Burden

Last updated on: February 28, 2020 at 5:38 am by James F. McGrath

Burden 2020-02-27T22:08:12-05:00 James F. McGrath

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The movie Burden about a KKK member who turns from racism opens in theaters today, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to screen it in advance of its theatrical release. I am likely to be appreciative of any movie that both exposes the racism of the southern United States and calls those who persist in it to repentance. Having grown up in New York City with diversity simply as a given, the things I see in a movie like Burden shock and appall me. But so too does driving south from Indianapolis and seeing houses flying confederate flags. The United States is not in fact united in many important respects. Not in our values, nor in our experiences. Much of the way of life depicted in the movie seems as foreign to me as the values many of its characters espouse. Whether as an outsider or insider to the kind of racism that provides the backdrop to the creation of a “Redneck KKK Museum” in the town where the movie is set, the movie forces one outside their comfort zone. It is not without its shortcomings, to be sure. But as someone appalled by the ongoing prevalence of racism that I often think should merely be embarrassing history by this point, the movie forces me to wrestle not only with a National legacy and culture but a humanity of which I am a part that isn’t nearly as trustworthy, sensible, or kind as I wish I could believe.

The main character in the film is named Mike Burden, and his last name provides the title of the movie. We first encounter him working for a company that repossesses property from people who are in debt. He shows himself willing to make allowances – but not evenly. He lets a woman named Judy off the hook with whom he then forms a relationship, but doesn’t do the same for a black man with whom he went to school.

I was struck by a scene where Pastor Kennedy asks a store manager to teach his staff to stop seeing color. In our time, the idea of being “color blind” is not advocated in the same way it once was. The language may have been and sometimes still be intended to mean that one should not discriminate and treat people differently on the basis of color. But is the only way to treat people fairly to ignore their skin color, to pretend that we are not different as human beings, rather than to value every different shade of skin pigmentation (or hair or eye color or anything else)?

Over the course of the movie we get to hear a sermon on love, see white men pee a on black girl as they pass her in their pickup truck as she is walking down the street. We see the head of the repo company who is also the one setting up the KKK Museum complain about all the other cultures’ museums while they (supposedly) have to fight for the right to celebrate the white man. He refers to whites as the chosen people of God and Jesus, to God’s will for racial purity, and to God being on our side in their fight for the “cause of Justice for the white man.” The movie will make many viewers uncomfortable, but people still live and think in these ways, and so there is a need for those who live in parts of the country or elsewhere in the world where the situation is different to see what racism in the United States looks like, and what allows it to continue. Rev. Kennedy gets the chance to expose a key aspect of what fosters it in his dialogue in the film: people being told they are the pinnacle of evolution and of society, and yet living in a poverty that they cannot explain except in terms of there being discrimination against them. He emphasizes that the “redneck museum” is evil, and likely to serve as a recruitment magnet for the KKK.

The deed for the museum is given to Mike Burden to safeguard, who is supposedly regarded as like a son to the museum’s founder. That’s a point that will be important later. When Mike shows up to take Judy’s son fishing, she sends her son Franklin’s black friend along too, deliberately pushing Mike’s boundaries but also taking a terrifying risk with a child under the circumstances. That doesn’t get addressed in the movie, but will occur to viewers when, after someone trashes the redneck museum, Mike punches a black boy to the point of hospitalization. It later turns out the perpetrator was a local white man who objected to the museum’s racism.

While it is good to see Christians wrestling with ethics and retaliation, it is sad to hear facile comments that are all too common, such as the pastor responding to the invocation of the principle of “an eye for an eye” by saying, “That’s Old Testament.” But it is nonetheless refreshing to see explicit testing of the limits of how Jesus’ teaching is applied in such instances of injustice. Is this just the “blue-eyed Jesus of white folk.” Can a black pastor and his church really pray for the Klan in implementing Jesus’ teaching about praying for our enemies?

There are more moments when we see the horrifying paradoxes of racism. At the museum the woman guide says blacks are welcome there, since they too fought for the confederacy. Franklin learns to stab a knife from Tom Griffin. As he stabs a stuffed hay bag he is told, “Stick it in that dark meat.” Judy then gives Mike an ultimatum to choose Klan or her. When a group from Pastor Kennedy’s church protests at the museum and skirmishes break out, we see Mike on a rooftop with a rifle. But he cannot bring himself to shoot. Soon after he quits the Klan. As a result, he and Judy lose their jobs and no one locally will hire either of them. Police evict them from their house for non-payment of rent. After Mike ends up begging, Pastor Kennedy sees them and takes them for lunch. He tries to rent a room for them in a hotel owned by a parishioner but the man says he has no vacancies, wondering if the pastor realizes who he is dealing with. So the pastor brings them to his own home to stay there.

We learn about the kind of upbringing and indoctrination that gets someone into racism, which also provides clues of how someone might be reached and helped to find their way out of it. When he was a child, Mike’s father shot a deer Mike thought was cute. He called him a “pussy” if he cried. When

Mike falls back into old habits and attacks his new employer, he uses the n-word, and the portrayal of threats of violence and murder or at least violence that consistently accompany that word may help white viewers grasp the force of that slur in ways they otherwise might not.

There is a genuinely Christian perspective woven into the movie. The pastor says you can’t get rid of hate unless you replace it with something greater.
The pastor feels sorry for white males told they’re the end all and be all and yet who are poor, uneducated and raised in brutality. They cannot reconcile the two, and it twists them. The pastor confessed that he wants to send Mike away, but says he also knows that if he does that he won’t be able to preach any more. The pastor puts flowers at his uncle’s grave who was lynched by the KKK. Talking with Mike, the pastor calls him to align himself with love, with God. Take responsibility for your actions, he says. Repent, find redemption. Mike confesses his crimes both to the authorities and to Pastor Kennedy’s congregation as he stands in the river to be baptized. As he is immersed, “Take Me To The Water” is sung the church choir. He admits things he had done to them as a community and says he hopes they and God can forgive him one day. Franklin and his friend play together in a way that I think is supposed to convey hope for the next generation to not inherit the prejudice of the previous one. The movie draws to a close with a deer coming up to Mike as he sits under a tree. He laughs with a deep joy. We get the sense throughout the film that this is a simple man, not especially bright or well educated. But that childlike aspect provides a way to reach him that someone with a more sophisticated and elaborate system of thinking might provide defense against would-be infiltration by challenges to racism.

The end text directs viewers to fundraising efforts connected with the hashtag #rehabhate. We also see interview clips with the actual people portrayed by actors in the film. The real Mike’s statement about Judy, “She changed me,” conveys what is at the same time hopeful and distressing about a movie like this. It seems that the love of a white woman who rejects racism can reach a man whom black former classmates and fellow human beings cannot. Is that a reason to feel encouraged by the possibility of change, or sorrowful about the fact that other things that ought to be more significant fail to make an impact?

In concluding text we learn that in 2017 his church took possession of the KKK museum building Mike had sold to them earlier in the film, Tom Griffin having died by that point.

For a much more critical perspective see this review in The Daily Beast by Cassie Da Costa. See also the British perspective in The Guardian as well as more in The Christian Post.

The movie contains a lot of challenging content. When you go see it, let me know whether you think it is the kind of movie that, whatever it’s flaws, might just possibly help racists shift away from that outlook, and/or help those who’ve rejected racism for as long as they can remember to fully grasp the horrors of racism, and understand the communities and their experiences that allow racism to thrive.

Previous Post

February 27, 2020

The Future of Gen Ed Recap, Part 6

Next Post

February 29, 2020 Dawn Chorus Playlist

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz