By Maurice Hudson, Intern Reporter

Systemic racism.

People of color can dialogue it, but the reality is white people have to act as well to solve it.

J.D. Steele, singer, songwriter, and creator added another facet to his expertise; filmmaking. Steele, best known for his musical career, as a member of the Steeles and for his work with Prince, George Clinton, Donald Fagen, Mavis Staples and many other artists, debuted his first film “Listen! Please!” on Feb. 8 on Facebook and YouTube. The documentary tackles the issue of systemic racism that people of color face on a day-to-day basis.

Steele said he ultimately went with the idea for the documentary when a friend of his, a 90-year-old philanthropist, Penny Winton, told him that he should make this a reality.

“She called me out of the blue after the George Floyd killing and she said, ‘I think you should do a documentary on systemic racism’ and my first thought was that I have some friends of mine who are filmmakers and I could refer one of them to her because I’ve never made a film,” Steele said. “However, the next morning, I woke up and had an epiphany and I thought I could do this.”

“Listen! Please!” was born.

The documentary is presented through a series of interviews by prominent Black elders in the Minneapolis community including beloved professor and author Mahmoud El-Kati, Bill English, founding member of the Northside Job Creation Team, Dr. Josie Johnson, Minnesota civil rights icon, and Steele’s mother, Sallie Steele Birdsong.

Steele said originally, he wasn't planning on including his mother in the documentary, but she provided some major elements that enhanced the project as a whole.

“I wasn't going to interview my mother at first, because I just thought, since I had a camera crew that I would interview her just so the family would have an archive film of Mom, but she told some stories that were so compelling that caught me by surprise,” Steele said.

The four experienced housing discriminations, racial profiling, police intimidation and microaggressions throughout their lifespan in what El-Kati calls “a series of little ‘meannesses’ that come at you every day.”

Steele said the documentary makes it clear that solving systemic racism is not up to people of color but up to white people as well.

“When you have a diverse, what I call the circle of benevolence, it broadens your perspectives and you understand things more clearly,” Steele said. “So that's the number one thing is, I want people to start talking and having multicultural dialogues.”

Through the lenses of the four octogenarians, the viewer gets a sense of what they go through for just being Black by hearing about their constant struggle with discrimination and that many instances throughout their lives that almost cost them their lives.

Popular musician shines light on systematic racism