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Another America is a film produced by filmmaker Michael Cho that focuses on a conflict between African Americans and Koreans in the 20th century. The documentary touches on subjects such as history, culture clash, the past and the present life of new immigrants in America at the time, racism, personal stories, and the United States colonialism. The filmmaker, Michael Cho, also doubles as the narrator in the film. Cho decided to take it upon himself to investigate his family and the tragedy following the murder of his uncle in Detroit. The murder of his uncle hit close to home that he decided to closely examine his family’s experiences as Korean-American immigrants who were doing business at the time. In his investigation, he sheds light on the nitty gritty of the conflict in the southern central region as depicted by the uprisings of 1992 in Los Angeles.
Michael Cho captures the stories of ordinary African Americans and Koreans as they go about their business of shopping and selling in the mall. Cho decides to return to his hometown of Detroit as he wants to give them his relatives and local community members a chance to tell their own experiences of race relations with Asians. Some of the individuals that Cho features in his documentary include his cousin who is the daughter of his uncle, a Detroit poet, and an Asian-American sister and brother. Moreover, he incorporates interviews with several immigrants from Africa.
I think Cho does an impeccable job of painting the picture of the black-Korea conflict. At the time of his uncle’s murder, Cho was not In Detroit, but he decided to drive back home to film the documentary in the midst of grave riots and violence in Los Angeles. I think it was brave of Cho to take such a step, as he was placing his life at risk by doing so. Throughout the film, the audience sees scenes of rioters holding guns and shooting. There were also scenes of looting items from stores in the middle of the riots. When violence erupted between Asian Americans and Afro-Americans, all hell broke loose as there was no order, and law enforcement had difficulty controlling the crowd.
I appreciate Cho’s reporting as it is different from what other reporters were reporting. Cho’s narration was spot on and he did not shy away from addressing the issues that other people were avoiding reporting. At one point in the documentary, there was a female news reporter standing in a background where the riots were taking filled with smoke and damaged property. She mentioned that she was shocked at the ongoing scenarios as she was from that neighborhood. One could read the fear and frustration in the reporters’ voice]e and body language as she asks how she could cover the story with the violence happening right in her backyard. That scene was heartbreaking. I empathized with the lady reporter as she was in an unpleasant situation, but I expected more from the media. Cho mentioned that the main reason why he embarked on the filming journey by himself was that he was going on a fact-finding mission. I can relate to Cho’s situation and why he took it upon himself to record the documentary. He felt he could not trust the media to bring facts to the masses as they were biased in their reporting. Seeing that the conflicts between Koreans and people of color had hit home after the death of his uncle, I understand why Cho decided to send himself on a fact-finding mission. I appreciate Michel Cho’s effort in explaining the black-Asia conflict precisely as it happened in the late twentieth century.
