie

The award-winning documentary “Resisterhood” is about some of the most controversial moments of Donald Trump’s first term as President and the groundswell of protest in response. Since it was released in 2020, as he was defeated by Joe Biden, it is well worth another look in light of increased controversy and division.

Director Cheryl Jacobs Crim begins the film with a collection of clips from the 2016 campaign, like his imitation of a reporter’s disability and his urging of violence against protesters to highlight/remind us of Trump’s thuggishness and cruelty. Those moments are stark and unsettling in showing us how far we have fallen from what six years ago seemed like the floor of politics. And how alert and vibrant Trump was compared to the man who falls asleep during meetings and tries to cover up the bruises on his hand.

After that opening, the focus is on the response of the voters to initiatives like child separation at the border, eliminating the rights of GLBTQIA individuals, the appointment of Justice Kavanaugh despite claims of sexual abuse, rollback of environmental protection. Crim introduces us to five thoughtful “resisters,” and the determination, integrity, and commitment to helping others in each story is warm, engaging, and inspiring.

Steely but radiant and warm-hearted Margaret Johnson Morrison is identified as an historian/educator. She tells us that the first time she participated in a protest it was on the march from Selma to Montgomery led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. And one way and another, she has been standing up for justice ever since. “That is why I have continued to participate where I could, to change what is wrong to what is right.”

Joanna Lohman was on the Washington Spirits soccer team as this film was being made. She felt that soccer was what she was born to do, but she loved talking to the fans, especially the young girls who wore her jersey to games and admired her “jo-hawk” haircut. She happened to be injured at the beginning of the season, which gave her time to think about using her time and her platform to speak out on the issues she cared most about, respect, equality and inclusion for the GLBTIA community.

Mimi Hassanein (community volunteer) came to the United States from Egypt and has been a US citizen since 1971. Even before she learned to speak English, she reached out to her community by sharing what she could: bringing baklava to her children’s school. She wears a hijab, but take it off when she is in the car. By the time we see that, it is wrenching, because we know how good hearted she is, and she has shown us how she has embraced the American idea of civic involvement. “Learning about my civic duty really empowered me to really learn about the beautiful system we have here.” She explains that she feels she has to do that to be safe, because strangers make comments like accusing her of being in ISIS. As the movie goes on, she decides to run for office.

For Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez and his wife, originally from Puerto Rico, the Trump policies on immigration and his response to the devastation of Hurricane Maria. He describes his journey of questioning the prejudices he was taught as a child. “My heart and my soul is so much cleaner today than it was.” And Dr. Jean Gearon is proud to carry on the tradition of her great-grandmother, a leader of the fight for women to get the vote. She is a psychologist, but she makes it clear at an early meeting that the gathering is not a support group; it is about education, outreach and action.

The film is punctuated with the large demonstrations with people protesting policies on climate, guns, immigration, and the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Kavanaugh. We also get a brief glimpse of the alt-right protest in Charlottesville, shouting “Jews will not replace us!” and another protest of that protest. Crim deftly brings the stories together, giving us time with each of her main characters in the context of the developments of the 2017-2020 era. Some of the film’s most powerful and moving scenes are the family members who are all inspired to continue the tradition of speaking out for others. Morrison’s great-nephew says, “She made it sure that her voice was heard. And if she can do this, I can do this.” Hassanein’s granddaughter knocks on doors to talk to voters and the whole family comes over on election night. And Gearon’s daughter accompanies her to the Belmont–Paul Women’s Equality National Monument, a historic house and museum of the U.S. women’s suffrage and equal rights movements, so see her great-great-grandmother’s pictures. They remind us that it is not about a particular politician or policy, it is about always looking forward. As Morrison says, “That is why I have continued to participate where I could, to change what is wrong to what is right.”

Parents should know that this movie covers many political controversies, some involving violence, bigotry, or reproductive rights. A survivor of the Parkland school shooting speaks at a protest. There are references to sexual assault.

Family discussion: Which of the issues in the movie is the most important to you? What kind of protest is most effective?

If you like this, try: “Ratified,” about Virginia’s becoming the final state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment

“Token” Black Actors of the 90’s

Posted on April 4, 2018 at 7:32 am

On The Undefeated: Interviews with Black Actors who played “token” characters on television in the 1990’s, from “Seinfeld” to “Dawson’s Creek.” Important, moving, and infuriating.

n the 1990s, the wealth of black representation on television could lull you into thinking (if you turned the channel from Rodney King taking more than 50 blows from Los Angeles Police Department batons) that black lives actually did matter. But almost all of these shows were, in varying ways, an extension of segregated America. It’s there in the memories of the stars below: There were “black shows” and there were “white shows.” If you were a black actor appearing on a white show, you were usually alone.

For some of the most visible black actors coming of age in the 1990s, it’s clear that along with the triumphs came isolation, blatant racial stereotyping and biased casting calls. As for “crossing over” to the mainstream, in the mostly segregated worlds of Seinfeld, Frasier, Melrose Place, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Felicity, V.I.P., Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek and more, blacks were usually relegated to bit parts or were there for a short time. The Undefeated sat down with eight of these talented women and men. These are their stories. This is history.

Sandie Angulo Chen: Women Writers on the TV Characters Who Inspired Them

Posted on March 20, 2017 at 10:29 pm

My friend and fellow critic Sandie Angulo Chen has a Women’s History Month column on Mom 2.0 featuring women writers describing the TV characters who inspired them, from Starbuck on “Battlestar Galactica” to the TV moms on “The Cosby Show,” “Roseanne,” “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Speechless,” and “Black-Ish,” to independent, intelligent, curious characters like Murphy Brown, Olivia Pope, and, one of my choices, Mrs. Peel, played by Diana Rigg in “The Avengers.”

The Mindy Project: Imagine Mindy as a White Male

Posted on March 15, 2017 at 3:42 pm

Mindy Kaling’s “The Mindy Project” has a sharp season ender as Mindy, applying for a job, gets to see how her life would be different if she were white and male. The white male version of Mindy is played by “Veronica Mars” bro Ryan Hansen, and as the white male version of herself, Mindy learns (as Eddie Murphy did in his famous SNL sketch) that in a job interview, no one asks a man about balancing work and home responsibilities. New York Magazine’s Vulture column notes:

When you’re privileged, “Your life is so carefree, you start wondering why other people don’t just help themselves. Because you think life is just as easy for everyone else.” But Mindy misses being interesting and different, so she wishes to go back to being an Indian woman. Plus, she gets to bond with Dr. Lee over fettuccine at the hospital. A perfect little lesson in privilege and allyship, wrapped in a sweet, sitcom form.

Free Feb 13-17: Ebook About Bessie Coleman, First Black Woman Aviator

Posted on February 13, 2017 at 6:00 am

In honor of Black History Month — John Holway’s fascinating ebook about Bessie Coleman, the first place woman aviator, is FREE February 13-17, 2017. Enjoy!

Back in the 1920s planes were made of wood and cloth held together with wire. And back then everyone knew blacks couldn’t fly, and neither could women. But this spunky black woman from the cotton fields of Texas did loops above the Eiffel Tower, walked on wings above America, and jumped off planes to the oohs and gasps of crowds.

Bessie could also do a mean Charleston on the dance floor while guys lined up on both sides of the Atlantic. Her admirers included France’s top World War I ace, an African prince, a Florida millionaire, Chicago’s top black newspaperman, and its top black gangster.

She survived broken bones and some broken hearts. She was the first person, man or woman, to open the skies to black pilots. She helped open grandstands on the ground as well, refusing to perform unless everyone could buy a ticket.

She inspired generations of flyers. After years of neglect, she has at last been recognized as one of the leading figures in aviation, African-American, and women’s history.

Tributes include a postage stamp, a street named for her at O’Hare airport, and her photo tucked into a spacesuit worn by the first black woman astronaut as she flew on the space shuttle.