"The Best of Enemies" is Yet Another Race Drama That Pays Too Much Attention to the White Guy

It's easy to dismiss the crazy premise of The Best of Enemies as too far-fetched to even bother with -- except that this crazy story really happened.

Would you believe that a KKK-leader and an African-American civil rights activist worked together to integrate North Carolina schools? Well, neither did I. But they sure af did.

In 1971, Durham, North Carolina community organizer Ann Atwater talked trash to powerful, racist community leaders and when prejudiced city council members turned their backs while African-Americans spoke during city council meetings, she walked up and turned their swivel chairs right back around. During one meeting with a bigot who threatened to have her escorted from his office by police, she actually grabbed the telephone receiver and hit him in the head with it. And he sat back down and proceeded with the meeting!

Meanwhile, president of the local chapter of the KKK, Claiborne Paul Ellis, had spent a decade misguiding white youth and doing his best to make sure that Durham's African-American residents remained marginalized. He even refused to sell gas to African-Americans at his service station, ensuring that his own income remained low.

But when a local African-American school falls victim to an electrical fire, action needs to be taken for the sake of the kids. So civil rights activist Bill Riddick comes to town in order to organize a charrette: a collaborative planning session between African-Americans and whites to determine whether or not, and how, to integrate the local school system, thereby allowing Black students access to a competitive education. Recognizing that the planning committee should be headed by influential members of the community, Riddick proposes that Atwater and Ellis co-chair the charrette.

Initially reluctant, they both eventually agree, albeit with contrasting agendas. By the time that the 10 sessions that comprise the charrette are over, Atwater has proven to Ellis that his lifelong ideology was never rooted in reality. Not only does he cast the deciding vote for integration but he tears up his KKK membership card in front of a room full of klansman.

The problem with The Best of Enemies lies in the execution: Not enough attention is given to the African-Americans in this tale of an unlikely collaboration across the racial divide. It was absolutely necessary to spend a significant amount of time on Ellis -- otherwise his decision to renounce his membership in the klan would be laughably inconceivable. Redemption stories are great but let's not pretend that a guy who's such a piece of shit that he'd be honored to be initiated into the klan in the first place should be considered a hero when he finally decides to join the human race (if there ever was such a time).

Atwater -- or at least Riddick's -- personal life should've been given equal time. We get to know Ellis' entire family but we never once see any of the Black people at home -- except when a white person is around (Ellis' wife, Mary, stops by Ann's place for a contrived girl-power moment).

For further reinforcement of this admittedly implausible chapter of American history, check out the documentary An Unlikely Friendship. Atwater, Riddick and Ellis recount the events that made them movie-worthy in their own words. One of the more shocking revelations: Atwater and Ellis remained friends so long that she gave his eulogy.

The real Ann Atwater

Originally Posted 7/15/19