THE COLOR OF FEAR In the documentary film “The Color of Fear,” a group of men at

THE COLOR OF FEAR
In the documentary film “The Color of Fear,” a group of men at a weekend retreat engage in an
open and candid dialogue on race and ethnicity. The filmmaker, Lee Mun Wah, a Chinese
American community therapist, gathered a group of eight men, myself among them, who were
willing to spend a weekend in an honest and unconstrained discussion about our experiences,
beliefs, and values related to race, color, ethnicity, and culture. We met at a house belonging to a
friend of the filmmaker. The house was about ten miles outside of Ukiah, a small rural town in
Northern California. Two of the men were African American, two were Latino American, two
were Asian American and two were European American or white. Lee Mun Wah functioned as
the facilitator for the weekend.
– Roberto Almanzan
PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS
Roberto Almanzan – Latino, older
David Christensen – European American, taller
Gordon Clay – European American, shorter
David Lee – Chinese American, glasses
Victor Lewis – African American, taller
Yutaka Matsumato – Japanese American
Loren Moye – African American, shorter
Hugh Vasquez – Latino, taller
Lee Mun Wah – Chinese American, film director
The Color of Fear
Reflection Questions
Answer the following questions in essay form.
1) Please explain some of your general thoughts and reactions to the film. What scenes or
topics stand out to you? Was there anything that you strongly agreed or disagreed
with? Why?
2) Choose one person from the film that you feel you most connect with. Explain why you
feel that connection.
3) What are some of the major issues that were raised in the film? How do the people in the
group work to get past those issues? What are some of the resistances to resolving the
issues?
4) At the beginning of the film, there was a lot of discussion over the term American. What
were some of the viewpoints expressed on what it means to be American? What would
your definition of American have been before taking this course? Has it changed at all?
If so, what is your definition of American now?
5) Related to #4, how would you identify your race or ethnicity? Please explain any details
about the identity you choose. (For example, did you intentionally use specific words or
leave specific words out of your identity? Is there any conflict or uncertainty about your
identity?) Would most others use the same labels for your race or ethnicity or would the
call you something different? If different, what would most people call you?
6) There was a lot of emotion expressed at different points of the film. We saw people
getting angry, people crying, people getting frustrated, etc. Where do you think this
emotion comes from? In what ways can this emotion help us to move forward in our
discussions of race? In what ways can this emotion hurt our progress in discussions of
race?