Gov. Polis’ mother shows path from extreme prejudice to empathy in new documentary
Gov. Jared Polis’ mother Susan Polis Schutz’s newest film profiles former white supremacists and documents their personal transformations from hate to empathy and understanding.
“Love Wins Over Hate” has premiered on PBS stations nationwide in the weeks approaching the 2020 elections, a time when President Donald Trump has faced pressure to denounce white supremacy, and the Department of Homeland Security predicted that white supremacists will remain the most “persistent and lethal threat” in the United States through 2021.
The filmmaker describes it as an unparalleled time.
"With America venturing into the next election, and white supremacists emboldened, this film could not be timelier. The issues of race, and white nationalism are on everyone’s mind," Polis Schutz said in a Facebook post about the film.
In the film, six former white nationalists and ultraconservatives talk honestly and openly about their former beliefs.
Each of the subjects share how they were originally recruited and radicalized by organizations, and the transformative moments and personal connections that helped them leave their racists and prejudiced beliefs behind.
Former Neo-Nazi Shannon Foley Martinez discusses how easy it was to direct her unprocessed rage and self-hatred from a sexual assault into a movement rooted in hate.
Other interviewees include former white supremacists Arno Michaelis, Tim Zaal and Chris Buckley, who describe the pain they willfully caused others, their changing beliefs, and their ongoing fight for a more compassionate and inclusive world.
Previous films and Blue Mountain Arts
Polis Schutz’s production company IronZeal Films has been creating documentaries about social issues and personal resiliency since 2007.
Polis Schutz’s first film, “Anyone and Everyone,” focused on the parents of gay children and collected coming-out stories of children and parents from diverse cultural backgrounds and all walks of life.
The film was partially inspired by Polis Schutz’s own son, Governor of Colorado Jared Polis, the first openly gay governor. Governor Polis also previously served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and was the first openly gay member in Congress.
Subsequent films featured mental health issues, resilience, homelessness, aging, and a celebration of individuals that choose a unique path in life – much like Polis Schutz and her husband did.
The filmmaker’s biography includes a business venture founded with her husband Stephen Schutz that many Coloradans, and people around the world, will recognize: Blue Mountain Arts.
The greeting card, gift, and poetry book company features Susan’s poetry and her husband’s illustrations and calligraphy.
Polis Schutz’s Facebook page recounts the couple’s early years in Colorado when they first broke away from their 9-to-5 jobs and embarked on their artistic and entrepreneurial pursuits:
“On the weekends, they experimented with printing Susan's poems, paired with Stephen’s paintings, on posters that they silk-screened in their basement. They loved being together so much that it did not take long for them to begin disliking the 9-to-5 weekday separation that resulted from their pursuing different careers. They decided that their being together all the time was more important than anything else. So Stephen left his research position in the physics laboratory, and he and Susan set out in their pickup-truck camper to spend a year traveling across the country and selling their silk-screened posters in towns and cities along the way.”
The venture led to printing their first book in 1972, Come Into the Mountains, Dear Friend and creating Blue Mountain Arts.
Polis Schutz’s best-selling book, To My Daughter with Love on the Important Things In Life, has since sold approximately 2 million copies, and her poems have been printed on 435 million greeting cards worldwide, according to her IMBd biography.
Her full filmography can be explored on IMBd, at the IronZeal films website, and in a YouTube playlist of her film’s trailers.
The documentary also includes conversations with people who have endured the brunt of hateful speech and actions, including three individuals from Colorado.
State Representative Leslie Herod is Colorado’s first LGTBQ legislator, Nadeen Ibrahim is a member of the Colorado Muslim Leadership Council whose family experienced prejudice following 9/11, and Nicole Garcia is a minister for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and is a transgender person of color.
Each shared how prejudice has impacted their daily lives, revealing the depth of pain and damage inflicted on individuals and wider communities by hate.
When asked what she hopes people take away from the documentary, Polis Schutz told 5280 magazine:
"That people can change, and how that change happens. The common thread from everyone that changed was once they met somebody from the group that they hated, they realized you can’t hate somebody when you’re sitting down talking to them. You can’t combat hate and violence with more hate and violence. You have to do it, in a sense, with love. I think it was trying to give hope to people that things can get better.”
“Love Wins Over Hate” premieres Thursday, October 29 at 8 p.m. on Rocky Mountain PBS, and is available streaming online at video.rmpbs.org and on the PBS Video App across devices.