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Milwaukee man featured in documentary about being mixed race in America

Hopes to give new perspective to viewers
Posted at 6:19 PM, Mar 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-24 19:19:00-04

A documentary about race is drawing international attention, and it features a man from the Milwaukee area.

Eric Jaskolski hopes the film, “I Am,” or “How Jack Became Black” enlightens viewers about living in a multi-racial world.

Jaskolski is a US Army Veteran form Milwaukee who is the subject of the documentary on race.

“My grandmother is like 90 years old, she moved here from Mississippi in 1979,” he said.

He was invited to be in the film after he wrote a letter to former President Barack Obama asking that we redefine how we categorize mixed race people.

"President Obama we cannot go back to the one drop of black blood rule," he wrote.

Jaskolski doesn’t define himself as black or white, rather just “Eric.”

He said it’s not about denying or claiming a race, it’s about rejecting labels.

"We even have a box that says other, well I'm not other,” Jaskolski said. “Being in a box, what is it doing? To me it’s making everything even more divided.”

“I Am” was released last month, and it explores race and politics.

Jaskolski, who served in Afghanistan, asserts that to soldiers in the military, race isn’t relevant.

"Being in the military the only thing that matters is all you have is each six which means you have each other’s back...your race, ethnicity, creed, religion and sexuality, none of that matters," he said.

The fourth generation veteran hopes his 3 year old discovers that her worth is not defined by the color of her skin.

"We're one big melting pot, we’re all Americans, we bleed the same," he said.

The movie was released by Eli Steele and it will be available on iTunes and Netflix.

 

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