Trouble Behind

Producer/director Robbie Henson delivers a disturbing film about contemporary racism in this past and present look at the virtually all-white town of Corbin, Kentucky. Best known as the home of Colonel Sanders (of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame), Corbin grew during the early part of the century thanks to the railroad. Many of the workers on the railroad lines were black, and a small community of black people took root in Corbin. One night in October of 1919, some 200 blacks were driven out of town. Although many of the contemporary town folk from Corbin deny that the incident even took place, newspaper accounts of the time confirm it. During the second half of the film, Henson explores Corbin today--a town whose residents claim that they are prejudice free. While this is clearly not the case (one man boasts about his dog named "Nigger", and the town map still shows a road called "Nigger Creek Road"), the most frightening aspect of Trouble Behind is the interviews with teenagers. In a town that is all white, one wonders how kids who haven't even seen black people can be so prejudiced. Obviously, the warped thinking of the elders is being passed down the generations as part of the traditional wisdom. Still, the city elders maintain that the "trouble is behind" them now (although a recent attempt to place a black manager in a McDonald's resulted in a burning cross on the man's front lawn; understandably he left). Trouble Behind is a powerful film that will strike people in different ways: for some it may seem like a shocking trip through a Twilight Zone episode. For others--and this is the scary part--it might seem just like home. Highly recommended. (See JAMES BALDWIN: THE PRICE OF THE TICKET for availability.)