This film isn't about "white racism", or racism at all. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE is about identity. It's about the difference between how the mass culture responds to a person because of their race and who they understand themselves to truly be. And this societal conflict appears to be one that many share.

America is a different country, and it will forever be a different country, after the election of Donald Trump.

Sometimes identity can be your salvation. It can be liberating to find your place in the world, but at some point, identity can hold you back.

As a director, I try not to implement a way for working, for every single actor, across the board. I try to work with each one, on an individual basis.

Racism is wrong, racism is very dangerous.

If the characters [in a movie] aren't real, if their lives aren't realistic, if you call bullshit at any point in their journey, then the rest of it is invalid.

I love films from all these different points of views that used the idea of the school as a way to talk about the American experience. It took me a while to figure how to write a movie like that, because that's not something you learn at film school