No Longer the Silent Minority
An Interview with Roderick Lawrence

The world has changed over the past year and a half. We are not the same people that went into quarantine, and the world is not the same place as we cautiously reemerge into society. There has been a great movement towards social justice and addressing intolerance, which is wonderful, but honestly, it’s about time. Many of our friends and neighbors have been dealing with injustice for decades, and while overall it might seem like there was a mighty push in 2020, in reality, it’s a lifetime of fighting.

Art is a brilliant way to exhibit the fight for social justice, be it through canvas, music, fashion, or film. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with filmmaker and Blacktivist Roderick Lawrence about his short film with Aristotle Torres, Silent Partner. In this film, after a Black attorney, Silas Jones (Lawrence), wins a controversial case, his white-shoe law firm presents him with a promotion. However, Silas begins to question the legitimacy of the promotion, was it earned or was it a spectacle? Silent Partner doesn’t hold back in presenting the unbalanced situation a young, talented Black lawyer might find himself in our day and age. We might see it as a product of the past year, but in reality, this is the culmination of Lawrence’s learnings over the years and discovering how to use this platform to tell his story.

“It’s never really changed in my lifetime; it is, and has been, our disposition and our atmosphere. I think the film very much so represents our current atmosphere,” Lawrence explained. “The story is our current atmosphere: the story is this world, today, and now. The current state of white cops killing Black people—white people slaying black bodies, justifying it, and getting away with it—coupled with the everyday struggles and battles fought by the affluent, educated Black professional are the biggest two components creating the atmosphere of our piece.”

This examination is exactly what we need at this moment, and as an educative entity, we can continue to learn from it. It’s easy to forget the struggles of others because that injustice isn’t a part of the majority’s daily life. That way of thinking is wrong, and it diminishes the importance of the struggle and the steps to correct it because it absolutely exists. It is filmmakers like Lawrence who facilitate the change, for they have the courage to bring their struggles to the screen for us to witness, They are the true revolutionaries of our cultural growth. 

Silent Partner is set in the world of law, which may be a narrow portion of our society, but was essential to the story. By doing this Lawrence and Torres were able to bridge the gap between the minority and the majority, having both exist as professional equals. That is not the case as the film unfolds, but in the equal yet unbalanced foundation, they were able to create a universal tone.

“We are telling stories of affluent, educated, brilliant, professional Black people, but Black lawyers and their everyday lives are not often the subject of any stories that we see,” Lawrence adds. “Obviously, law is one of the first professions you think of when you are talking about affluent, and picking law aided what we could do in the story. So we made it someone who is in the world, dealing with police brutality, racial and social injustices. We got to pick someone who is in the thick of it.”

The audience doesn’t have to be a lawyer or a legal clerk to understand what it’s like to be in an environment where your worth is questioned based on how others perceive you. Lawrence also pointed out that even though it is based in the world of law, that doesn’t diminish the struggles that other Black professionals across this country face daily. It’s the portrayal of these common struggles that make the connection universal. 

Seeing the struggles that a talented, Black lawyer has to face in the elite world of law reinforces the unjust reality, the “playing the game” aspect of professional life. The audience is confronted with the reality that these talented professionals have to face daily, even if they have “made it” according to an archaic term of success. While we might be able to sympathize with the struggles, most never truly will empathize with the emotional struggles Silas, or his wife Kosi (Kara Young), experience. That’s why this film is so powerful, you can connect to the issues being raised, but you still will never be able to relate completely and that is troublesome, and that opens the doors to being educated on the reality of the world.

That’s not to say that the struggles that other minorities face are not as important, but in a time when denial about discrimination still fills the headlines, our society needs to view films like Silent Partner to wake us up from our ignorant slumber. It is only in our acknowledgment of our faults can we progress to the next level. What I also find interesting is that even if a minority was able to rise up from their circumstances, that doesn’t always mean they are free from their strife. Silas not only has to deal with co-workers and their ignorance, but also has to battle his internal conflict within himself. While advancing in your career, no matter what profession, there are always sacrifices, but they become blurred lines of your moral constitution and those sacrifices. We all have experienced this, and the same goes for Lawrence and his family & friends. However, the question of what to give up in order to get what you deserve becomes skewed when more morals are put to the test.

“There are different views–all that is completely valid–on all of it. There are plenty of Black folks who work their entire life to get to a point and aren’t giving it up for anything or anyone, or they have to feed their family–family first,” Lawrence adds. “I understand that. Personally, I can’t do it–I have to sleep with me. For me, if everything is about us, then I can’t sell us out. But I have mentors and other people in my life who have told me, if you don’t reach the pinnacle, you can’t affect any change.”

Lawrence goes on to say that there is so much variety in everyone’s situation that it’s difficult to pinpoint a general formula. However, it doesn’t have to. All minorities have a similar reality, but their reality is different from the someone standing next to them or what is portrayed in the film. Each situation is different, each journey is different, but the issue still stands that this is a conversation that happens when professional advancement is present. In the case of Silas in Silent Partner, Lawrence states that he sacrificed so much, but questions whether it was all worth it.

If you are taking the jarring path of sacrifice for the accomplishments that you deserve, how do you know when you’ve relinquished too much? As Lawrence points out, Power is Relative. It’s a personal inquiry, and everyone’s answer is different, it’s based on your talents, abilities, and individual path. For example, my father chose to rise up in rank in the Air Force by losing his south Texas accent, which in turn, meant my siblings and I did not grow up speaking Spanish. For Lawrence, his choice resulted in him losing roles because it crossed his truth line.

“If I lose something because of my truth, then that isn’t for me, and the next one that is coming will be bigger. We need people like Van Jones (working for the other side). We need what I do,” Lawrence explains. “We need grassroots activists, front-liners, lawyers–we need all of it. We all have some kind of power in activism, in our voice, in our careers, and in our journeys–where you are best used. Mine is unapologetic storytelling, listening, and empathy. You just gotta figure out what yours is.”

Just because your choice is different than someone else’s doesn’t mean one is worth more than the other. As Lawrence said, we need all the variations to grow. We can’t try to correct the mistakes of the past without having an open conversation about what one person’s reality is compared to another. That’s what’s been so wonderful about Silent Partner and its participation in film festivals. The film may be early in its festival journey, but if a post-screening conversation at the RSF Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival is any indication, the discussion is just getting started.

“There are two things that will forever stick in my mind,” Lawrence says. “One, a white woman with her outlandish and oblivious perspective on the situations in the film asked me to explain the difference between macro and microaggressions to her. The second thing, there was a Black woman and her husband who said the situation that is depicted in the film happened to them twice.”

This is the outcome that not only Lawrence and Torres were hoping for, that their film would be the wedge in opening up different perspectives and acknowledging the harsh truth Black professionals face. We need the activist, the strong leaders of a movement, to start the uncomfortable conversation. Silent Partner may aid in the conversation, but it’s the conversation that occurs after that really advances the topic to the masses.

“It’s always about the conversation. You’re going to learn something either from the film or the conversation that follows. This is to help spark those things for us to help normalize what we need normalized,” Lawrence adds. “For white people, they have to see themselves–who are they specifically in this film, and what role do they play in the trauma of the Black people in their office or in their lives every day.”

That’s not to say that the only desired outcome was to spark a conversation but to finally witness a tally in the win column for the oppressed.  As much as activist creators want to open the door on issues that need addressing, after talking with Lawrence, I believe there is also an element of ‘creating what you want to see’ that’s equally as important. The ending of Silent Partner is exactly what needed to happen, Silas stood up for himself and his truth. Yet, as an audience member and filmmaker myself, I questioned whether there could have been a power in another resolution. While that might have been my decision, for Lawrence the ending was always secure. 

“That was the most important thing to me. Aristotle and I were sick of living through our traumas for two hours and losing at the end of the film. So we’re going to, and always will, in all my films, win,” Lawrence proclaims.

For me, the ending is more powerful after spending time with Lawrence and listening to him as a creator and activist. This film, his work, has much more emotional power underneath the formality of filmmaking, but we can only truly experience this power if we are willing to see it for what it is. Whether we ourselves are the minority or the majority, we all have prejudices towards others, and it’s time we dig deep and correct them. 

It was a pleasure to be able to converse and learn from Lawrence, not only through our conversation but also through Silent Partner. I look forward to not only seeing the potential this film has on audiences but for what doors this opens up for Lawrence.  We need his voice and strength in more art, in more topics to help right the wayward ships littering our harbor. When asked, he not only wants to expand the topics that arose in Silent Partner, but he also wants to focus on mental health. As Lawrence explains, “…shutting down stigmas of therapy and conversation. We will continue to make art that challenges people and that delivers those hard conversations in the most honest, unapologetic way so that we can strive.”

Written by Lisa M Mejia
Images provided by Silent Partner