July 6, 2018 • 24 mins
What does home mean when you have to leave everything behind? This week, we speak with filmmaker Erin Bernhardt about the upcoming documentary 'Clarkston'.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last week, we heard from Question boother's about what home
meant to them. Some people said it was a place,
others said it was people or a community. But what
about people who have to leave their homes, who have
to come to a new and unfamiliar place and start
all over again. That's the story of Clarkston, Georgia. Mm hmmmm.
(00:23):
Welcome to the Question Booth. My name is Dylan Fagan
and I'm Kathleen Coullian, and we had the opportunity to
speak with an incredible local filmmaker, Aaron Bernhardt. Aaron is
the producer and co director of the new documentary Clarkston. Clarkson,
Georgia is the most diverse square mile in the country,
now home to over one hundred and fifty different ethnicities.
(00:46):
The film is in production right now. Aaron and her
crewe are following fifteen subjects and documenting their day to
day lives in Clarkston. YEA, so let's listen in on
our conversation. M M. I always wanted to be a
journalist growing up UM and in college at the University
of Virginia, did a lot of television news and radio news,
(01:09):
and then I was deciding between did I wanna. I
really wanted to be just like Christian alm import international correspondent,
and I didn't know if I should get there through
going international or going to local news, because they would
both kind of get me to the same point. So
I got a job at the ABC affiliate in Augusta,
Georgia and in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, and I
(01:31):
chose the Peace Corps. So I moved to Africa, and
then um we got evacuated. I came home to Atlanta
and started working at CNN. So I worked up through
production there and ended up being a writer and producer
at CNN, and then left to make my first documentary
feature film, Emba means saying really really exciting. Um, how
(01:52):
far that film went, how many people it's touched. And
it's about the Grammy nominated African children's choir. Another reason
why I don't like my voice, because I compare it
to theirs. UM. So I made that film. It was
the best and worst experience of my life. And so
because of the worst parts, I decided I was going
to be a one hit wonder and that was it. Um.
(02:15):
And so I did a few other jobs. Um. I
was still kind of missing that storytelling aspect. Um. Once
you do it, it's hard to ever not do it.
But I had a good work life balance for the
first time in my life, and so that was good.
Um and then when the white supremacist went to Charlottesville
this past August, so about a year ago, I went
(02:38):
to v A. I studied civil rights at v A.
So seeing the white supremacist there, people even our own age,
like young white supremacist, I it just blew my mind
in the worst way. And I couldn't except not spending
the rest of my days in the near future spending
(02:58):
all day every day working to stop the white supremacists
from becoming white supremacist. UM. So I had been talking
with another filmmaker, Joseph East, who's my co director on this,
about doing something in Clarkston. We weren't really sure what
we had been kind of talking about it for years. Um.
We were both really passionate about Clarkston. I first discovered
(03:19):
Clarkston over ten years ago when I got home from
the Peace Corps. I started volunteering and Clarkston with the
Fujis soccer team, tutoring the kids. UM. My husband and
I are second date ever was volunteering in Clarkston, So
it's been a really special place for me, and I
knew I wanted to tell a story about it, but
I didn't know how. So then when everything happened in Charlottesville,
(03:41):
it just seemed perfect, Like the opposite of hate is Clarkston, Georgia.
So being able to tell their stories what we decided
to do. Yeah, can you tell me a little bit
about how you started your idea for the film and
just like decided to go into production because you said
earlier you know you wanted to tell the story, but
you just didn't know how. Yeah, So we looked at
we thought it would be really cool to make a
(04:02):
documentary series there, which we still want to do um.
But we also realized that Joseph and I each had
one successful documentary feature film under our belts, so it
made the most sense to just do that. So our
hope is that this one documentary feature film will be
so successful that then someone will have us make a
series about Clarkston and or similar places around the country
(04:25):
and world, because the story isn't just ninety minutes. I mean,
there's just so much more to it. So in August
everything happened then in September, I had quit everything else
that I was doing to go full steam ahead on Clarkston,
which is our working title, UM, and just started spending
all day every day there. So we would shoot a lot,
(04:46):
but also I would just spend you know, twelve fifteen
hours a day meeting with people and meeting with Matt,
refuge coffee, meeting with them in their homes, the community center,
the free clinics there, everywhere, UM, lots of really cool
after school programs. So found over a hundred people that
had really interesting stories. I mean, there's thirteen thousand people
(05:08):
that lived there who all have really interesting stories, but
found well over a hundred who were interested in sharing
those with us on film. So we started chasing all
of those. So it was a really tough start because
we are just filming so much UM and then so
that we wouldn't get burnt out, we started narrowing it
(05:28):
down to sixty and then thirty, and now we have
about fifteen people that we follow pretty regularly. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah,
there's so many stories to tell that I feel like
it must have been very hard. It's still hard, still
hard to cut down to those fifteen. I love that
you're able to feature a place in Georgia where unfortunately
(05:49):
people had to make a new home. But it seems
like there's so much love there in community and strength,
and our participants really touched on that when they came
into the booth and when we asked them what home
meant to them, It kind of evolved in this not
such a physical place, but the community and the people
who they loved, they were able to build. And I
(06:09):
really see that happening in Clarkston. Yeah, well, I want
to go back to one other and unfortunate that I
thought you were referring to first. So unfortunately the reason
why Clarkson became Clarkson. So most people when they meet me,
their first question is, how is Clarkson Clarkson? How did
this happen? And that's actually an unfortunate story, um, but
(06:33):
it's turned into this really beautiful thing. So the South
is one thing I love about the film is that
we're showing this really beautiful, positive human rights, civil rights
story coming out of the South, specifically out of Metro Atlanta,
which has this rich, beautiful history and past of really
amazing civil and human rights coming out of this this
(06:55):
city in this region. But that all happened as bad
things happened, right. So one of the reasons why Clarkson
became Clarkson is because Clarkson's existed since I think eighteen
eighty two. Um, it's been a railroad town, primarily white
for its whole history. Um, it's just nestled right between
Decatur where Emery is in Stone Mountain where the KKK
(07:19):
was revitalized, and I believe nineteen fifteen. So in nineteen seventy,
Clarkston High School integrated and a lot of white people
did what we call white flight, and a lot of
them moved over to Stone Mountain, one town over. Um.
And as a few black families in black youth started
going to the schools, less and less white people were there,
(07:41):
and not that many more other people moved there. And
then Atlanta, the metro area had this boom of development
right after that in the late seventies where just people
just built tons and tons of apartment complexes. So in
nineteen eighty, when the USA and the Refugee Act, every
state in America got to decide how many refugees to
(08:02):
take and we're gonna put them. And these were Vietnamese
refugees and a refugee is someone who is forced to
flee and who the US actually invites to come here.
So they're not immigrants, their refugees and it's a legal status.
So these Vietnamese refugees, many of whom fought with for
the US government with the US government in Vietnam, so
(08:23):
they fought for our flag. Um, they came to Georgia,
and Georgia decided to put them in Clarkston because Clarkson
had lots of empty apartment complexes that were affordable, and
a community college and a technical college there. Um, and
it's just at the intersection of a lot of major highways.
So so that's one unfortunate that turned into something beautiful.
(08:45):
Then the other unfortunate is that these thousands and tens
of thousands of people um, Clarkston has welcomed as refugees
from over a hundred and fifty ethnicities and over sixty
countries around the world. So unfortunately, these bowl were forced
to flee their homes, which means that war, persecution and
severe violence was happening to them. So a lot of
(09:08):
the kids that we spent time with in Clarkston, their
schools were bombed. They've seen bombs. So last night we
watched fireworks for the Fourth of July with a lot
of these kids, and I was really nervous um because
it's kind of similar to a bomb, But they got it.
They've assimilated and their resilient. So these people have come
to Atlanta, to Clarkson and it has become their new home.
(09:30):
And not only are they survivors who have survived these
horrible atrocities, but they're making Clarkson and our whole region
now thrive. Yeah, and it's so beautiful. It is, like
you said, it's upsetting that terrible events had to lead
to such strength and community and growth, but it is
just so amazing that that's what's happening now in the South,
(09:53):
which is so important because I think it's such an
important side to show that there's still so much growth
coming slowly but surely. We'll be right back with more
from Aaron after a quick break. M hm hmm. Of
(10:22):
the individuals you're following for the film, can you give
us kind of the background of any of them. So
one of them is Mama Mina. She's eighty nine. She's
the mom of Clarkston. She'll be ninety on Halloween. Um So,
Halloween will mark her ninety birthday. In her tenth ear
in the US, she's working really hard on becoming a
(10:44):
citizen right now, so we're hoping to film that. Um
you can become a citizen after five years here, but
it costs um I think around dollars, and you have
to pass a bunch of tests and everything interviews. Um So,
she hasn't really had time to study for the US
because she spends all day every day, eighty nine year
old woman walking around Clarkston helping people. So last night,
(11:09):
for example, I was calling her and calling her, you know,
Mama Mina, where are you? I want to film you
watching the fireworks And she finally called back. She said, Aaron,
I'm so busy helping people. So she's amazing. She lost
her whole family, her husband, extended family, and her ten
children she lost to machete violence in Mogadishu, Somalia um
(11:33):
in the early nineties. So her way of dealing with
that loss is by putting every ounce of energy in
her eighty nine year old body, which is a lot
of energy. She says she feels like she's twenty one
into helping people, and she considers everyone she meets her
child and that's how she deals with that she lost
her real children. So she's one. UM. We have have
(11:58):
All Dr haval Kelly, who has gotten a lot of
presce attention recently. He was on the front page of
the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago because he
has become friends with a former white supremacist, a guy
who was the head of security for the State of
Georgia for the KKK, Chris Buckley, and Chris has left
(12:20):
the KKK and teamed up with have All to help
he'll hate. So we're filming the two of them on
that journey, which is really really incredible. UM. And then
we kind of focus a lot on Amina's world and
have All's world and all the people that they touch
through their world. So have All is a doctor. He's
(12:40):
a cardiology fellow at Emory and he he really doesn't
want to be the exception. He wants to be the rule.
So he's working really hard to make that happen. So
he started something called the Young Physicians Initiative, which is
in Clarkston High School and then a lot of other
Title one high schools now a cross Atlanta where more
(13:01):
House and Emory med students mentor and have an after
school program for these high schoolers who probably don't have
doctors in their lives. Um maybe they have a doctor
that they go to, but they don't know one socially. Um.
So they mentor these young high schoolers and teach them
what it takes to get to med school to become
a doctor, or they even do. We filmed them doing
(13:23):
test dr cases at Clarkson High School. UM so, just
it's just so rich. Oh my gosh, that all sounds
so amazing, but like very hard thinks are unfathomable, but
something so beautiful coming from that. Well. I always like
to ask the question that we ask our participants to
(13:46):
the people we bring in for these interviews. Um, Aaron,
what does home mean to you? I think home mm hmm,
it's so hard. I was born and raised here and
I'm back and I never thought I would be back
here because Atlanta was home and I have just a
(14:07):
really adventurous spirit, so I never I wanted to just
have the world be my home, and that's why I
went to Virginia and Africa and then just landed here
and things kept keeping me here. But I don't think
it just Atlanta's home. I really do feel like the
world is home. I feel just at home. And you know,
(14:28):
a mud hut with a tin roof and rural Uganda
as I do, you know, with friends and family in Blackhead,
and those two worlds are so different, but what they
have in common is people I love. So I think
home is just being with people you love. I have
a puppy. Now I guess he's too, so I don't
(14:49):
know if he's still a puppy, but yeah, Sabo, Sabo
means dude in in Luganda, Sabo is definitely home. Um.
Just being with him anywhere feels like home. I wish
I could take him around the world with me, because
now when I'm not with him, I don't feel home.
So maybe that's really how you know what home is
(15:12):
is knowing what's not home. Um, So being without say
Bo's not home. So it's interesting. There was a film
I haven't seen it yet that came out at Sundance
this year UM that a bunch of cities and refugee
organizations have been screening. That's called This Is Home, and
it's about Syrian refugees coming to Baltimore, UM before, during,
(15:36):
and after the travel Ban, so it's kind of an
interesting title to go with. That's extremely powerful. Yeah, and
one challenge that we're taking is that we don't want
our film to be like any other film. So all
the films like this as Home, Um, we are working
really hard to see what stories have they told, and
(15:57):
they really tell the journey of Huming to America. So
we did at first go to the airport and film
families just landing in Hartsfield Jackson and all of that,
but there are other films that tell that story. And
so we know that Clarkston is so unique, um that
really no community in the world looks like it. So
we want to tell the most unique story possible because
(16:20):
we have that opportunity with Clarkston, and we just really
want to do justice to the people in Clarkson and
make them feel like when they watch our film that
it feels like home. Yeah. I mean that's what the
stories you've told already and highlighted. I mean, it's their
all on their own like that hasn't been told. So
that's very exciting that you'll be able to tell that story.
(16:41):
I did. We'll have more question booth after the break
m H. So Clarkston is this square mile in size
(17:06):
one point four. It's amazing just inside of that space,
how much there is to tell. And you've told us
a lot of great things about Clarkson, But I wonder,
is there anything else that you for listeners who may
not be from Georgia or may not be familiar with
Clarkston before today, There anything else you'd want them to
(17:27):
know about Clarkston. Well, not only do non Georgians know
about Clarkson, but almost everyone we meet doesn't know about Clarkson.
And when I tell people how it's so cool to
tell a story that's only fifteen minutes from my house,
they're like, what, Clarkson's only fifteen minutes from Atlanta. Um,
Clarkston is metro Atlanta, but it's definitely its own city,
(17:51):
has its own mayor and its own specially unique sense
of everything. Though Atlanta is a welcoming city as well,
which only mayor mayor yeah, young hip mayor exactly a
millennial mayor. Clarkson was in November became the first city
in America with a majority elected millennial body, So the
(18:12):
majority of elected officials in the city of Clarkson or millennials.
There are also former refugees on City Council. There's a
former refugee in the police force. UM. And what former
refugee means is that they came here as refugees and
then they became American citizens. So they're really but we
call everyone in Clarkson new Americans because they are UM
(18:34):
and a lot of people there. So we're also doing
a workforce development program with the film where we're training
people and Clarkson and filmmaking UM and then paying them
to work on our team and then will eventually help
them get more jobs in the industry. One of them
is Abdual and Abdul is Ethiopian, but he has never
(18:55):
been Ethiopia. Who was born and raised in a refugee
camp and Kakuma and Ken Yeah, and he came here
too and a half years ago and in two and
a half more years when becomes an American citizen, it
will be his first time ever belonging to a country. Yeah.
So so talk about home. I mean, this is his
first home and he's twenty six. UM. But what else
(19:19):
do I want people to know about Clarkson. UM. There's
really good food from lots of ethnicities, really good coffee UM,
and it's so welcoming. When we had this situation. Um,
in May, we had a guy, a man who was
running for governor. His name is Michael Williams. He had
(19:41):
three percent um that two days or three days before
the election, he was at three percent, and so kind
of in a last sitch effort to get notoriety and
name recognition. Perhaps I don't know why he did it,
but this is what other media outlets are saying. He
got a school bus and painted it and called it
the deportation bus. And he came to Clarkston. And I
(20:05):
don't know how no one told him, but there's really
no one in Clarkston to deport because there are no
illegal immigrants there. Maybe there are one or two, but
I know a lot of people in Clarkson and they're
very illegal, and we invited them here. So they didn't
even come here by choice. Um. They would all much
rather be in their home countries than here. Um. But
(20:27):
obviously their homes don't exist anymore in many cases, or
their families. So he brought this deportation bus to Clarkston.
A lot of people in Clarkson were really scared because
a lot of refugees. There's these incredible nonprofits and agencies
and volunteers teaching them their rights. But if some man
says I'm coming to Clarkston, Georgia with a deportation bus,
(20:49):
and you hear about a Muslim travel band and all
these things, you're you're scared. So we went and we
filmed the reaction the day it was announced, and then
we filmed the actual occurrence, and I would say around
a hundred and fifty peaceful protesters came out in opposition
of him. Super diverse array of people. Um, and every
(21:10):
one of them that actually lived in Clarkston, whether they
were white Americans, Black Americans, or had come here recently
from other countries as immigrants or refugees or migrants or
asylum seekers or on special immigration visas, they all actually
welcomed him. Um. They even had a sign that said,
welcome Michael Williams. Everyone is welcome here. Have all's mom
(21:33):
made him back lava but they ate together. Um, So
that's Clarkston just welcoming. Wow. It's great to hear about
a community, especially one like we said, this so close
to Atlanta, and the Atlanta is a welcoming place, but
that feels like a whole another level of welcome, a
level of back lava welcome. Yeah. I didn't even know
(21:54):
that existing, but now I do. It was the day
before Ramadan too, so have all was able to eat
it with him. Um, what's next for you? Yeah? Oh,
we've got six more months of filming, so nothing's next.
This is right smack up in the middle of production. Um,
and it's it's going really well. It's still really challenging.
(22:19):
I would put it in the same category, close to
IMBA and best and worst all at the same time. Um,
it's really hard, but it's worth it. One more thing,
where can people follow along? Yeah, we would love that. Um.
Clarkston Film dot Com is our website and it links
(22:40):
to all of our different social media pages and we
have a special page with the Metro Ely in a Chamber.
They have a new digital platform called thea um so
we have some behind the scenes videos up there, specifically
about our workforce development program which is really fun. Um.
So yeah, please follow along. We have an email list
(23:01):
and part of how documentary works as if you can
find your audience early then it makes it a lot
easier to raise support to continue going. So we would
love everyone to to join us. On the journey Now,
m H. That was Aaron Bernhardt. We'd like to thank
(23:23):
her for speaking with us and we hope you'll check
out her work. Tell us what you think, share your
stories with us. We love getting your emails. You can
send them to the Question Booth at house to works
dot com. We're a Question Underscore booth on Twitter and
the Question Booth on Instagram. Yeah, and you can visit
us in the booth. We're here in Atlanta at Pont
City Market child to five pm Friday through Sunday. Kathleen
(23:46):
and I wrote the script, I did the music, and
the two of us produced a show. And the special
part is you, our listeners and participants. We'll talk to
you again soon, but until then, see you in the
Question Booth.
Last week, we heard from Question boother's about what home
meant to them. Some people said it was a place,
others said it was people or a community. But what
about people who have to leave their homes, who have
to come to a new and unfamiliar place and start
all over again. That's the story of Clarkston, Georgia. Mm hmmmm.
(00:23):
Welcome to the Question Booth. My name is Dylan Fagan
and I'm Kathleen Coullian, and we had the opportunity to
speak with an incredible local filmmaker, Aaron Bernhardt. Aaron is
the producer and co director of the new documentary Clarkston. Clarkson,
Georgia is the most diverse square mile in the country,
now home to over one hundred and fifty different ethnicities.
(00:46):
The film is in production right now. Aaron and her
crewe are following fifteen subjects and documenting their day to
day lives in Clarkston. YEA, so let's listen in on
our conversation. M M. I always wanted to be a
journalist growing up UM and in college at the University
of Virginia, did a lot of television news and radio news,
(01:09):
and then I was deciding between did I wanna. I
really wanted to be just like Christian alm import international correspondent,
and I didn't know if I should get there through
going international or going to local news, because they would
both kind of get me to the same point. So
I got a job at the ABC affiliate in Augusta,
Georgia and in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, and I
(01:31):
chose the Peace Corps. So I moved to Africa, and
then um we got evacuated. I came home to Atlanta
and started working at CNN. So I worked up through
production there and ended up being a writer and producer
at CNN, and then left to make my first documentary
feature film, Emba means saying really really exciting. Um, how
(01:52):
far that film went, how many people it's touched. And
it's about the Grammy nominated African children's choir. Another reason
why I don't like my voice, because I compare it
to theirs. UM. So I made that film. It was
the best and worst experience of my life. And so
because of the worst parts, I decided I was going
to be a one hit wonder and that was it. Um.
(02:15):
And so I did a few other jobs. Um. I
was still kind of missing that storytelling aspect. Um. Once
you do it, it's hard to ever not do it.
But I had a good work life balance for the
first time in my life, and so that was good.
Um and then when the white supremacist went to Charlottesville
this past August, so about a year ago, I went
(02:38):
to v A. I studied civil rights at v A.
So seeing the white supremacist there, people even our own age,
like young white supremacist, I it just blew my mind
in the worst way. And I couldn't except not spending
the rest of my days in the near future spending
(02:58):
all day every day working to stop the white supremacists
from becoming white supremacist. UM. So I had been talking
with another filmmaker, Joseph East, who's my co director on this,
about doing something in Clarkston. We weren't really sure what
we had been kind of talking about it for years. Um.
We were both really passionate about Clarkston. I first discovered
(03:19):
Clarkston over ten years ago when I got home from
the Peace Corps. I started volunteering and Clarkston with the
Fujis soccer team, tutoring the kids. UM. My husband and
I are second date ever was volunteering in Clarkston, So
it's been a really special place for me, and I
knew I wanted to tell a story about it, but
I didn't know how. So then when everything happened in Charlottesville,
(03:41):
it just seemed perfect, Like the opposite of hate is Clarkston, Georgia.
So being able to tell their stories what we decided
to do. Yeah, can you tell me a little bit
about how you started your idea for the film and
just like decided to go into production because you said
earlier you know you wanted to tell the story, but
you just didn't know how. Yeah, So we looked at
we thought it would be really cool to make a
(04:02):
documentary series there, which we still want to do um.
But we also realized that Joseph and I each had
one successful documentary feature film under our belts, so it
made the most sense to just do that. So our
hope is that this one documentary feature film will be
so successful that then someone will have us make a
series about Clarkston and or similar places around the country
(04:25):
and world, because the story isn't just ninety minutes. I mean,
there's just so much more to it. So in August
everything happened then in September, I had quit everything else
that I was doing to go full steam ahead on Clarkston,
which is our working title, UM, and just started spending
all day every day there. So we would shoot a lot,
(04:46):
but also I would just spend you know, twelve fifteen
hours a day meeting with people and meeting with Matt,
refuge coffee, meeting with them in their homes, the community center,
the free clinics there, everywhere, UM, lots of really cool
after school programs. So found over a hundred people that
had really interesting stories. I mean, there's thirteen thousand people
(05:08):
that lived there who all have really interesting stories, but
found well over a hundred who were interested in sharing
those with us on film. So we started chasing all
of those. So it was a really tough start because
we are just filming so much UM and then so
that we wouldn't get burnt out, we started narrowing it
(05:28):
down to sixty and then thirty, and now we have
about fifteen people that we follow pretty regularly. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah,
there's so many stories to tell that I feel like
it must have been very hard. It's still hard, still
hard to cut down to those fifteen. I love that
you're able to feature a place in Georgia where unfortunately
(05:49):
people had to make a new home. But it seems
like there's so much love there in community and strength,
and our participants really touched on that when they came
into the booth and when we asked them what home
meant to them, It kind of evolved in this not
such a physical place, but the community and the people
who they loved, they were able to build. And I
(06:09):
really see that happening in Clarkston. Yeah, well, I want
to go back to one other and unfortunate that I
thought you were referring to first. So unfortunately the reason
why Clarkson became Clarkson. So most people when they meet me,
their first question is, how is Clarkson Clarkson? How did
this happen? And that's actually an unfortunate story, um, but
(06:33):
it's turned into this really beautiful thing. So the South
is one thing I love about the film is that
we're showing this really beautiful, positive human rights, civil rights
story coming out of the South, specifically out of Metro Atlanta,
which has this rich, beautiful history and past of really
amazing civil and human rights coming out of this this
(06:55):
city in this region. But that all happened as bad
things happened, right. So one of the reasons why Clarkson
became Clarkson is because Clarkson's existed since I think eighteen
eighty two. Um, it's been a railroad town, primarily white
for its whole history. Um, it's just nestled right between
Decatur where Emery is in Stone Mountain where the KKK
(07:19):
was revitalized, and I believe nineteen fifteen. So in nineteen seventy,
Clarkston High School integrated and a lot of white people
did what we call white flight, and a lot of
them moved over to Stone Mountain, one town over. Um.
And as a few black families in black youth started
going to the schools, less and less white people were there,
(07:41):
and not that many more other people moved there. And
then Atlanta, the metro area had this boom of development
right after that in the late seventies where just people
just built tons and tons of apartment complexes. So in
nineteen eighty, when the USA and the Refugee Act, every
state in America got to decide how many refugees to
(08:02):
take and we're gonna put them. And these were Vietnamese
refugees and a refugee is someone who is forced to
flee and who the US actually invites to come here.
So they're not immigrants, their refugees and it's a legal status.
So these Vietnamese refugees, many of whom fought with for
the US government with the US government in Vietnam, so
(08:23):
they fought for our flag. Um, they came to Georgia,
and Georgia decided to put them in Clarkston because Clarkson
had lots of empty apartment complexes that were affordable, and
a community college and a technical college there. Um, and
it's just at the intersection of a lot of major highways.
So so that's one unfortunate that turned into something beautiful.
(08:45):
Then the other unfortunate is that these thousands and tens
of thousands of people um, Clarkston has welcomed as refugees
from over a hundred and fifty ethnicities and over sixty
countries around the world. So unfortunately, these bowl were forced
to flee their homes, which means that war, persecution and
severe violence was happening to them. So a lot of
(09:08):
the kids that we spent time with in Clarkston, their
schools were bombed. They've seen bombs. So last night we
watched fireworks for the Fourth of July with a lot
of these kids, and I was really nervous um because
it's kind of similar to a bomb, But they got it.
They've assimilated and their resilient. So these people have come
to Atlanta, to Clarkson and it has become their new home.
(09:30):
And not only are they survivors who have survived these
horrible atrocities, but they're making Clarkson and our whole region
now thrive. Yeah, and it's so beautiful. It is, like
you said, it's upsetting that terrible events had to lead
to such strength and community and growth, but it is
just so amazing that that's what's happening now in the South,
(09:53):
which is so important because I think it's such an
important side to show that there's still so much growth
coming slowly but surely. We'll be right back with more
from Aaron after a quick break. M hm hmm. Of
(10:22):
the individuals you're following for the film, can you give
us kind of the background of any of them. So
one of them is Mama Mina. She's eighty nine. She's
the mom of Clarkston. She'll be ninety on Halloween. Um So,
Halloween will mark her ninety birthday. In her tenth ear
in the US, she's working really hard on becoming a
(10:44):
citizen right now, so we're hoping to film that. Um
you can become a citizen after five years here, but
it costs um I think around dollars, and you have
to pass a bunch of tests and everything interviews. Um So,
she hasn't really had time to study for the US
because she spends all day every day, eighty nine year
old woman walking around Clarkston helping people. So last night,
(11:09):
for example, I was calling her and calling her, you know,
Mama Mina, where are you? I want to film you
watching the fireworks And she finally called back. She said, Aaron,
I'm so busy helping people. So she's amazing. She lost
her whole family, her husband, extended family, and her ten
children she lost to machete violence in Mogadishu, Somalia um
(11:33):
in the early nineties. So her way of dealing with
that loss is by putting every ounce of energy in
her eighty nine year old body, which is a lot
of energy. She says she feels like she's twenty one
into helping people, and she considers everyone she meets her
child and that's how she deals with that she lost
her real children. So she's one. UM. We have have
(11:58):
All Dr haval Kelly, who has gotten a lot of
presce attention recently. He was on the front page of
the Washington Post a couple of weeks ago because he
has become friends with a former white supremacist, a guy
who was the head of security for the State of
Georgia for the KKK, Chris Buckley, and Chris has left
(12:20):
the KKK and teamed up with have All to help
he'll hate. So we're filming the two of them on
that journey, which is really really incredible. UM. And then
we kind of focus a lot on Amina's world and
have All's world and all the people that they touch
through their world. So have All is a doctor. He's
(12:40):
a cardiology fellow at Emory and he he really doesn't
want to be the exception. He wants to be the rule.
So he's working really hard to make that happen. So
he started something called the Young Physicians Initiative, which is
in Clarkston High School and then a lot of other
Title one high schools now a cross Atlanta where more
(13:01):
House and Emory med students mentor and have an after
school program for these high schoolers who probably don't have
doctors in their lives. Um maybe they have a doctor
that they go to, but they don't know one socially. Um.
So they mentor these young high schoolers and teach them
what it takes to get to med school to become
a doctor, or they even do. We filmed them doing
(13:23):
test dr cases at Clarkson High School. UM so, just
it's just so rich. Oh my gosh, that all sounds
so amazing, but like very hard thinks are unfathomable, but
something so beautiful coming from that. Well. I always like
to ask the question that we ask our participants to
(13:46):
the people we bring in for these interviews. Um, Aaron,
what does home mean to you? I think home mm hmm,
it's so hard. I was born and raised here and
I'm back and I never thought I would be back
here because Atlanta was home and I have just a
(14:07):
really adventurous spirit, so I never I wanted to just
have the world be my home, and that's why I
went to Virginia and Africa and then just landed here
and things kept keeping me here. But I don't think
it just Atlanta's home. I really do feel like the
world is home. I feel just at home. And you know,
(14:28):
a mud hut with a tin roof and rural Uganda
as I do, you know, with friends and family in Blackhead,
and those two worlds are so different, but what they
have in common is people I love. So I think
home is just being with people you love. I have
a puppy. Now I guess he's too, so I don't
(14:49):
know if he's still a puppy, but yeah, Sabo, Sabo
means dude in in Luganda, Sabo is definitely home. Um.
Just being with him anywhere feels like home. I wish
I could take him around the world with me, because
now when I'm not with him, I don't feel home.
So maybe that's really how you know what home is
(15:12):
is knowing what's not home. Um, So being without say
Bo's not home. So it's interesting. There was a film
I haven't seen it yet that came out at Sundance
this year UM that a bunch of cities and refugee
organizations have been screening. That's called This Is Home, and
it's about Syrian refugees coming to Baltimore, UM before, during,
(15:36):
and after the travel Ban, so it's kind of an
interesting title to go with. That's extremely powerful. Yeah, and
one challenge that we're taking is that we don't want
our film to be like any other film. So all
the films like this as Home, Um, we are working
really hard to see what stories have they told, and
(15:57):
they really tell the journey of Huming to America. So
we did at first go to the airport and film
families just landing in Hartsfield Jackson and all of that,
but there are other films that tell that story. And
so we know that Clarkston is so unique, um that
really no community in the world looks like it. So
we want to tell the most unique story possible because
(16:20):
we have that opportunity with Clarkston, and we just really
want to do justice to the people in Clarkson and
make them feel like when they watch our film that
it feels like home. Yeah. I mean that's what the
stories you've told already and highlighted. I mean, it's their
all on their own like that hasn't been told. So
that's very exciting that you'll be able to tell that story.
(16:41):
I did. We'll have more question booth after the break
m H. So Clarkston is this square mile in size
(17:06):
one point four. It's amazing just inside of that space,
how much there is to tell. And you've told us
a lot of great things about Clarkson, But I wonder,
is there anything else that you for listeners who may
not be from Georgia or may not be familiar with
Clarkston before today, There anything else you'd want them to
(17:27):
know about Clarkston. Well, not only do non Georgians know
about Clarkson, but almost everyone we meet doesn't know about Clarkson.
And when I tell people how it's so cool to
tell a story that's only fifteen minutes from my house,
they're like, what, Clarkson's only fifteen minutes from Atlanta. Um,
Clarkston is metro Atlanta, but it's definitely its own city,
(17:51):
has its own mayor and its own specially unique sense
of everything. Though Atlanta is a welcoming city as well,
which only mayor mayor yeah, young hip mayor exactly a
millennial mayor. Clarkson was in November became the first city
in America with a majority elected millennial body, So the
(18:12):
majority of elected officials in the city of Clarkson or millennials.
There are also former refugees on City Council. There's a
former refugee in the police force. UM. And what former
refugee means is that they came here as refugees and
then they became American citizens. So they're really but we
call everyone in Clarkson new Americans because they are UM
(18:34):
and a lot of people there. So we're also doing
a workforce development program with the film where we're training
people and Clarkson and filmmaking UM and then paying them
to work on our team and then will eventually help
them get more jobs in the industry. One of them
is Abdual and Abdul is Ethiopian, but he has never
(18:55):
been Ethiopia. Who was born and raised in a refugee
camp and Kakuma and Ken Yeah, and he came here
too and a half years ago and in two and
a half more years when becomes an American citizen, it
will be his first time ever belonging to a country. Yeah.
So so talk about home. I mean, this is his
first home and he's twenty six. UM. But what else
(19:19):
do I want people to know about Clarkson. UM. There's
really good food from lots of ethnicities, really good coffee UM,
and it's so welcoming. When we had this situation. Um,
in May, we had a guy, a man who was
running for governor. His name is Michael Williams. He had
(19:41):
three percent um that two days or three days before
the election, he was at three percent, and so kind
of in a last sitch effort to get notoriety and
name recognition. Perhaps I don't know why he did it,
but this is what other media outlets are saying. He
got a school bus and painted it and called it
the deportation bus. And he came to Clarkston. And I
(20:05):
don't know how no one told him, but there's really
no one in Clarkston to deport because there are no
illegal immigrants there. Maybe there are one or two, but
I know a lot of people in Clarkson and they're
very illegal, and we invited them here. So they didn't
even come here by choice. Um. They would all much
rather be in their home countries than here. Um. But
(20:27):
obviously their homes don't exist anymore in many cases, or
their families. So he brought this deportation bus to Clarkston.
A lot of people in Clarkson were really scared because
a lot of refugees. There's these incredible nonprofits and agencies
and volunteers teaching them their rights. But if some man
says I'm coming to Clarkston, Georgia with a deportation bus,
(20:49):
and you hear about a Muslim travel band and all
these things, you're you're scared. So we went and we
filmed the reaction the day it was announced, and then
we filmed the actual occurrence, and I would say around
a hundred and fifty peaceful protesters came out in opposition
of him. Super diverse array of people. Um, and every
(21:10):
one of them that actually lived in Clarkston, whether they
were white Americans, Black Americans, or had come here recently
from other countries as immigrants or refugees or migrants or
asylum seekers or on special immigration visas, they all actually
welcomed him. Um. They even had a sign that said,
welcome Michael Williams. Everyone is welcome here. Have all's mom
(21:33):
made him back lava but they ate together. Um, So
that's Clarkston just welcoming. Wow. It's great to hear about
a community, especially one like we said, this so close
to Atlanta, and the Atlanta is a welcoming place, but
that feels like a whole another level of welcome, a
level of back lava welcome. Yeah. I didn't even know
(21:54):
that existing, but now I do. It was the day
before Ramadan too, so have all was able to eat
it with him. Um, what's next for you? Yeah? Oh,
we've got six more months of filming, so nothing's next.
This is right smack up in the middle of production. Um,
and it's it's going really well. It's still really challenging.
(22:19):
I would put it in the same category, close to
IMBA and best and worst all at the same time. Um,
it's really hard, but it's worth it. One more thing,
where can people follow along? Yeah, we would love that. Um.
Clarkston Film dot Com is our website and it links
(22:40):
to all of our different social media pages and we
have a special page with the Metro Ely in a Chamber.
They have a new digital platform called thea um so
we have some behind the scenes videos up there, specifically
about our workforce development program which is really fun. Um.
So yeah, please follow along. We have an email list
(23:01):
and part of how documentary works as if you can
find your audience early then it makes it a lot
easier to raise support to continue going. So we would
love everyone to to join us. On the journey Now,
m H. That was Aaron Bernhardt. We'd like to thank
(23:23):
her for speaking with us and we hope you'll check
out her work. Tell us what you think, share your
stories with us. We love getting your emails. You can
send them to the Question Booth at house to works
dot com. We're a Question Underscore booth on Twitter and
the Question Booth on Instagram. Yeah, and you can visit
us in the booth. We're here in Atlanta at Pont
City Market child to five pm Friday through Sunday. Kathleen
(23:46):
and I wrote the script, I did the music, and
the two of us produced a show. And the special
part is you, our listeners and participants. We'll talk to
you again soon, but until then, see you in the
Question Booth.
The Question Booth News
Hosts And Creators
Dylan Fagan
Kathleen Quillian
Show Links
AboutPopular Podcasts
1. The Podium
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
2. In The Village
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
3. iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.