During these unsettling times we sorely need Van Jones’ down home, razor sharp intellect and insight.
Category: Civil Rights Movement
And now…moving on…My letter to the Young Folk
I’m impressed with how you are engaged and involved with today’s political & social issues. I’m hopeful for America’s future because YOU are that future. And yet it breaks my heart to see you filled with stress at having to witness the moral degradation of late. Exhausted from the two-year fiasco we’ve endured we’re also… Continue reading And now…moving on…My letter to the Young Folk
The Day the “Colored Sign” Walked Out
Penny Patch, Panola County, MS. 1965. Photo by Tom Wakayama Guest Blogger: Penny Patch Lyndonville, Vermont “In 1962 I was a young white woman working as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Southwest Georgia. A brilliant young man named Charles Sherrod was our project director, my teacher and mentor. And during… Continue reading The Day the “Colored Sign” Walked Out
President Obama: “What could more American than this?” [Bloody Sunday]
Last night I read from John Garner’s The Art of Fiction about the theory of the “fictional dream”—a notion that the writer makes us “see” the story by giving us images that appeal to all our senses, eliciting emotion. I thought of this as I watched President Obama’s electrifying speech delivered this past Saturday in Selma Alabama on… Continue reading President Obama: “What could more American than this?” [Bloody Sunday]
Selma, The Film
I saw the movie and love it and I’m thrilled that a black woman, Ava DuVernay, directed. This is the story of a seminal moment in American history: the 1965 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama marches for the rights of blacks to vote. It was a horrific time in the story of our nation. This film gets… Continue reading Selma, The Film
“The Whitewashing of James Brown”
In the 60s James made being Black a badge of honor with the mega hit song: “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)”. So how can it be there’s not a single black person helping to tell his story in the new film Get On Up?
Education Under Arrest
I agree with Marian Wright Edelmen, who spoke recently with Tavis Smiley about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, beyond the 60s: “We love our prophets, we love the dream, but we don’t love the bounced promissory note.” On a personal level, I look at how far we have not come since the… Continue reading Education Under Arrest
The March ~ Film narrated by Denzel Washington
I hope you found profound ways to mark today—being the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. In deciding how to celebrate on my blog, the answer came tonight after finding this film on the PBS website: THE MARCH The vital story of the 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.… Continue reading The March ~ Film narrated by Denzel Washington
Movie ~ The Butler
The story deftly barrels through history and emotions, exploring many of the themes I take on in Peach Seed Monkey. Bypass the media hype and reviews. Go straight to your seat and judge for yourself. Director Lee Daniels,
Join the New Civil Rights Movement
MoveOn is hosting a Google Hangout: Tuesday, July 30 (tomorrow) at 8:PM ET. I’m joining NAACP’s Jotaka Eaddy, Colorlines.com’s Rinku Sen, Dream Defenders’ Ciara Taylor, 18MillionRising’s Christina Samala, and We Are Not Trayvon Martin’s Joseph Phelan in a special roundtable broadcast live online, to talk about how we can work together to grow this new… Continue reading Join the New Civil Rights Movement