Growing up, Amsa Burke was one of few Black kids in Lynden, a conservative rural community in North Whatcom County. On the surface, Burke said, “Everything’s good in Lynden as long as the lawns are clean. You’re going to church … everyone’s smiling — and what’s happening outside is outside.”
But in 2020, Lynden’s first-ever racial justice protest forced underlying tensions to the surface. The event drew more than 1,000 attendees — one half in support of the protest, the other half as counter-protesters with signs, guns and American flags.
Burke, then 17, was one of the march’s organizers. Four years later, she’s the main subject of “Lynden,” a documentary that chronicles the rally’s aftermath and “captures a small town at a crossroads, striving to understand and heal its deep-seated divisions.” It’s co-directed by award-winning filmmakers Chris Baron and Bryan Tucker, and will screen in Bellingham and in Lynden.
Baron knows the film’s subject matter might cause some to feel defensive, but he hopes “Lynden” can go “beyond the headlines” to portray complex human experiences — especially as ideological divides resurface in advance of the 2024 election.
“Even though you might deeply disagree with one side or the other, we’re not going to get anywhere good if we don’t have the ability to sit down together,” he said.
The lead-up to ‘Lynden’
Burke, now 21, was adopted from Ethiopia into a white family. Lynden is home to Washington state’s largest Dutch settlement, and 78% of Lynden’s residents are white — 9.43 times more than any other race. Just 8% of residents are Black.
“I didn’t have any Black friends, and I kind of just wanted to be white the whole time,” Burke said. “I experienced people saying things about my skin color, and the fact that I wasn’t actually Black because I didn’t fit the ‘stereotypical Black’ that they saw on TV.”
Burke grew up avoiding the topic of race, but the events of 2020 caused her to question her identity. She began researching the legacy of racism in the U.S. and Whatcom County, even learning how Bellingham used to be a sundown town.
All this inspired Burke to attend a Black Lives Matter rally in Everett. She initially felt out of place — until speakers began sharing experiences Burke herself identified with, but never previously voiced. For the first time, she felt seen.
The rally empowered Burke to bring these conversations home to Lynden, a place she described as having “blackout curtains to what’s going on around in the world.” Her goal was not to stir the pot but provoke dialogue: “I wanted to stand up for not just me … but for the other Black people that were also brought [here] through adoption as well, and for the community members, because I wanted to see Lynden progress and be better,” Burke said.
Burke and friends formed and organized a racial justice rally in Lynden as Young Advocates of Whatcom County (YWAC), a youth organization which, according to its mission statement, envisions “a community with open hearts, open minds, and open doors.”
Navigating ideological divides
The events of 2020 spurred difficult conversations — not just in the streets but within churches and families, including Baron’s. Growing up in Lynden, Baron said, “I just was always curious [about] this idea of, ‘How do people change their minds?’” He continued, “And then hearing about this march going on, and seeing people post on both sides, and just realizing, ‘Oh, this is going to be an inflection point.’”
Baron then called Tucker, who is a three-time regional Emmy winner and previous Bellingham resident. Tucker attended a march in Lynden and heard Burke speak about her experience: “My name is Amsa. I’m 17 years old, and I was adopted from Ethiopia by a white family. I’ve experienced racism growing up in Lynden.”
Burke was already familiar with Tucker’s work thanks to his award-winning documentary “Closure,” about his wife’s experience as a transracial adoptee. This connection helped establish trust, and so Tucker and Baron continued filming in Lynden for 12 months during Burke’s senior year of high school.
The final film documents both Burke’s coming-of-age story and the tense lead-up to the 2020 election. Baron and Tucker also filmed gatherings where Lynden residents discussed the rallies’ cultural impact, as well as how to move forward as a community.
Many who attended the marches “were seeing people that they go to church with every Sunday on the other side,” Tucker said. “It was just a very troubling experience for a lot of people, because it was the first time they were kind of waking up to these divisions.”
But Baron and Tucker emphasized “Lynden” isn’t about sowing further division. Rather, they hope to paint an objective, honest picture of ideological divides inherent not just to Lynden but small towns across the U.S.
Baron’s family has deep roots in Lynden, and these ties helped the filmmakers build trust with community members. They conducted interviews with a variety of people, including a man named Wylin Tjoelker, who filmed the marches from a conservative perspective. Tjoelker let Tucker and Baron use his footage in “Lynden”; without it, Tucker said, the documentary would be “more of a one-sided story.”
“There’s no specific slant from our side,” he continued. “There’s a lot of wonderful people in Lynden who appear in the film and who have nuanced ideas about how things went down, how the future should be, how people can come together more.”
Revisiting conversations
Baron and Tucker waited to release “Lynden” for a simple reason: 2020 was exhausting for everyone, including Burke.
“I had to do a lot of unlearning through the past few years, and learn about … what my identity is, and my Blackness,” she said.
Now, however, Burke is preparing to start her freshman year at Howard University: “I’m glad I’m more stable and have a foundation in that now. That’s given me a good launching pad to be able to go and be at a historically Black university.”
But while the events of 2020 were transformational for Burke, Baron said it’s too soon to gauge their long-term impact in Lynden. Even so, he knows Burke’s work with YWAC spurred positive change: Lynden-based Christian organization Racial Unity Now (RUN) was founded after “backlash to a peaceful march against racism exposed racial prejudice.”
Now, ahead of another tense election, Burke and Tucker think it’s time to reflect on the lessons of 2020. “Lynden” will screen in Bellingham (July 31 – sold out, and Aug. 31) and Lynden (Aug. 3), with Burke, Baron, Tucker and producer Brian Lee speaking on panels at both events. Tucker is most “curious and excited” about the Lynden screening, and hopes everyone featured in the documentary will attend.
Burke said her involvement in “Lynden” taught her the power of story, noting the documentary “does a great job of providing a space for both sides to talk about how they were feeling during the whole process.” What’s more, she hopes the finished film might prompt audiences to revisit those discussions.
“I’m curious to see … Do people [in Lynden] still care about this?” Burke asked. “I feel like this film might bring those conversations back. Change doesn’t happen in a day; you have to take active steps consistently to have a place for change and awareness.”
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
