Documentary

#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 9.3
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#BlackLivesMatter Tweets 9.3

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Langston Hughes: Kids Who Die

“Kids Who Die” (1938) is a poem written by Langston Hughes – long before Michael Brown, even before Emmett Till.
In 2015, Frank Chi and Terrance Green shortened the poem a bit and created a video of it where actor Danny Glover speaks the words, set to images mostly from the past few years. The video is embedded above (and linked to below). If you get the references made by the images (see the links below) and understand that the words were written 77 years ago, it is utterly heartbreaking.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: abagond.wordpress.com

Click through for transcript

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Q&A With Prof. Jennifer Lee: Asian American Success Isn’t What You Think It Is

Pop culture often portrays Asian Americans as successful because of strict parenting or just plain hard work. But a new book debunks the “model minority” myth, revealing the way government policies have actually skewed those perceptions. I recently interviewed Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and co-author of The Asian American Achievement Paradox about her research.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.blogher.com

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White People | Official Full Documentary | MTV

What does it mean to be white? MTV’s ‘White People’ is a groundbreaking documentary on race that aims to answer that question from the viewpoint of young white people living in America today. The film follows Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker, Jose Antonio Vargas, as he travels across the country to get this complicated conversation started. ‘White People’ asks what’s fair when it comes to affirmative action, if colorblindness is a good thing, what privilege really means, and what it’s like to become the “white minority” in your neighborhood. For more information on ‘White People,’ and to join the conversation, head to race.lookdifferent.org

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.youtube.com

To understand Mixed American Live it helps to understand what it means to be White.

 

#Whiteness

#WhiteStudies

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Film “Angola 3”, 3 Black Men Spend Decades in Solitary Confinement

Robert King with Philippe Diaz at Cinema Libre Studio in February 2015
Los Angeles, CA (BlackNews.com) — Woodfox is the last imprisoned member of the Angola 3 – three African-American men held for decades in solitary confinement, two of whom were framed for the 1972 killing of a prison guard at Louisianas State Penitentiary at Angola. Woodfox, along with Robert King (released in 2001) and Herman Wallace (who died from terminal cancer in 2013, three days after he was released from prison) have all become a cause celebre for the gross injustices committed to them by the Louisiana penal system and the blatant disregard for black lives. Kings life story is the foundation for an independent feature film about the three men and their decades-long battle against institutionalized racial injustice and is now in pre-production.
Cinema Libre Studios Philippe Diaz has collaborated with Robert King on a feature length script Angola, 1, 2 and 3, which provides an unvarnished look at the three black mens experiences in prison and how, as young black men in the south in the 50s and 60s, they were consistently railroaded by the penal and justice systems. They were further persecuted for their efforts to end systemic rape, cavity searches, segregation and corruption in Angola, as well as for being members of the Black Panther Party. Each man has spent decades in solitary confinement, about which the UN has declared, Four decades in solitary confinement can only be described as torture.The film is on track to go into production in Fall 2015 and shares Kings perspective on the manipulation of evidence by the justice system, the fabrication of false testimonies, and the mental and emotional challenges of solitary confinement.

King spent 29 years in solitary confinement at Angola, accused in the murder of another convict, although all witnesses testified that he had nothing to do with it. King struggled for decades to prove his innocence but was forced to plead conspiracy to murder in order to be released even after his conviction had been overturned.
Released in 2001 at the age of 59, King has worked ceaselessly to build international support for the remaining two members of the Angola 3. He has spoken before the parliaments of the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Indonesia, Brazil and Britain about his fellow prisoners and about solitary confinement, which has been likened to torture in the US. He was invited by the African National Congress to South Africa where he met with Desmond Tutu.
Amnesty International added the Angola 3 to their watch list of “political prisoners”/”prisoners of conscience.” In July 2013, Amnesty International called for the release of 71-year-old Herman Wallace, who had advanced liver cancer. Although he was released October 1, 2013, he was re-indicted on October 3, 2013, and died the next day before he could be re-arrested. With regards to Woodfox, Amnesty International has called for Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell to “stop pursuing a campaign of vengeance by trying to re-indict a man who has already spent more than four decades in cruel confinement, after a legal process tainted with flaws.”
The Angola 3 members have been the subject of three documentary films, 3 Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation (2006), In the Land of the Free (2010), and Hermans House (2013) as well as a music video and numerous public interest pieces.
Philippe Diaz, founder of Cinema Libre Studio, a production/distribution company known for controversial social impact cinema, will produce the film. We cheered when we heard the news of Alberts possible release. But seeing how the Louisiana justice system has been allowed to deny justice to this man, and is still trying to do so, it may take months or years for Albert to be freed. In the last 20 years, the state has become the worlds number one prison capital, with a for-profit system that incarcerates people at 5 times the rate of Iran and 13 times the rate of China. We feel its essential to make this film now so that social pressure increases to aid Alberts release and so that it never happens again.
More about the Campaign to Free the Angola 3 (official website) can be found here: www.angola3.org/category/albert-woodfox/
More about the film: www.facebook.com/angola3thefilm

Sourced through Scoop.it from: socialaction2014.wordpress.com

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Immigrants For Sale • FULL DOCUMENTARY • BRAVE NEW FILMS

Countless lives of undocumented immigrants are being taken and sold for billions of dollars. Watch the disturbing details unfold and listen to the first-hand accounts of the real cost of private prisons. SUBSCRIBE http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c… WATCH MORE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6vuY…

2:12 Private prisons such as the CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) own over 200 facilities in the nation and makes a profit close to 5 billion dollars per year on inmates. They rely on anti-immigrant laws like Arizona’s SB1070 and copycat laws across the nation for fresh inmates and continual profit.

5:58 Mother and son, Emily and Logan, suffer the repercussions of private prison greed as they commute to her husband’s final court date in Georgia, the victim of anti-immigration laws.

8:47 “El Refugio” offers free food and overnight housing for families visiting loved ones in the detention centers. The CCA tries to prevent this service by escorting anyone handing out fliers off the premises. Family members share testimonials about how these prisons do not accommodate inmates who have health conditions such as diabetes.

11:22 Public Health Services denied urgent medical attention to detainee, Roberto Marinez-Medina, who was arrested for not having a valid drivers license. He died a month later.

14:31 American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, pours millions of dollars into creating anti-immigration laws like SB1070 for their own benefit. ALEC “persuades” town officials. They claim that private prisons cut public budgets, but the reality is different.

17:12 The detention center of Littlefield, TX sucked the town dry. The city invested a large amount of money into a facility and did not get much in return. Many businesses closed down and the hospital nearly did as well.

18:40 A former detainee recalls the numerous injustices she lived through in prison.

23:58 The GEO Group, Inc is heavily invested in providing immigration detention services for the federal government. A mother of a mentally ill man who was detained because of his immigration status shares her story of frustration. He was beaten by officials and sent to the hospital while in custody.

27:53 An ex-CCA Florida Correctional Officer shares what she has witnessed and why she was terminated. CCA has made it very difficult for her to find a job.

31:30 Pembroke Pines residents talk about how CCA prisons are affecting their communities. 98% are opposed to the new detention center.

Source: www.youtube.com

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#JordanDavis Documentary “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets” Theatrical Release Dates Set for June

HBO took U.S. television rights to director Marc Silver’s “3 1/2 Minutes,” after its premiere in documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival this year. And now Participant Media has announced a limited theatrical release of the acclaimed and timely feature documentary, which is now going to be titled “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets,” opening on June 19th, 2015 in New York, and then on June 26th, 2015 in Los Angeles.

The film chronicles the story of Jordan Davis, the unarmed black 17-year-old, who was shot to death at a Florida gas station by a white fellow customer, Michael David Dunn. “3 1/2 Minutes” explores the aftermath of Jordan’s tragic death, the latent and often unseen effects of racism, and the contradictions of the American criminal justice system.

 

To see a trailer and 2 new clips from the film, click here.

 

Continue reading…

Source: goodblacknews.org

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A Return to School Segregation in America? – Separate and Unequal – FRONTLINE

Public schools are more segregated now than in 1968. Does it matter? FRONTLINE goes inside one school district’s debate about education, class and race in the upcoming “Separate and Unequal.”

 

– Click through to watch the trailer –

 

Source: www.pbs.org

 

School integration without respect for ALL the students is also bad for the students who are disrespected.

 

Y’all. Do schools do enough to teach respect for ALL students?

 

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In Response to #Ferguson

 

I recently read the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. If you haven’t read it, you might want to get a quick intro to him by watching his TED talk:

 

– Click through to read more and for [VIDEO] –

Source: www.onedropoflove.org

 

The middle part of the video and the second half are the most important.

 

And don’t miss Fanshen’s recommendations:

 

“Teaching About Ferguson and also this terrific crowd-sourced google document (which I will be adding to soon): Ferguson resources, crowdsourced in real-time by educators (thanks Abby Brown-Steinberg for the link!)”