I almost didn’t see Boyhood, not that I didn’t want to. I, like most people who were anxious to see the film, was impressed by the fact that Richard Linklater had used the same cast over a 13 year period, which would seem to lend some authenticity to the story. Linklater's candid and sometimes frightening assessment of human relationships which he explored in the Before Sunset trilogy; the things that bring us together and keep us together are often the very things which end up tearing us apart, are bittersweet facts of life and I have come to appreciate the way they are beautifully depicted in his films. However, a recent review by Imran Siddique in The Atlantic (Not Everyone's Boyhood)m.theatlantic.com/boyhood) dismissed the film’s most poignant and beautiful points simply because there were no people of color in supporting roles. I find this offensive. First of all, just because a film doesn't portray a “Black” person as the protagonist’s best friend, receptionist, nurse, or cop-the supporting roles blacks usually play- doesn't make it racist. It is also a fact of life that people of color are not as abundant in some areas of the United States as they are in others. It is also a fact of life that a boy might not have a black best friend. This does not make the film racist or insensitive to the plight of people of color. Boyhood takes place in Texas (primarily Austin and Houston) where whites and Hispanics outnumber blacks so it’s not unusual to find less black people in the picture. Furthermore, Boyhood details Mason Evans Jr.,’s experiences not the experiences of people of color that he may or may not have known. The review also mentioned the contrasting boyhoods of African American boys portrayed in movies like Boys in the Hood and Fruitvale Station. While both are tragic coming of age stories for young black men who experience violence as well as class and social inequality on a daily basis. Mason is not African American; he is not growing up with a single black father in South Central LA or a single black mother in the Bay area. It is ridiculous to suggest that Mason’s life experience reflect a world he does not live in. Does this make Mason’s story any less authentic or necessary? As a mother of two young boys who happen to be black, it was refreshing to see a movie where the protagonist’s life was not cut down too soon by gun-violence, usually at the hands of another black man, or the police. I was happy that at the end of the movie my head wasn’t hurting from bawling. I must confess that I wish more movies about African American boys could play out as beautifully as Mason’s did, however that is not the world we live in and I don’t think this movie was intended to be a referendum on race-relations in America. The movie dealt with the issue of race the way America should; as an everyday ordinary, natural occurrence not worth riling ourselves up about. Black, white and Asian citizens were seen in the film as classmates, diners at restaurants living their lives and tending to their normal everyday business. As an African American woman I can say that this is the way I want to exist in the world-conflict, chaos and drama free. I’m black but I don’t always want or feel the need to be a political statement. Forgive me for sounding trite but I think Mason and his dad’s support for the Obama campaign spoke volumes about how they felt about race. It was a non-issue. President Obama was recognized as a presidential candidate they would/should vote for, because they cared about his ideals-his race didn’t come up. But for those of us, like our reviewer who want to drag it into the conversation, there was the scene where Mason asked a man with a confederate flag in his window if he could put an Obama sign in the yard. The man angrily responds, “Do I look like a Barrack Hussein Obama supporter? Linklater gave racism the attention it deserved and that was enough. Fatherhood. Single motherhood. Mason’s relationship with both of his parents. Mason’s relationship with himself. A woman struggling to create an identity and a life for herself apart from being a mother and an ex-wife. A father trying to connect with his children. The loss of innocence…these are the issues worth discussing because these are the things that shape our lives and our experiences. They have made Mason who he becomes. One of my favorite scenes is a car-ride where Mason Sr. asks Mason and his sister Samantha about their lives. They don’t respond as openly as he would like. He tells them he’s not going to be the father who takes them out for the weekend and buys them things. He wants to hear from them. He wants to know how they are doing. They respond by telling him it’s not that simple, they then turn the tables on him and demand that he tell them what is going on in his life. As a parent, I was humbled by this scene. We expect our kids to be open with us-to communicate with us and connect with us but we don’t show them how because as parents it’s our responsibility to make sure the rules we make to protect them don’t get broken, in order to do that we come across as stiff and unfeeling, never showing our human and vulnerable sides to our children. This is unfair and robs us of the most magical and mutually beneficial relationships we will ever have. Who knows us better than ourselves if not our kids? They become who they are because of how we nurture them socially and emotionally, which is just as important as their physical and intellectual development. Even Mason Sr. has some lessons to learn as he seems to come of age at about the same time Mason graduates from high school and is about to start a new phase in his life as a married man with a new baby to raise. We see Mason literally growing up before our eyes. The scene in which Mason’s mom, Olivia drives him to school annoyed that he would pretend to be sick because his stepfather shaves his head. He tells his mother that it’s his hair and his stepfather didn’t even ask him if he could cut it. She looks into his face and recognizes his maturity. We watch Mason pull down the larger than life stills of the girl who breaks his heart from an exhibition at his school and our hearts break too. Our spirits are lifted once again as his father steps in to remind him that he was too good for her. “After all,” he reminds Mason, “she left you for a jock.” When Mason is packing for college, his mother becomes emotional and tells him he’s about to have all of these wonderful experiences while the only thing that’s next for her is the grave. He accuses her of being melodramatic. She says she didn’t expect him to be so happy about leaving. When he finds an old photograph among his things, he asks her why she packed it, and she tearfully explains it’s the first photograph he’s ever taken. He calmly tells her it’s all the more reason to leave it behind, with her. In the scene where Mason Sr. gives his children the contraception talk, the kids would rather not talk about it, but as he jokingly tells them he doesn’t want them to follow in their parent’s footsteps, we can tell from the looks on their faces that they get it. Fathers are not often celebrated and in cases of divorce especially in popular culture and mass media, dad is often portrayed as the bad guy. Mothers can’t walk away from their children as easily as some fathers can, but in this movie, Mason Sr. has proved himself. He truly loves his children and wants to know them and demands to be actively involved in their lives. He reminded me of my own dad who could make sense of a cruel world in a way that enabled me to treat people with dignity, even if they may not have always deserved it. I owe everything I am to who he was. Of course several mistakes were made along the way-but that’s the beauty of the film. Clearly Olivia and Mason Sr. aren’t perfect parents but they did their best with what they had. I am able to look at the world and know that I have a place in it because I, like Mason Jr. learned enough from my imperfect parents not to make the same mistakes. On his first night at college Mason and a friend contemplate this idea; perhaps the moments seize the person and not the other way around. These moments take us where we are supposed to be, teaching us the lessons that are ours to learn. They are the essence of life and the universal theme of the film. Boyhood is not a film about race simply because it doesn’t have to be.