Filmmaker Dubois Ashong premiered his short film, NO BONI, at Jersey City Museum. The film tells the story of the first test patient involved in the United States’ Pharmaceutical Reparation Experiment (also known as the ADRMA Experiment). Ashong does a masterful job of removing all seams and telling a fluid story in a short period of time. In the film, the President of the United States officially apologizes to the descendants of enslaved and trafficked Africans on behalf of the United States and explores options for proper reparations.
If the film does nothing else, it holds up a large mirror to the cultural history of African-Americans and brings awareness to the pathological effects of slavery, Jim Crow, ghettoization, and mass incarceration. The question of where would African-Americans be if the U.S. government addressed its crimes against us ring loudly. But what also rings loudly is the question of what we as African-Americans today can and are doing to reconnect to our rich history and redefine our sense of self.
I, for one, await eagerly the release of a full length NO BONI film. And whatever else Dubois Ashong has to offer.
