Academy Dialogue ‘Icon Mann: We Are the Culture’ Explores Race, Allyship, and the Politics of Art

“How are you doing?”

The question seems simple enough. But given today’s charged socio-political moment, the opening remark of Shawn Finnie, Associate Director for Member Outreach at the Academy, invited a multitude of potential answers. Delroy Lindo (“Da 5 Bloods”), Gina Prince-Bythewood (“Love and Basketball” and “The Old Guard”), and T. J. Martin (“LA92” and “Undefeated”) provided three unique responses.

“Icon Mann: We Are the Culture” was released on Oct. 1 on YouTube and marks the seventh installment in the “Academy Dialogues: It Starts with Us” series. “Academy Dialogues” explores race, gender, equity, and inclusivity in film by inviting actors and filmmakers to engage in virtual conversation.

Prince-Bythewood answered Finnie’s question by sharing how, just two days before, her 19-year-old son was pulled over by the police for speeding. Rather than having the luxury of scolding him for his ticket, Prince-Bythewood noted, she and her husband were simply relieved that he had returned home safe.

Martin continued Prince-Bythewood’s acknowledgement of current racial tensions, voicing his desire for transparent dialogue.

“The flaws of this country — just the window, the curtains — have been opened. And the curtains are open,” Martin said. “I am appalled by the inability to actually have an empathetic conversation about who we are as a community, and that I find really unnerving.”

Finnie then asked the creators about their opinions on the political function of art.

Both Lindo and Martin spoke of the challenge of leaning into race as a creative prism without being circumscribed by it. While noting the interdependence of artistic and political sensibility, Lindo also emphasized the importance of first acknowledging his basic identity as a human being.

“I think I am not defining my various responses as an artist. I think I’m defining my responses as a human being on the planet,” Lindo said.

Martin recounted how his directing of the vérité (shot without voiceover) documentary “Undefeated” encouraged him to reflect critically on filmic portrayals of race and class. In “Undefeated,” a white volunteer coach from East Memphis — markedly more affluent and white than the, as Martin emphasized, “99.9% Black” North Memphis — attempts to lead a high school football team to victory. Martin addressed the reservations about the film’s apparent spin on a “white knight story.”

“That became a challenge creatively,” Martin said, “but it was something that was very necessary, to get a film for people to actually look beyond race and class and acknowledge it at the same time.”

When reflecting on her distinct experience with race and belonging, Prince-Bythewood spoke of her adoption by a Salvadoran mother and Irish father. She expressed how she vividly remembers going to the theater in a nearly all-white area as a 17-year-old and seeing Nola Darling in the trailer for Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It.”

“It was me seeing someone who looked like me up on that big screen, and I was floored. And I’ve never forgotten that feeling,” Prince-Bythewood said.

Lindo underscored his wish for Black art not to be seen simply as representation but, rather, its own form of universal creative expression.

“I’ve gotten the gift of being a part of very specifically examining something through the lens of who I am as a Black individual, sharing that with the world, and hopefully affirming the humanity — not the Black humanity — the humanity that exists in those journeys. And that’s extraordinary,” Lindo said.

Finnie then posed questions regarding the role of a genuine ally. Prince-Bythewood and Martin underlined promising trends of diverse allyship catalyzed by the Black Lives Matter movement in the past months. However, the three creators also expressed doubts about how superficial allyship might be in the current movement.

“The part that I’m a little more wary about is — because we do live in a day and age when everyone is almost a walking brand through social media, whatever it may be — is Black pain, is that a fad?” Martin asked. “Does your support fade away because the dominant community is no longer talking about it?”

Lindo corroborated Martin’s ruminations on the potential limits of allyship, admonishing against the “potential fadism of Black pain” and expressing the need for allies to commit to small, regular actions to effect enduring change.

Allyship, he noted, “can take many forms, as long as one is doing something on an ongoing basis to enact change.”

As Finnie concluded the dialogue and thanked the creators for their involvement, Lindo expressed a final thought regarding how his artistic work could be deeply personal, yet bear universal implications.

“Through our work, our engaging our work,” Lindo said, “we are impacting, frankly, the world. And I do not believe that is hyperbole. I believe it to be true.”