The Woezo Africa Music and Dance Theatre Inc. provides an outlet for cultural connection through traditional African expression. But when the organization expanded operations from their Edmonton headquarters to serve Calgary, they also saw an opportunity to contribute to the public school systems’ anti-racism education — motivating the creation of the Roots to Branches documentary.
The documentary premiered in August at the Woezo Africa’s fourth annual cultural festival at The Grand Theatre. Existing as a short-impact film — a genre that encourages positive social change — the documentary exposes the events of racial discrimination experienced by high school students who attended the city’s public school system.
During 2020’s prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Wunmi Idowu, founder of the Woezo Africa organization, connected with the CBE’s former Chief Superintendent of Schools, Christopher Usih.
During the board’s development of CBE CARES — a framework that seeks to limit racism and discrimination in educational environments — Idowu and Usih started collaborating on different ideas that would help address the issue.
“I had a really good conversation with the CBE and they asked me questions about my experience,” said Idowu. “I wanted to shed light on not just anti-racism but any type of discrimination training.”
By working with the CBE’s anti-racism department in creating a lesson plan to accompany the documentary, Idowu intends the film to be used as an educational tool for students and teachers.
Having experienced racism first hand when her family relocated to Edmonton from Nigeria, Idowu says Roots to Branches strives to inform non-Black community members on how to be anti-racist while equipping Black individuals with the skills needed to confront discriminatory experiences.
“I felt like I was a foreigner in a space that was not meant for me,” said Idowu. “There was a lot of name calling because they just didn’t know who we were.”
Idowu created the Woezo Africa company in 2006 with the goal of preserving African culture through music, dance and theatrical storytelling.
When she and her family moved to Calgary in 2011, Idowu watched her daughters being bullied in school for the same reasons she — bringing Idowu to recognize the existence of racism in today’s public schools.
Idowu approached Nauzanin Knight — founder of film production company 1844 Studios to direct the film.
To plan her visual approach to the film, Knight chatted with participants to understand their struggles and intentions behind involving themselves in the film. Being of Caribbean and Middle Eastern decent herself, Knight agreed to direct Roots to Branches because she related to the experiences of the participants.
“I don’t take on every project that people approach me about,” said Knight. “But I really felt like it’s a powerful story that needs to be told.”
The documentary’s protagonists — Kim Chambers, Esther Kapinga and Sandra Asongwe — share instances when they felt discriminated against in school through artistic mediums like animation, theatre and spoken word. Detailing the tribulations of these events, the participants give today’s Black youth advice on how to carry themselves during instances of oppression.
Chambers, 25, spent their early years in Toronto and moved to Calgary in 2008. Being ethnically Jamaican and navigating a visual impairment, Chambers felt marginalized during their time attending high school.
Dancing and playing instruments were childhood passions of Chambers — interests that dissolved in time when they were removed from artistic classes for reasons that seemed “racially motivated.”
Seeing the lack of staff accountability as a perpetuating force, Chambers felt “utterly defeated” by the unjust treatment they experienced as a Black student and transferred to another school to finish their high school diploma.
“Complacency is adding fuel to the fire,” said Chambers. “No one should be oppressed.”
Performing the theatrical elements of the documentary, participant Kapinga, 21, started acting with the intention to offer audiences an inclusive representation of Black characters in the media — compared to how she noticed television depicting only “two versions” of Black people.
In high school, Kapinga felt her Congolese appearance caused her white classmates to compare her to the typecasted characters they watched on television.
“I was the complete opposite of what they had seen on TV,” said Kapinga. “They lost all interest in who I was as a person.”
Kapinga coped by imitating her white classmates, eventually losing her identity in the process. Advising people of colour to remain true to themselves despite facing discrimination in school, Kapinga understands how code switching only supports oppression.
“You’ll definitely regret trying to fit into their standards,” said Kapinga. “These are just things that we’ve established for ourselves to make sure that we abide to white fragility.”
Speaking the monologue portion of the documentary, Asongwe, 19, saw this as an outlet for sharing her story so that others know they’re not alone. As a woman of Cameroonian descent, Asongwe was teased in elementary school for speaking and looking differently than her classmates. Asongwe sees how the documentary works to eliminate ignorance for the promotion of empathy.
“I hope that people see it for what it is,” said Asongwe. “[And] really try to understand the message that we’re trying to put out there.”
