Dare Not Walk Alone Documentary Has Made a Difference: But the pace of change is too slow

Things can change for the better and movies can help make positive change happen, we just wish the world moved faster. On Thursday the 9th of last month, the state of Florida officially expressed regret to civil rights marchers who were beaten and jailed for protesting segregated beaches and lunch counters in St. Augustine in the 1960s, as detailed in this report in the Tampa Bay Tribune and documented in Dare Not Walk Alone.

As the article notes, the highly emotional events of last December 9th "were set in motion by state Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat who unsuccessfully sought to pass a bill in the 2010 legislative session to clear the marchers' records." What the article does not mention is that Sen. Tony Hill himself was set in motion by Dare Not Walk Alone. Here's what he wrote about the film back in 2006:

"The documentary was so moving that, as chairman of the Black Caucus of the State of Florida, I have filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session in the House and the Senate to have all records cleared for anyone who was arrested because of segregated laws. That is how compelling the film was to me."

We applauded Sen. Hill for his actions then, and we applaud the Florida legislature and departing Governor Crist for this recent step in the right direction. However, I am sure that Sen. Hill is just as frustrated as we are that it has taken more than 45 years for this expression of regret to emerge. And it should not have taken 3 years for Sen. Hill's bill to result in action, and even then an action which falls short of a blanket pardon and clearing of criminal records that have encumbered these heroic marchers for decades (apparently it will be up to individual law enforcement agencies to clear the records, if they decide to do so).

But this was at least a step in the right direction, and it makes us feel better about all the time and money and effort we put into making the film. I guess it was unrealistic to expect one film to change the world overnight, but perhaps incrementally, over time, it will chip away at the lingering issues of racial injustice that still must be addressed.

We're Back: Blog posts and tweets will resume shortly, screenings too

Even the most tireless of activists get tired sometimes and Dare Not Walk Alone is no exception. We had to take a couple months off, to regroup, recharge our batteries, and map out the future of the project (not to mention keeping up with days jobs to pay the rent, which an indie film seldom does).

Admittedly, we feel a bit wimpish for taking a break, particularly when we think of the tireless efforts of civil rights campaigners in the early sixties, like the young woman pictured here in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964. (She is one of the St. Johns County foot soldiers who bravely faced down violent opposition and helped pass the first civil rights act 45 years ago last month, as documented in the film.)

But we also had to ask ourselves some serious questions. Like: Is there still a role for an NAACP award nominated indie film about race in America? Will screening the film help move us forward, closer to the more perfect union of which President Obama speaks and the beloved community of which Dr. King spoke so eloquently?

We think the answers are Yes and Yes. We sat out the Prof. Gates arrest thing but say what you will about the incident and its aftermath, surely it proved we are not yet in a post-racial state of communal harmony.

Now we are set to tour the film in a number of Southern states next month. We will be posting details here shortly. Director Jeremy Dean will be on tour with the film.

Thanks Gainesville! Great evening at The Hippodrome

A huge thanks to Shirley Lassiter and the Crystal at The Hippdrome State Theater in Gainesville for the opening of Dare Not Walk Alone last night (runs all week folks--don't miss it). The Hipp is an impressive venue.

It was great to catch up with (Vice Mayor) Errol Jones and I really appreciated the way he jumped in to answer questions in the lively Q&A session after the screening. (He later told me he is up for more such events, so if you have sponsorship for a screening, that can be arranged--he really is an articulate voice for the community.)

Thanks to everyone who came out to see the film [on a relatively cold evening]. Please spread the word. And if your company would like to sponsor kids from Alachua County Schools to go see Dare Not Walk Alone, please call 352.373.5968 and ask for Shirley. Thanks.

Happy New Year!

Dare Not Walk Alone wishes everyone a great 2009, and sends out a huge Thank You to all who supported the film in 2008. Your emails, comments, blog posts, ticket and DVD purchases, all were much appreciated.

2009 is going to be an historic year. The inauguration on the 20th of this month will be a landmark in the ongoing struggle for a truly equality in the world. But let us not forget that the struggle continues. We are nowhere near achieving the "post-racial society" that some commentators are talking about. We agree with Michael Fauntroy on this:

Those who see America as "post-racial" may well be guilty of prematurely hoisting the "mission accomplished" banner. They should be aware of some unfortunate truths that still frame the world in which many Americans still live. For example, African Americans comprise nearly half of the 2.4 million people incarcerated in the United States, but make up but 12 percent of the total population. African Americans also suffer from disproportionately high school dropout and poverty rates.

So, at the start of this new year, let us take heart from all that was so bravely accomplished in the past (remember, January 1 also marks the anniversary of emancipation, 146 years ago this year). A lot of progress was made in 2008. Let us dedicate ourselves to achieving even more in 2009.

Young Women Pick Race Issues As Top Obama Priority

Yes! This is what we call good news:

"A survey of young woman for YWCA USA finds most of them want the Obama administration to make civil rights and racial justice a top priority"

KCTV Kansas City

More Great Feedback on Dare Not Walk Alone's "Transformative" Power

We just heard back from a university professor in Tennessee who used Dare Not Walk Alone in a class project.

She said that watching the film was "a profound experience for our group and in a few cases truly transformative."

In the next few days we hope to post some of the student comments here. (As a reminder, Jeremy Dean, the director of Dare Not Walk Alone, is available to visit colleges and universities with the film--email info@dnwa.info for more details.)

Photo Caption: Watched by state troopers, black and white protestors opposed to segregation kneel in prayer outside the Monson Restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida, 1964.
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DNWA Mini-College Tour a Big Hit: Race + politics = lively classes!

Jeremy just got back from events at Mercyhurst College and Notre Dame University. Both went really well. There were over 200 students at one of the screenings. He did several classroom visits and conducted Question & Answer sessions after each screening, receiving a lot of thanks and encouragement.

(If you would like to book the film on your campus or want to get in touch with Jeremy for an interview please email speaker@dnwa.info.)

There's no doubt that the topic of race in American politics is a hot one right now, on news networks as well as on campuses, even as the two presidential campaigns steer clear of the subject (which we totally get, I mean neither Obama or McCain want to bring this up, at least not directly).

But if we have learned anything from the four years we have spent working on the Dare Not Walk Alone project it is that what people say in public and what they think in private can be very different when the topic is race. And don't you get this feeling that many Americans are holding their breath over this election? They are just hoping that race does not play a role in the outcome. We want to believe we are past that. But we're just not sure.

We know a lot of Obama supporters are worried that the Bradley-effect may still be very real. ("Named for Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in the polls--the Bradley effect refers a voter tendency to tell pollsters they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate but on election day they vote for his/her white opponent."--Wikipedia)

Pundits and so-called experts appearing all over TV this weekend kept saying the Bradley effect is a thing of the past. But they obviously haven't spent much time living and working in North Florida, where you will find a lot of white people are still angry over the forced desgregation of their once "separate but equal" communities.

We think the reason Jeremy is earning the respect of students at these campus events is that he is an expert. If you spend five years of your life making a documentary about racial issues in American society you've defiintely earned that title. We think folks like CNN, CBS, NBC and BBC America should be talking to Jeremy, not political pundits. And they should be showing clips from Dare Not Walk Alone, where you can almost feel the hatred of white Americans back in 1964, Americans who actively opposed equal rights, with bats and chains and boots. (Those civil rights marches weren't awareness building exercises like a rally for the environment--there was, as Commissioner Errol Jones so wryly points out "opposition.")

And 1964 was not that long ago when you think that some of the white kids attacking blacks on the beaches of Florida back then are just turning 60 this year. As Jeremy's brilliant interview with James Brock in the film makes clear, many of those people are not apologetic for the role they played. But very few of them are as honest with the public as Mr. Brock was with Jeremy in that interview.
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New York Times on Obama's "Delicate Path"

A timely article in the Sunday edition of the New York Times highlights the class/race issue through a discussion of Obama's thoughts on affirmative action. We can frame the issue as a question that may be more challenging than it first appears: Would it be appropriate for Senator Obama's daughters to benefit from affirmative action?

The question can also be framed like this: At what point do inequalities in society become more about class than race? And this question was poignantly raised several years ago during the making of Dare Not Walk Alone. The question naturally arises when the film surveys the current living conditions of some African Americans in a town where one of the great battles of the civil rights movement was fought and supposedly won. And the issue was addressed directly by Dr. Todd Boyd, Professor of Critical Studies at USC, speaking in the film:

"In this generation you have a lot of African Americans who have come up economically. A lot of black people have been assimilated in the society at large. A lot of other people have not. I think the point is, at a certain time it becomes as much about class as it does about race. Now you can’t divorce the fact that being poor and black is worse than being just poor but the poverty component of it is real."

In other words, over the last fifty years the lines have been redrawn. Almost without exception, to be black in 1958 was to be poor. There were also poor white folk in 1958, but being white did not equal being poor. In 2008, to be black is not to be automatically poor. But to be black still means finding yourself subject to institutionalized racism, and probably more so if you are poor and black than if you are black and affluent (although driving an expensive car while being black still seems to be regarded, at least in some parts of the country, as grounds for suspicion).

These words of Dr. Boyd can create something of an acid test of attitudes: being poor and black is worse than being just poor. Some people will balk at that statement. Of course, we think it's hard to watch Dare Not Walk Alone or spend time with black friends and then disagree with it. But the challenge facing Barack Obama, or anyone who wants to tackle the social and economic ills and inequalities of our time, is to walk that delicate path to the common ground where can work on solutions together, poor and affluent, black and white, male and female, and whatever other distinction you want to draw. For as Dr. King said, 40 years ago:

"There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people who feel that they have no stake in it, who feel they have nothing to lose."

A Footnote to the National Slavery and Jim Crow Apology

When the U.S. House of Representatives apologized, earlier this week, for slavery and the Jim Crow laws, it was following in the footsteps of several states, including Florida, which apologized to African American Floridians in April of this year. As we noted then, another piece of Florida legislation seeks to go further and expunge the records of Floridians who were arrested for protesting the Jim Crow laws in the sixties. And that legislation was introduced in direct response to Dare Not Walk Alone.

Florida's Formal Slavery Apology and the Power of Low Budget Movies

You might have missed it among all bad news about about the economy and the important coverage of the fortieth anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, but it deserves attention. The state of Florida recently offered a formal apology for slavery.

Apparently it was an emotional vote. The Miami Herald ran a picture showing Senator Tony Hill, who has been a strong supporter of Dare Not Walk Alone, being embraced by Senate President Ken Pruitt at the capitol in Tallahassee.

While Dare Not Walk Alone cannot claim credit for this apology, the film is directly responsible for a related bill now making its way through the Florida legislature. The Pardons/Restoration of Rights/Rosa Parks Act seeks a full pardon for "any person convicted of protesting or challenging a state law or local government ordinance the purpose of which was to maintain racial segregation of or racial discrimination against individuals." In other words, a pardon for the brave marchers and protestors of Saint Augustine featured in the film. The bill was introduced by Senator Hill after attending the first public screening of the film.

"The documentary was so moving that, as chairman of the Black Caucus of the State of Florida, I have filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session in the House and the Senate to have all records cleared for anyone who was arrested because of segregated laws. That is how compelling the film was to me."

Senator Hill was true to his word and the bill is moving forward. Who says movies can't make a difference!
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