'Promise' Keepers

Here's a KickStarter pitch with twist: My friend Nicole is working on the project and could use your help. "American Promise" is an intriguing documentary about a black couple with young children in Brooklyn who were alarmed by the statistics that say black boys are twice as likely as whites to be held back in elementary school, three times as likely to be suspended from school, and half as likely to graduate from college. A dozen years ago, with these startling statistics in mind, they decided to send their son Idris to the prestigious Dalton School in New York City. They then began filming Idris and his best friend, Seun, in order to make sense of the harsh realities facing black males in today's schools.

  Twelve years later, Idris and Seun are seniors in high school, and the couple is now in the midst of their final year of shooting. Since 1999, they have brought the camera along -- into their home, into classrooms, to conferences, on school trips, on college tours, to prom and everywhere in between -- to capture the year-to-year ups and downs as well as the perspectives of students, parents, teachers and administrators who are all striving for academic excellence. Through the years, they have documented their personal family struggles, and the boys' experience with privilege, stereotypes, culture clashes, learning differences and two eventual divergent paths in education. Watch the pitch and please consider helping them reach their goal to finish the project. Thanks!

 

Visit the film's official site HERE.