Obama's rise meets Black intellectual firepower—this road trip hits different.
Broadcast journalist Tavis Smiley hits the road in 2008 with friends Cornel West, BeBe Winans and other prominent African Americans to explore the contemporary experiences of black men and to ask them: "What do you stand for?" Set against Barack Obama's rise to presidential power, Smiley and his fellow travelers offer diverse perspectives on African Americans' soul music, historic struggle for equality, current race relations and more.
Direction
Smiley's road-trip intimacy breaks formal documentary conventions.
Acting
Cornel West's unscripted passion steals every frame he's in.
Writing
The question 'What do you stand for?' lands harder with time.
Director
Tavis Smiley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during Obama's campaign, the film captures a specific moment of Black optimism that many scholars now call 'the audacity of hope' era—before the backlash.
Tavis Smiley and Cornel West later toured together for years; this documentary essentially launched their public intellectual partnership that would critique Obama's presidency from the left.
US
