After watching a YouTube video by MamaHope featuring a 9 year old boy retelling the movie Commando, 4 young men from Kenya approached MamaHope wanting to make their own retelling of Hollywood movies: in their case, the stereotypes around how movies portray African men.

African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes was written by medical students Gabriel, Benard and Derrick; human resource management student Brian and MamaHope.

They said, “If people believed only what they saw in movies, they would think we are all warlords who love violence.” They, like Mama Hope, are tired of the over-sensationalized, one-dimensional depictions of African men and the white savior messaging that permeates our media. They wanted to tell their own stories instead, so we handed them the mic and they made this video.