Jarrod
I met Jarrod through another PartBlack Project participant, Steph Filo. Before Jarrod made the move from Cincinnati, Ohio to Los Angeles we corresponded, and agreed to connect once he arrived in LA. Several months later, over tacos at Home State, we met and got to know each other, and while we disagreed on the cinematic value of Godzilla: King of the Monsters we agreed on other much more important things. A few weeks later we got together and made some photographs in Jarrod’s neighborhood.
Q: Do you identify as Black? White? Mixed? Bi-Racial? Something else?
A: Depends on the situation, if it’s on paper I might just use bi-racial, in person when people ask I usually just say that “I’m mixed — my dad is black and mom is white. So I grew up in both cultures.”
Q: Who are some PartBlack people who have inspired you?
A: Angela Davis, Jordan Peele, Adrienne Maree Brown, Malcolm X, Tessa Thompson, Mario Van Peebles, Maya Rudolph, J. Cole and Drake, Kamala Harris
Q: Which public figure, of any ethnicity, has had the greatest influence on your life? (This can be an artist, scientist, musician, filmmaker, philosopher, athlete, politician, writer — anyone.)
A: Arundhati Roy for sure — she’s the author of The God of Small Things and Capitalism: A Ghost Story and prolific activist. Assata Shakur, Michelle Alexander, Donald Glover are right up there for different reasons.
Q: Are there any fictional characters from film or literature that have influenced your life? How?
A: Mulan — she’s a total badass navigating between at least two worlds.
The Oracle (from the matrix) — a fictional sage that ironically looks and talks at like my grandy.
Cashius Green (from Sorry to Bother You) — thank you Boots.
Black Dynomite — too much fun.
Pootie Tang — I mean he’s got his own language, sadatay…
Q: What countries have you traveled to, and how does your physical appearance influence how people treat you around the world?
A: For my most recent feature length doc, Let The Gods Dance, I spent time learning Gharwali drumming rhythms of the Indian Himalayas and eventually lived in India for a bit. It’s probably no mistake that my physical appearance is ambiguous enough that I’m often accepted and welcomed in to communities like in India where there can be identities around brown-ness for those who aren’t clearly white nor black. While in India I would often get people coming up to me and speaking Hindi or Tamil as if I’m a native and although I’m learning Hindi and Tamil and many of my close friends are from North and South India, I’m still a novice at best so the end of these conversations are almost always humiliating and hilarious.
Q: Are there other PartBlack people in your life, and/or how do you feel when you meet another person who is PartBlack?
A: A few of my close friends have one parent black one parent white. I find it comforting, it’s like having a community of people who share the sort of in-between space so we can talk about interactions and experiences and relate to one another on a pretty deep emotional level. That’s one reason I’m really on board with this project for real.
Q: Which part of your background do you identify with and/or who are you closest to in your family?
A: Pick sides? That’s a tricky one. My parents were never married so I spent most of my childhood swinging back and forth between spending time with my mom and my dad but never as a “unified” family unit. So in that sense I’m essentially the collected experiences of both of those separate cultural experiences. I’m still close with both my mom and my dad who both live in Cincinnati, Ohio — a city well known for its racial tension, uprisings, and rampant police brutality.
Q: What are your thoughts on descriptors like light-skinned, high yellow, Mulatto, etc?
A: One of my favorite musicians, Mike Ladd, is mixed and his work inspired me to reclaim and repurpose the use of mulatto with a sense of humor. my instagram is @mulatto.brown
Q: What are your feelings on the N-Word? Do you use it?
A: It’s a profound word and black american culture has really transformed it into a term of endearment that defies white supremacy. I personally don’t fuck with it because most people would be like “who’s that Indian dude using the n-word?”
Q: In your career, how has being PartBlack helped or hurt you?
A: All I can say is that my identity and my family has and always will keep me inspired. It’s lead me to become an activist, filmmaker, musician, and reminds me not to take things to self-seriously. I gotta stay playful and create my own identity.
Q: Has ethnicity played a factor in your romantic relationships?
A: For sure. I usually resonate with activist-minded people so naturally in relationships interest and intersections between racial politics, feminism, and the politics of power really keep relationships evolving. The most profound thing I learned in my last relationship was when I sat down and read bell hooks’ The Will To Change and All About Love — a black feminist take on abolishing toxic masculinity and embracing feminism.
Q: Growing up, do you feel that you experienced unique challenges being PartBlack?
A: I remember feeling like I was always struggling to find a comfortable resting place with my identity between my friends who had two black parents and friends who had two white parents or friends that grew up with two parents who lived together. Since my parents never married or lived in the same place and I never lived in a house — just spend my time between two apartments — I always resonated with people who came from homes that didn’t quite fit the American dream.
Q: Have you had negative or racist thoughts about people who share any of your ethnicities.
A: For sure. Ego will always try to trip us up. In my time I definitely have slipped up and found myself feeling up-tight and judgy towards uneducated white folks and upper middle class white folks for their privilege to say dumb, racist shit without blinking or arguing with me trying to say “BlueLivesMatter” — if I’m not careful that will set me off… I’ve slipped up and felt judgy towards people of color who I start to relate to but then they might start talking down on women, trans folks, and anyone who doesn’t share their sexuality. There’s definitely time when I felt some toxic masculinity creeping in from people I would otherwise relate to. That said were all growing and on our journeys. It just takes time so in that sense being PartBlack keeps me critical of myself, forgiving of myself when I slip, and keeps me moving forward.
Q: Can you discuss some ways friends or family have made your life more difficult?
A: On the whole my family is super supportive. I will say that once I became an “adult” and started waking up I started paying attention to the things my grandparents on the white side of the family around events like Thanksgiving and a lot of it came from a place of fear, confusion, and hatred… and watching too much fox news. Once I started protesting in the streets against the police that terrorize low-income black and brown neighborhoods there was only so much we had in common — only so much small-talk buffering that could keep one of them from saying something dehumanizing and stereotypical about the young black men who were slain by police. I learn to pick my battles and put my energy where it counts.
Q: Do you feel any obligation to any of the ethnicities or cultures in your background?
A: I definitely feel an obligation — an obligation to speak truth to power if and when I know that I can. Particularly when it won’t be easy.
Q: Do you consider yourself political, and in what ways?
A: Everything we do is political — so long as power and identity exist. As a “long time” organizer in BlackLivesMatter, I’ve also made a film that’s now licensed by Amazon called Good White People: A Short Film About Gentrification . Making this film helped me grow as an activist for sure. I also started a media company called Potentiator.org in order to have a place to talk about our political identities as people of color and in my current project, Let The Gods Dance, I’m working on a film about casteism in India — a process parallel to the New Jim Crow we see in the US today.
Q: What do you think the world could learn from PartBlack people?
A: Angela Davis is teaching us. Malcolm X is teaching us. Adrienne Maree Brown is teaching us. And the lessons go on…
Q: What would you tell your 12-year-old self?
A: Get some sleep. Trust your intuition. Drop some acid. Eat your greens.
Oh and when the internet comes around just ignore it and your ass outdoors.
Free your booty and the rest will follow.