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South Africa: Four Journeys. One Mirror. Identities Shattered.

Ubuntu Rising is a documentary that follows four young Black Americans: an aerospace engineer, a public health scholar, a pastor, and a tech entrepreneur. Together they travel to South Africa, almost 30 years after apartheid. What begins as an exploration of another country’s history quickly becomes a mirror, forcing the team to confront their own questions about race, identity, and inequality in the United States.

As the journey unfolds, the team uncovers striking parallels between apartheid’s aftermath and America’s present. Wealth inequality refuses to die, systems of racism reinvent themselves, and unresolved questions of opportunity and responsibility surface. These realizations ignite heated debates and tense conflicts as the team clashes over topics ranging from reparations and personal responsibility to capitalism and the different paths toward change.

The team set out searching for answers to America’s toughest questions but instead found themselves wrestling with their own beliefs. What follows is an emotional rollercoaster of raw conversations, clashing worldviews, and revelations that grip both the team and the audience, daring viewers to question their own assumptions.