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♪ ♪ ♪ del toro stay up date on america reframed

at worldannel.org. subscribe world chael's youtube to go beyond the lens with our filmmakers. ll us what you think using #americareframed. major funding for america reframed s provided by the john d. and catri. macarthur foundation, wyncote foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting. additional funding for america reframed provided by open society foundations, acton family ging, park foundation, the tional endowment for the arts, and the reva and david gan fountion. ♪ (upbeat music) - when i looked at the archival,

it was always really hard to watch that because that's how i remember my dad. - everyone that i've gh in love is at risk of being attacked or killed. (upbeat music) - our country is still in this place where we have this conversation about black versus white versus latino versus asi versus indigenous. we forget that so many of these communities are intermixed. - [man] and here's lonnie riding the pine, collecting splinters again. - pkew. - it's heavy, dad! (people laugh) (toddler babbles) - these are also american stories. these are also human stories and they're all relatable in my eyes. - [dispatcher] there's only one shooter, gunshot wound to the head. he is down. - [man] 311 to all units. - i felt an affinity for the story. - there is no protol for these things. i don't know what to do. - [sarita] the punjabi sikh community is very strong.

there's so many ways people have been resilient coming together. (women chanting) (speaking in foreign language) - there is a narrative of resilience with refugees and immigrants. they're the bearers of all this historical trauma and they somehow magically get through it. and so i wanted to honor the resilience, but not idealize my mom's struggle. - there were so many times i really didn't wanna make this film. hi dad. (speaker in phone mumbles) dad, are you tired? this hitin a difrent way when you are an asian woman and if you know what those sorta responsibilities can be like to care for folks in your family. this is not my dad. like this is not how he normally is. so he has covid right? are there priests to pray for my dad? is someone praying for my dad since can't be there?

- let me see what i can do. - those narratives, those ancestors' voices, our family's voices are critical to like preserving who we are and those stories need to be told. - there are just so many hard topics and hard experiences that do need to be shared. the exchange to me is bringing down the wall of saving face thopefully open up the conversati anmake change. (soft muc) - [man] i haven't seen my mom since '98, i believe. last time was behind glass. oh, mom is here. - it's so good. hi. (woman crying) - i'm the fourth generation of my family in hawaii. and my mom's side is cnese anmy dad's side is filipino. - so i'm like california born - i was born in london. - m the eldest daughter

both my parents immigrated from the philippines. - voila. - my dad is afro puerto rican. and then my mom is native hawaiianpolynesian, filipino. it makes it so hard to relate to people sometimes, but then at the same time you can relate to so many people. - everyo's point of view is special. i think the more we have slight nuances of differen the more we can really understand our society. (waves breaking) (upbeat music) ♪ (humming) latifah: mom, do you make your own chili paste? peni: yup. latifah: when covid broke out, obviously, a lot of people were,

"oh, it's just the flu, whatever the case," and it wasn't until, let me see, with the administration and everything, that it was this whole "china virus." okay, how are we going to handle this? all the videos of the elderly asian people getting attacked. and i remember when the women in georgia were killed. this has gone too far. is my mom safe? (voice trembles): she's been our protector for so long. and how do you proct that? so that was tough for me. david: hm. peni: i was here with my uncle family. david: do you go or me? latifah: they're both different stories. peni: you go, how you approach me! david: uh, well, why don't you just meet me down at the courthouse tomorrow, we'll get married? peni: no, that's not it, and no. (latifah laughs) peni: he said, "i love to marry you someday. it'sate bring us together." i wasn't born and raised here in united states, so ion't..

i know so little about being african american. one day, she came home and i said, "latifah, what's wrong?" "nothing." she was really sad. and then finally, she told me that one of her best friend who lived do the seet, she called latifah n-word. they were in the kindergarten. i have no clue at that time, and i said, "what does that mean by th?" david: i found that as raising biracial children, i need to be up front, and be seen, let these people know that i live here and that i'm raising my children. (music playing) (women vocalizing) ♪ change is coming for us all ♪ that was it. (voice breaking): and that time, i think it can be my son,

you know? it can be my son, just because he's, he's black, he's somewhere in the wrong place at the wrong time. (voice breaking): when george floyd call out... sorry. when he call out his mama... david: hm. peni (sniffles): i was, i was really hurt. ♪ david: i remember talking with my son tony. he says, "i don't want to live like this." i talked to latifah. "i don't have any children yet, but i don't want them to go through that." man: say his name! crowd: george floyd! man: say his name! crowd: george floyd! (chanting continues) ♪ peni: they both out there, try make the world better.

there is hours or, that i don't know where my kids are. at one time, i mention it, "maybe i should go there with you guys." and tony say, "no, mom, you get push." david: i had not heard from my son, and i just was scared for my son's life, because i have experienced this stuff for 50-plus years. when you're going up against a lot of society issues, you don't come out... (sirens blaring, whistles blowing) ...the way you went in. ♪ tony: you know how they say i look different in every picture? dad kind of looks different in every picture. latifah: tony's three years younger than i am, but we get along really well. any time we weren't going to ohio or virginia,

we'd go to indonesia. tony: everybody knew our parents. latifah: everyone loves our parents, and i think it's kind of ironic, cause think a lot of people see both of our parents as, like, "t good minorities." tony (laughing): why? dad's face. he always looks like that. (both laughing) tony: when's the last time you danced? latifah: um, probably 2011, 2012? tony: hm... latifah: people know that we're mixed, but picking out that we're black is a lot easier an pickingut that we're asian. a lot of it for me comes with, like, fetishizing that i'm, like, mixed woman. once people learn that we are asian, it'd be, like, really weird comments, like, "oh, your mom eats bugs." people used to think my mom was my nanny. tony: it had to be rough for mom. latifah: oh, i'm sure it was. tony: yeah. latifah: i know for me, i was, like, i felt like we were being attacked at, like, alfronts. not only is mom asian, but she's also a muslim.

tony: yeah. latifah: after 9/11, i know my mom wasn't going to, like, boast around that she was muslim. tony: mm-h. latifah: people don't know that many are, indonesia s, like, the higst muslim population. tony: in southeast asia? latifah: no, in the world. tony: wait, really? latifah: yeah! (laughs) ♪ dad told me that he was chased by some white man, like, when he was younger. tony: oh. latifah: and he was coming out of this bike trail, and this guy, like, chased him, and then started trying to find him with his car, and then tried to run dad over with his car... tony: what? latifah: ...while dad was his bike. tony: why do they not tells this? latifah (laughs): i don't know. i didn't hear hardly any of these stories until we were talking about it, and i was, like, "so it all comes out." tony: yeah, exactly. ♪ tony: last summer, i remember the precinct being on fire and then the liquor store being on fire. latifah: that was when the, like, white supremacist vans was, started to make their rounds. tony: mm-hmm. latifah: i saw people coming in after curfew

with, like, bats and stuff, wearing, like, steel-toed boots and had, like, these hiking backpacks, and you're, like, "this isn't good." tony: oh, my gosh. (laughs) yeah, i don't know if i ever told you, but when everything started, i got, like, a gun pulled on me. by some white dude, yeah. latifah: what?! tony: pulled out his gun, he's, like, "what the... what are you doing here?" i was, like, "holy cow, what is happening?" uh, ani was, like, "hey, man, i'm just going home." it was, yeah. latifah: that's scary. no, you've never told me. tony: yeah. (laughing): yeah. latifah: sorry. i'm assuming you've never told m that, either. tony: no. latifah: have you... done anything about that? or, like, tried to process it in any type of w? tony: yeah. yeah. (laughing): still processing, i think. latifah: i know in the last six to eight mths, i've taken a big step back. i know you've taken a step back and tried to figure out how else we can continue the fight that's not necessarily out in the streets. we've both gone through it where we've talked to our parents about, like, wanting to go to therapy or, like, ving depreion or anxiety.

want to get to a pnt where that's an open conversation that, that can be had. tony: the stories that you told me that mom and dad told you when i wasn't there... (latifah mumbles) i've never heard anything like that. latifah: yeah. tony: like, that's just them opening up. ♪ peni: like latifah said, we don't talk about mental issue or anxiety a lot, becse when i was growing up, i don't remember ever talk about stuff like that in my family. i'm glad right now you and your brother taking charge for that for yourself. (sniffles) (voice breaking): and ease do seeking help, whatever necessa you need. latifah: and i think in the last couple of years,

it's been better. like, i mean, you guys have come outside to get me out of my car. they had announced that the police that had killed and shot breonna tlor weren't going to be charged. d that was a really rough day for me. the last two years, it's almost like one thing after another. having that support system... (sniffles): ...um, that's there to help. solike, i thank you both for that. peni: you know, i'm always there r you gu. ♪ latifah: today, wee gonna a mah for am locke who was a 22-year-old that was killed by minneapolis lice just a couple of days ago. protester: no good cops in a racist system! crowd: no good cops in a racist system! protester: say his name! crowd: amir locke! protester: justice for! crowd: amir locke! protester: justice for! crowd: amir locke! amir locke! protester: amir locke! protester: we have a duty to fight for our freedom!

crowd: we have a duty to fight for our freedom! protester: we have a duty to win! crowd: we have a duty to win! protester: we must love and support one another! crowd: we must love and support one another! protester: we have nothing to lose but our chains! crowd: we have nothing to lose but our chains! i know that it's a marathon. it's not going to be done anytime soon at all. when things like this happen, it's important to step up for the families and show up for other people. crowd: power to the people! latifah: everyone that i've grown up with and love is kind of under fire or is at risk of being attacked or killed. ♪ i'm someone who believes if you can change one thing about someone, even if that someone's yourself, that's a change in t world and that's the world changing. crowd (chanting): the people united will never be defeated! (chanting continues)

♪ kim: it's the '80s. i'm 12 years old. and i'm sitting in korean church parking lot with my friend andy. and he is ranting about his parents because he doesn't get along with them. and suddenly, he blurts out, "you know... "korean parents don't love their children "as much as american parents do. our parents just use us as workers." i'm completely offended, so i push back and i say, "that's not true." and he points his finger at me and he says, "you'll see." and it comes at me like a curse. a few weeks later, i'm at the family hardware store with my father and two customers walk in. and in just a matter of seconds, they whip out these guns:

one pointed at my father, one pointed at me. now my father haendured armed robberies before, but this is my first time. so, they drag us to the cash register, where they order my father to fill a brown paper bag with all the cash in the register. but the problem is there isn't enough. and the robbers are angry. and so, they keep repeating, "that's it? where's the rest? where's the rest?" and my father keeps repeating, "there is no more. you have all. there's no more. no more." and, every time they go back and forth, i feel the gun dig deeper into the back of my skull so that i have to tip forward. and finally, the gun moves from the back of my head to the side, asf to givemy father . and the voice behind me says, "i mean it, man. get the st now."

and what follows is a steely silence so tense that i have to close my eyes. and, in that time, i imagine what it's going to feel like to have a bullet course through my brain. because i'm certain that's what's about to happen. and i'm also certain that my father is bluffing. because there is a stash of cash in the back. and i'm about to lose my life for it. and i don't know how muchime passes, but eventually, the robbers give up, they push us in the back room, and they leave. but for the days and weeks after, i comptely freeze out my f. i can't forgive him for taking that kind of chance with my life. and i begin to wonder if maybe andy was right. maybe korean parents have a lesser capacity for love. maybe my classmates were right

and that my pants we alien and abnmal. and my father's not helping here, because he too is distant and silent this whole time, and all he does is jot down these numbers on a notepad, and i keep thinking it's because he's worried about the money we've lost because that's what he really cares about. and we carry on like this until thanksgiving. that's wn my father wakes up early, and he gathers us up and takes us to the hardware store on a day where it's usually supposed to be closed. and he ushers us inside, l, and flips on the lights. and there, leaning against one of the side walls, are six long countertop slabs wrapped in brown craft paper. and he goes up to the first one and he rips a corner off, revealing a one-inch-thick piece of glass. and he taps on it, and he says, "bullet not go through. "each piece, $1,000."

now the math is not hard here. and i'm amazed at where my father was able to find $6,000. and i'm even more amazed about where he was able to find bulletproof glass. but there's no time to ask him, because he immediately gets to work. he whips o that notepad with all the figures on it, takes out a circular saw, pulls out a measuring tape, and he measures and cuts and measures and cuts for 36 hours straight. and, at the end of it, he stretches his stiff back, sweat pouring down his neck, drenchg his t-shirt, and we all look at what he's made. and it is a wonder. it is a wall, floor to ceiling, and countertop and cabinetry made entirely of bulletproof, clear glass. and it's so pristine and new

that it looks like spring water, compressed. and he turns to me and he says, "go inside." so, i push open this door that he's made and framed, and i step inside and i feel like i'm entering this sci-fi world. and i close and lock the door behind me and i step back. and i see my father and the rest of my family, and really the rest of the world behind and beyond the storefront, through this clear, bulletprf glass. and, honestly, my 12-year-old self kept thinking, "my father has made a piece of wonder woman's invisible jet." (laughter) it is the most cool thing that i have ever imagined that he would ever be able to do. and as i'm kind of wrapped in the awe of all of this, finds this little opening that he's made so that we can interact with the customers, and he sneaks his hand through and he tickles me, and i jump back and it's the first time we laugin weeks.

and he goes in for another, but this time, i'm too far back, and he can't reach, so he's just grasping air. and he leans into the little opening, so his lips are there, and he says, "see? nobody can touch." and that line is like a spell that makes everything clear. and i realize it didn't matter what andy said, didn't matter what my classmates said. and it didn't matter why my father took that chance with my life. but what matters is what i know no and at this very time, i know what love looks like. i know what love feels like. and it's unmistakable. and so, i step forward, unlatch the locks, and open the door wide and i bring my father

and the rest of my family inside with me. thank you. (cheers anapplause)