I'm Charlie Walker
directed by Patrick Gilles
directed by Patrick Gilles
This is a short running independent movie. It was partially based on a true story. I have always been, well amused is the wrong word, but perhaps confusion or frustration fit, that some (Black) people today claim that they prefer open racism to hidden racism.
That makes sense sometimes but in general I think many of the younger people who say that have rarely faced the kind of open racism that was quite common before say 1975 or so. Both covert and overt racism feed into each other. They are two sides of the same coin.
This movie took place in early seventies San Francisco. The situations and characters reminded me of tales I was told or heard about the experiences of my father, uncles, and older cousins, men from the Silent Generation or Baby Boomer generation who were often the first Black men to undergo modern desegregation. Many paid a cost.
Charlie Walker (Mike Colter) is a San Francisco based trucker and construction engineer. Walker runs a small business. The good jobs have all been locked up; the white contractors, union reps, and businessmen go way out of their way to freeze Walker out of opportunities.
Walker's most vicious antagonist is crew leader/foreman Red McNulty (Travis Johns) who takes devilish pleasure in excluding Walker from the major contractor's site, racially insulting him, threatening violence, and calling the cops to arrest or assault Walker.
When an oil spill threatens the San Francisco Bay, Walker uses his wits and perseverance to convince McNulty's boss Chuck White (Lyle Kanouse) to allow him to bid on a contract to clean up a remote beach location. No white contractor wants the contract. They all believe the location is unprofitable.
Faced with just one bidder and wanting liberal optics, the smarmy oil company boss Bennett (Dylan Baker) gives Walker a contract. There is some fine print , which Bennett fully expects that Walker won't understand.
But Walker is smarter and more skilled than people realize. Walker has initial success cleaning his beach. Walker becomes the public face and media darling of an environmentally friendly restoration effort that brings together hippies and squares, Blacks and Whites, volunteers and hardhats. Walker finds ways to earn beyond his contract.
Bennett, White, and especially McNulty are confused, offended, and angered by Walker's achievements. In different ways, some direct and violent, others more subtle or seemingly by the book, these men try to take Walker down. And if they have to threaten Walker's wife Ann (Safiya Fredericks) and children they'll do so.
The film shows how normative racism can be. As one antagonist tells Walker, in more bewilderment than anger, "You're the only one in the room who doesn't know you're Black." Walker is determined to succeed by any means necessary. This could mean stretching or breaking corporate rules or state laws. But if the rules are designed specifically to ensure your failure, should you follow the rules?
Colter brings unbreakable confidence and direct masculinity to this character. The film needed an extra 15 minutes. I liked that Walker is the story's hero.
The seventies vibe is so-so but this story's events still occur today, whether at a California Tesla factory, a Michigan electrical contractor, or Tennessee construction sites. Many people won't accept that a Black man is knowledgeable, is in charge, or earns the same as or more than them. Former San Francisco Mayor and California Assemblyman Willie Brown has a cameo.
