Tod Lending’s documentary All the Difference, which is set in Chicago and screens this weekend at the 22nd annual Black Harvest Film Festival, is an inspirational account of black male ambition and perseverance in the face of some harsh statistics. According to information presented in the documentary, in Chicago’s most underprivileged communities, only about 50 percent of young black men graduate from high school; of those who do graduate, fewer than half will go on to college, and even fewer will graduate from college within four to six years.
Leah Pickett: At Krishaun’s high school graduation “trunk” party, one of his elementary school teachers says that the life expectancy of a young man in the Englewood community is “hopefully 18.” What drove you to chronicle what comes after 18?
At Urban Prep I preinterviewed about 45 guys. I gave Urban Prep some criteria: I was looking for young men who obviously wanted to be on camera, were articulate, were able to talk about what was going on inside of them; young men who hopefully had a sense of commitment and would really make their best effort to make it through college. I wanted young men who had interesting backstories, who had been in trouble, and also were not exceptional students. That was very important, because if you get a young man who is an exceptional student, then it’s just easy to say, “That’s why he made it through school, he’s smart and a great student.”
Krishaun came within a hair’s breadth of dropping out, but he received some additional support from [Fisk University] and some additional support from Urban Prep—his grades were suffering, so he was in danger of losing his grants. Fortunately, he got the support he needed to continue to make it through and graduate.
What have you learned from them?
The normalcy of it. And it should be so abnormal. The thing is, it’s not even the new normal.
