A Woke Viewing List For America's Birthday

This July 4th, a lot of Americans don't much feel like celebrating. With this just-passed "Crappy Trump Bill" mandating the expansion of ICE into one of the biggest police forces in the world, along with all of the political threats and pressures that have stripped away the recognition of just about anyone who isn't white, it's difficult to feel optimistic about the of America.

But it's important to remember the story of America wasn't written by those founding fathers. They created the country knowing that the United States wasn't perfect. By any means. But the promise of America was that we would work to be better, to become that shining light on the mountaintop for everyone. It's been a long, often painful battle. And as the past few months have shown, we are never far away from the abyss if we fail to stand, fall into despair and let evil triumph.

This Fourth of July is going to be filled with lots of empty patriotic platitudes and Republicans touting President Trump as the "greatest President America has ever known." So instead of sitting through that well-hone propaganda, here is a list of movies that show the highs and lows of the country. But even the lows had an impact and eventually led to a better America.

I am hopeful we'll get back there soon.

Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) (Netflix)
It's easy to forget that before Tom Cruise became the action star Energizer Bunny, he was an actor with a depth and range audiences probably won't see again until Cruise's knees give out. Directed by Oliver Stone, Cruise plays real life anti-war activist Ron Kovic, a man who was paralyzed while fighting in Vietnam, then returned to a country who rejects and forgets him.

Glory (1989) (Paramount+)
Based on a true story, Matthew Broderick plays Robert Gould Shaw, who leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates. It's a stunning story you probably aren't familiar with, and the film includes a murder's row of acting talent, including Denzil Washington, Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher.

Do The Right Thing (1989) (Netflix)
Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise. This may still be Spike Lee's best directing effort. In part because the film doesn't pick sides, it just shows the events as they play out.

Easy Rider (1969) (The Criterion Channel)
Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper), two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth and the "Real America." Directed by Dennis Hopper, this low-budget film perfectly captured the last gasps of the 1960s counterculture. It also spawned a hit soundtrack album.

Idiocracy (2006) (Hulu)
Co-written and directed by Mike Judge, it's more amusing than funny. But nearly twenty years later, this movie was much more of a glimpse into America's future than I would have predicted. Five centuries into the future, the president is a former pro wrestler and porn star and a sports drink company owns the FDA, FCC, and USDA. But when a forgotten man named Joe Bauers wakes up after spending 500 years in a forgotten government hibernation experiment, he discovers he is now the smartest man alive.

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (2007) (Max)
Beginning just after the bloody Sioux victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn, the story is told through two unique perspectives: Charles Eastman, a young, white-educated Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation, and Sitting Bull the proud Lakota chief whose tribe won the American Indians’ last major victory at Little Big Horn.

Hidden Figures (2016) (Prime Video)
In the midst of the space race, three African-American women are hired at NASA. Catherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) become the unsung heroes of the NASA space program that saw John Glenn sent into orbit for the first time. Facing unprecedented challenges, these three friends became an inspiration for generations to come.

Milk (2008) (History Vault)
The true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans. Given that the Trump Administration just decided to strip Milk's name from a Navy ship, his story is an important one to remember.

Till (2022) (MGM+/Prime Video)
Emmett Till’s murder in 1955 was a crime that shocked the world and remains one of the most notorious crimes in Amerifcan history. The young black boy was killed by white men who believed he had whistled at a white woman, an unacceptable act in the racist and segregated American South of the Jim Crow era. The film follows his mother, Mamie Till-Moble, as she seeks justice for her deceased son and refuses to be stopped in her pursuit.

Stonewall (2015) (Fawesome/Kanopy/Plex/Prime Video)
Kicked out by his parents, a gay teenager leaves small-town Indiana for New York's Greenwich Village, where growing discrimination against the gay community leads to the Stonewall riots on June 28th, 1969.

The Crucible (1996) (Hoopla)
A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.

Amistad (1997) (MGM+)
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticut, and their release becomes the subject of heated debate. Freed slave Theodore Joadson wants Cinque and the others exonerated and recruits property lawyer Roger Baldwin to help his case. Eventually, John Quincy Adams also becomes an ally.

Angels In America (2003) (Max)
Follow six New Yorkers whose lives intersect amidst the AIDS crisis and the rapidly changing socio-political climate of 1985.