“I remember the first day we brought Jordan home from the hospital a miracle child. For nine months, I fought to give this special child life. I remember asking God to keep him safe and out of harm’s way. I have said many prayers that he would be highly favored before God and man. I asked God that he would give him wisdom to navigate a world filled with uncertainty and danger.” – Lucia McBath
On November 23rd of 2012, Michael Dunn approached a red Dodge Durango and fired 10 shots at four black teenage boys. Their music too loud, skin too dark, and voices too opinionated. That same night, Jordan Davis drew his last breath and Lucia McBath lost her firstborn child. Now, just three years later, HBO will air 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets, an in-depth documentary chronicling the details of the murder of Davis.
Tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing violence and poverty are still making a dangerous journey north, though many are now being stopped in Mexico.
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
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.
To my non-Australian followers I recommend this heart wrenching documentaryabout what is perceived to be “the lucky country”. It is a sobering look at the treatment towards our nations First People, and the ongoing mistreatment that occurs today. Despite having an awareness of these issues having grown up in the Northern Territory, a place where Aboriginal people are segregated in gated communities in Darwin, I still felt a great sense of shame and sadness being confronted with these images and stories of those within our community being controlled by racist policies of successive and present Governments.
At a time when the border between the US and Mexico is a lightning rod for public opinion, Rodrigo Reyes’ film “Purgatorio” offers an on-the-ground view of people from both sides of the fence.
In “The Real Death Valley,” we tell the story of Fernando Palomo, a 22-year-old Salvadoran who happened to be a talented artist, and who was beaten within a centimeter of his life when he refused to design a gang’s tattoos. He and his older brother, like tens of thousands of others, fled their homeland and journeyed north to what they saw as the relative safety of the United States. They made it across the Rio Grande into Texas, but that hardly put an end to their troubles.
The journey of the Oglala Lakota of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, from their origins through to their contemporary life. The most comprehensive look at an Indian Reservation in a documentary made over 13 years by international award winning film-maker Steven Lewis Simpson director of Rez Bomb.
