A Filmmaker's Attempt To Peel Off the Labels

"You sit idly by and watch your media distort your images," says Janks Morton in his documentary about African Americans' misperceptions. (By Pouya Dianat -- The Washington Post)

Morton appears on screen in dark shades, "Matrix"-like. "More than one hundred years ago," he says, "Harriet Tubman was quoted as saying: 'If I could have convinced more slaves they truly were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.' "

At another point, the screen rolls up. Rolls down, deliberately out of focus. Morton says, "How could you have bought into the false castigations that keep you from one another?

"You sit idly by and watch your media distort your images. You know that the government stratifies you. You know that the black leadership exploits you, and you choose to do nothing."

Morton, 43, grew up in Prince George's County -- where he still lives. He says he graduated from Largo High School and Bowie State University, earning a degree in business and industrial psychology. For at least a decade, he worked in the entertainment industry, including with Ginuwine, and Boyz II Men. He owned a record label, learned to stage, film and edit music videos.

Then, fed up with the industry, he quit.

"I didn't pick up the camera again until 2005," he says.

"One night, I was watching TV. It was one of those debates on Fox. A statistic came out: 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock. That blew my socks off. I wasn't aware of it. I went to the Census Bureau and found it was true."

He wondered what happened to the community.

The film includes interviews with intellectuals and others, including journalist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, activist Jesse Lee Peterson, author Shelby Steele, columnist Darryl James, scholar John McWhorter, actor Joseph C. Phillips, journalist Juan Williams, author Steve Perry, professor Alvin Poussaint, columnist Armstrong Williams, former lieutenant governor of Maryland Michael Steele, professor Kellina Craig-Henderson and commentator Mychal Massie.

Though many of those interviewed have been called conservative, Morton says he tried to talk with people across the political spectrum. He says the film rises above the question of whether people are conservative or liberal. "Just give me 90 minutes and take the labels off," he says. "The message of the men begin to sound alike."

The film explores the issue of black marriage, the use of the N-word, academic achievement, crime. "There is a disconnect between perception and reality," Morton says.