MULTICULTURAL REVIEW
(SEPTEMBER 1999)
VIDEO REVIEW

08-3-0356

The Colorful Flags Program. Life Ain’t No Crystal Stair. Pomona: College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, 1999. 18 minutes, color. Written by Renford Reese; Executive Producer Saul Landau. $25.00.

At a bus stop in the Los Angeles area, Joon, a young Korean-American man, and Darrell, a young African-American man, are sitting at opposite ends of the bench. They eye each other suspiciously, thinking in terms of their negative stereotypes of each other. Suddenly, a boy crossing the street is struck by a hit-and-run driver, and the two rush to help.

Back at the bus stop the next day, the two still sit apart. Darrell’s friend comes up, and they talk. We learn that Darrell was in a serious car accident and injured his back, but he still works a full-time job and attends college. He says, "But like big momma said, ‘Life ain’t no crystal stair.’ " Joon recognizes the Langston Hughes quote. He explains to Darrell that his supervisor at the YMCA, an older African-American man, gave him a book of Hughes’s poetry to read. Darrell, in turn, tells Joon that he learned a few words of Korean from a Korean-American nurse who is helping him to rehabilitate his back. Eventually, the two become friends despite their initial mistrust.

Woven into this dramatization is a rap song about prejudice and shots of a culturally diverse urban scene. The fast-paced production, gritty setting, and realistic acting make this video an appealing and thought-provoking choice for teenage viewers. A facilitator’s guide describes the Colorful Flags Program, which seeks to break down mistrust and foster positive relationships among ethnic groups in urban areas, and there are discussion questions about the story, about stereotypes, and about what the characters have in common. A well-thought-out package, Life Ain’t No Crystal Stair belongs in every high school and college library and deserves wide showing in life-skills classes and diversity training programs.

-Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Editor-in-Chief
Multicultural Review