Reel to Real / Community Connections…Sponsored
by Stu and Ginger Polisner, Humanities New York, and the National Endowment of
the Arts
13TH
Sunday, February 19 at 12noon
Free! - Click on "Buy Tickets" button above to reserve your FREE tickets. Seating is Limited.
Guest Speaker: Les Payne and Ahmad Ali
Director Ava DuVernay presents a searing look
at a century of race relations in America in this far-reaching and powerful
documentary.
The title of Ava DuVernay’s
extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13th
refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The
progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass
criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by
DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and
testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly
incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical
synthesis. From the rebirth of the KKK and the impact of DW Griffith’s The
Birth of a Nation; through Nixon’s ‘war on crime’ and the introduction of the
1994 Crime Bill, DuVernay and her interview subjects trace – or in some cases,
inadvertently reveal – the staggering trajectory of institutionalized racism in
the criminal justice system, while dissecting the politicians and corporations
that have benefitted from its escalation. (USA, 2016, 100 min.,
English, TV-MA, DCP | Dir. Ava DuVernay)
This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by a Humanities New York Vision/Action
Grant. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
Les Payne, a
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, is also a NABJ founder and served as the
organization’s president from 1981 – 1983. Mr. Payne built an illustrious
career at Newsday and is well-known for not being afraid to speak out
against racism and injustices in America and around the world.
Ahmad Ali‘s
background in music can be traced to his upbringing in a diverse community in
Long Island. It is in New York as well that his love for radio and community
activism comes to fruition in his work at WBAI 99.5 FM, and streaming at
WBAI.org where he has been heard over the last decade. You can now hear
his show “Café Ali” on alternating Wednesday mornings on WUSB Stonybrook, 90.1
FM.
