Washington state courts issue mandatory screening of 'Racism in America' documentary: report

Washington state court staffers will reportedly be forced to watch a documentary on "Racism in America" as part of their training on Thursday.

Radio host Jason Rantz wrote in an article Wednesday that the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) will be hosting a mandatory, in-person screening of activist Jeffery Robinson’s documentary "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America" as well as a dialogue and question-and-answer session with Robinson.

According to an announcement provided by Rantz to Fox News Digital, the event takes place at South Puget Sound Community College at 1:00 p.m. and concludes at 5:00 p.m.

On the Who We Are Project website, the film purports to be "asking all of us to examine who we are, where we come from, and who we want to be."

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"In ‘Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America’, Robinson shows us how legalized discrimination and state-sanctioned brutality, murder, dispossession, and disenfranchisement continued long after slavery ended, profoundly impeding Black Americans’ ability to create and accumulate wealth as well as to gain access to jobs, housing, education, and health care," the description read. "Weaving heartbreak, humor, passion, and rage, Robinson’s words lay bare an all-but-forgotten past, as well as our shared responsibility to create a better country in our lifetimes."

It added, "From a hanging tree in Charleston, South Carolina, to a walking tour of the origins of slavery in colonial New York, to the site of a 1947 lynching in rural Alabama, the film brings history to life, exploring the enduring legacy of White supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it."

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In a comment to Rantz, an AOC spokesperson confirmed the screening is a mandatory training event and defended the film choice.

"This film has been shown many times within the larger judicial and legal community, including at the AOC, and leadership felt the viewing is an important step for all its staff, as we work towards the promise of having a workplace that values diversity and belonging," the spokesperson said.

A Washington Courts employee took issue with the event, saying it was "stoking divisiveness."

"We are all educated and are aware of racism/slavery in our nation, we don’t need a history lesson from someone who presents it with a particular bias of their own," the employee said to Rantz. "We are not getting applicable training directly related to our job."

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the AOC for comment but has yet to receive a response.