The Best of Enemies starts off with audio recordings from the real life Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis. 1971, Durham, North Carolina, C.P. Ellis is a KKK committee president, this committee, titled the Youth Corps, aspires to preserve the rights and freedoms of the white race, as well as keep the United States a “white country”. Ellis has 4 sons, one who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to his Down Syndrome (this is important for future information). The scene after showcases Ellis’ Klan members shooting down a ladies house just because she’s got a black boyfriend, a “n***er boyfriend” they said. Soon, we will see Anne Atwater. Atwater is a Civil Rights Association leader, this association helps black people solve legal and communal problems.
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At around 19:00, Atwater's daughters’ school was set on fire, which meant that the black kids could not attend school in that building, or so they thought. The city council held a meeting to make a decision on where the students would be going.it was soon decided that the black kids would stay in their school but with a “shift” schedule. Some students would attend school from 7:00am-12:00pm and others would attend from 12:00pm-5:00pm. After this decision was made, 2 men waited outside for Atwater, these men were from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The NAACP sent a ruling to the Durham mayor to integrate all schools immediately. The mayor calls on Bill Riddick, a charrette practitioner, to hold a charrette and help solve the situation. Soon after, Riddick goes to Ellis’ business and invites him to lunch with Atwater, to which he says no.To this, Riddick responds, “if you truly represent your people, represent them.” which makes Ellis rethink his …show more content…
Here, Riddick asks Atwater and Ellis to be co-chairs of the charrette, to which they were both in denial of, but, at last, agreed. In the charrette, people discussed topics like textbooks, overcrowding, not enough teachers, etc. At around 48:00, one of the black members suggests ending the meetings with gospel music for a positive ending to such tense sessions. To this Ellis responded by suggesting that since black people could listen to their “black music” (to which Atwater responds that ‘gospel is not about black or white, it's about God”) then the white people could bring Klan promotional material. In further meetings, they selected 8 white and 8 black people neutral so that there would be no extreme views of either side. After said meeting, the rules were changed for lunch, and now black and white people had to sit together by seating chart. Ellis and Atwater, of course, were sitting together. Throughout the movies, we see Ellis struggle with protecting his special needs son. In one of the scenes his son gets a new roommate who agitates his son, making Ellis mad and aching, he asks for a private room, but he cannot afford
At around 19:00, Atwater's daughters’ school was set on fire, which meant that the black kids could not attend school in that building, or so they thought. The city council held a meeting to make a decision on where the students would be going.it was soon decided that the black kids would stay in their school but with a “shift” schedule. Some students would attend school from 7:00am-12:00pm and others would attend from 12:00pm-5:00pm. After this decision was made, 2 men waited outside for Atwater, these men were from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The NAACP sent a ruling to the Durham mayor to integrate all schools immediately. The mayor calls on Bill Riddick, a charrette practitioner, to hold a charrette and help solve the situation. Soon after, Riddick goes to Ellis’ business and invites him to lunch with Atwater, to which he says no.To this, Riddick responds, “if you truly represent your people, represent them.” which makes Ellis rethink his …show more content…
Here, Riddick asks Atwater and Ellis to be co-chairs of the charrette, to which they were both in denial of, but, at last, agreed. In the charrette, people discussed topics like textbooks, overcrowding, not enough teachers, etc. At around 48:00, one of the black members suggests ending the meetings with gospel music for a positive ending to such tense sessions. To this Ellis responded by suggesting that since black people could listen to their “black music” (to which Atwater responds that ‘gospel is not about black or white, it's about God”) then the white people could bring Klan promotional material. In further meetings, they selected 8 white and 8 black people neutral so that there would be no extreme views of either side. After said meeting, the rules were changed for lunch, and now black and white people had to sit together by seating chart. Ellis and Atwater, of course, were sitting together. Throughout the movies, we see Ellis struggle with protecting his special needs son. In one of the scenes his son gets a new roommate who agitates his son, making Ellis mad and aching, he asks for a private room, but he cannot afford