Peacock‘s new documentary Black Boys skillfully explores the fleeting highs and systemic lows of being a Black boy in America. While highlighting sports, education, and current events, Black Boys provides meaningful context as it touches on timely subjects. In other words, this is the type of documentary that should be shown in high school history classes and white peoples’ living rooms.
The first part of the compelling documentary, from filmmaker Sonia Lowman, focuses on how the Black body is exploited for sport. For Black boys who grow up in lower socioeconomic environments, they learn from the media that the only fields that Black men succeed in are sports and entertainment. Despite the dismal odds of going pro, sports quickly become the only obvious ticket out for some Black students. Sadly, as explained by a football player who experienced it, a career as a professional athlete can be demanding and unsustainable, and making education an afterthought becomes a decision that haunts players when they suffer from injuries that jeopardize their careers.
The documentary then switches focus from the Black body to the mind. “The bottom line of why things haven’t changed is ’cause there’s no love for Black boys,” says Sharif El-Mekki, a principal of a charter school in Philadelphia. Heartfelt, candid interviews keep the pulse of that narrative, like when one young Black student chokes up while discussing how white women fear him based on his race. Rapper and music producer Vic Mensa also appears and talks about how he had an “extreme emotional breakdown” after hearing about the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police.
Black Boys
At times, Black Boys can be purely heartwarming. In the opening scene, two-time Super Bowl champion Greg Scruggs reads The Little Engine That Could to his adorable toddler, who is tucked in bed and blissfully unaware of the cards dealt against him. The precious father-son bond between them is palpable, and for a moment we forget about everything other than witnessing their sweet love.
In other moments, the film does an excellent job of highlighting the subtle yet racist scenarios that Black youth face every day. A Black teen boy admits that he wears fake glasses only to appear less threatening to white people, divulging the racist stereotypes deeply ingrained in everyday life in America. Another student explains that while he was walking down the street wearing his headphones earlier that day, the white women who walked by tightly clutched their purses. “For what?” he asked. “I’m not a big violent guy. People have to understand that. I’m very loving and caring, and people are looking at me like I’m a threat.”
End your browsing nightmare with TV Guide’s recommendations for every mood
Black Boys is peppered with sourced statistics that drive home the disparity between Black and white children in America. For example, according to Johns Hopkins University, “Having even one Black teacher before fifth grade reduces a low income Black boy’s chances of dropping out by 39 percent.” By pointing out these differences in unpretentious yet informative tones, Black Boys celebrates Black youth and hopefully inspires viewers to do what they can to support them.
Black Boys is now streaming on Peacock.