Macon Magazine

78 maconmagazine.com | October/November 2025 ABOVE A still shared from the movie shows Gwendolyn embracing her son, Khary Payton, on Mercer University's campus in Macon. Learn more about the documentary and resources to encourage healing at thefaithofthedreamer lm.com another step that will inspire other people, especially Mercer students. It's a powerful artistic expression as well. Art can never be forgotten," he said. "It spoke to my soul. I couldn't stop crying. It made me feel seen and heard and hopeful. It was inspiring," said Macon Black Tech co-founder Christle Parham. "Art is a perfect medium to express and communicate this." Joshua B. Hummer, a personal friend of the Van Ness family, called the documentary incredibly powerful. "I lack words. Just grateful for the opportunity to be here and experience this. It's a great way of seeing justice being done, and as a medium of communication, it shares what was necessary to be shown: Gwendolyn getting justice." Local entrepreneur and motivational speaker Sheknita Smith is Gwendolyn's niece and closed on this note. "Her story shows us to never stop pressing towards justice. It may be delayed, but not denied." with these themes in mind. One painting called "Destruction from Within" features the infamous "Colored Waiting Room" sign on the outside of Macon's historic Terminal Station. She also re-imagined "Rebirth of Colored Folk" and titled it "Indispensable Parts", a painting depicting present, functioning human body parts as the engine driving the human body; and like those body parts, human beings need each other, she says. Khary believes telling the world what happened to his mom to help others to reconcile their hurt is a must. "I'm so excited for the healing to continue," with the fi lm, he said. His mother is optimistic: "There is reconciliation going on in this world. We need to know about it. We need to make sure that people understand that it not only can happen, it has happened, and continues to happen. No matter what the overall vision people think we are living in, reconciliation is happening all the time," Gwendolyn stated. Carlton Reid of Coracle attended the fi lm, and says it aligns greatly with his organization's mission, inspiring and enabling people to heal the world. He says Gwendolyn lacks bitterness because she rose above the ordeal and powered through obstacles. He added that this was key in her ability to get past her experience as a student and be fully expressive. "You can see it in her art. She has the ability to illustrate concepts, and make them easy for the rest of us to wrap our minds and hearts around them. At the post-premiere of the documentary, it was stunning to hear her describe the projects she plans to paint next. I can't wait," said Reid. Equalization and education In addition to Gwendolyn's eff ort to equalize her experience through her current involvement with Racial Reconciliation Group and the future exhibit and mural project in the works, the documentary has screened at Burbank International Film Festival and Catalina Film Festival. Following the Macon screening, patrons fi ling out of the theatre loudly lauded it as spectacular, on the heels of a brief post- show discussion. During that discussion, Marie Jones Duval shared with Gwendolyn and the crowd that she too had experienced similar run-ins with racism while growing up in Macon. "Your story is my story. I just want to thank you for what you're doing. Today after 50 something years, you liberated me," Duval said to Gwendolyn. Sam Oni, the fi rst student who integrated Mercer University in 1963 fi ve years before Gwendolyn arrived at Mercer, was front and center during its showing, and featured as a voice in the fi lm. As he exited, he expressed his pleasure with Khary's eff ort. "It was marvelous. It's a piece of Americana. This is "It spoke to my soul. I couldn't stop crying. It made me feel seen and heard and hopeful."

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