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Thanks to the recent passing of the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Act (NEAR Act), the District of Columbia will create a program similar to Chicago’s Cease Fire program. What will it mean for DC’s communities? Come to the screening of The Interrupters and find out more. Doors open at 5:30 PM. The movie begins at 6:00 PM Sharp. . . . → Read More: The Interrupters Screening and Discussion  Comments are closed  Communities, Justice System, Potomac Gardens  documentary, NEAR Act, Potomac Gardens, screening, The Interrupters 
What do the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, the Move Organization and Black Lives Matter have in common? They have all been denounced and delegitimized by the corporate establishment and mainstream media. The Civil Rights and Revolutionary Struggles of the ‘60s and 70s challenged American racism, classism and sexism. They also disrupted our imperialist foreign policy. Eventually, the United States Government brought down or seriously humbled the Black Panthers, the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, the Puerto Rican Independence Movement, the American Indian Movement, etc. Many leaders were jailed. Will the current struggle face the same fate? In the late 1990s, a movement to free all U.S. political prisoners and prisoners of war began to take root. Several wide scale political actions took place in Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Filmmakers, Liane Scott, Joan Yoshiwara, Eddie Becker and Jorge Abeledo covered these events. The result is The Walls of Jericho and the Movement That’s Shaking Them, a two-hour documentary, that includes activists protesting on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Move 9, the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners, Black Panthers Russel Maroon Shoats and Eddie Conway and many more. Revolutionary thinkers Kathleen Cleaver, Carl Dix, Chokwe Lumumba, Angela Davis, Ramona Africa all weigh in on the state of the movement and the related issues of police brutality and the prison industrial complex. Rank and file activists also share their knowledge and opinions. The Walls of Jericho serves as a popular education primer on political prisoners jailed as a result of the civil and human rights uprisings of the ‘60s and ‘70s. It cannot be denied that in the last half century, racism, heterosexism, xenophobia, etc. have become less overt. But at the same time, US military misadventures migrated from Central America and Southeast Asia to the oil-rich Middle East. The planet’s resources continue to be assaulted. Police brutality and mass incarceration replaced Jim Crow. The revolutionary work that blossomed in the ‘60s and ‘70s is not finished. Tactics used to disrupt activism of the past are and will be used again. We invite you to join us at this screening of The Walls of Jericho and the Movement That’s Shaking Them and the follow up discussion. In the spirit of Sankofa, we will learn from the past and move even more boldly into a future shaped by the people and not the forces of oligarchy. Below is a segment from the documentary that focuses on police brutality. 
Written, directed, and produced by Brenda Hayes, Back Burner Dreams: A Women’s Passion Project, is the story of Carla, Stephanie, and Melanee three women who are prompted to revisit, revive, and renew their dreams and passions. This is a story told in two parts; part one introduces each woman to the audience, the reasons why their dreams have been waylaid, and how each one plans to revive and possibly realize their dreams. In part one, not only do we find out why their dreams were put on the “back burner”, we get a glimpse of each woman’s dream. Carla performs one of her original songs while accompanying herself on the guitar. Stephanie dons her leotards and toe shoes and gets on pointe in the main hallway of the doctor’s office where she’s employed. And Melanee shares a monologue she wrote. The women are issued a challenge to bring their dreams to the “front burner” over a nine month period of time. At the end of that time period, Brenda will visit them again to see if any progress was made in bringing their dreams to fruition. This Sunday, Curt Mariah, DJ Hoodsnax, Tatiana Aqueel, Ziggy Patience, HipHopMania Princess Best, Lucy Murphy and Carla Poindexter will support the Back Burner Dreams of documentary filmmaker Brenda Hayes. Please support the completion of Back Burner Dreams and come see wonderful performers, do a little dream casting, revisit the dreams you put on the back burner. Your donation will help longtime Grassroots DC member and contributor Brenda Hayes make her dream of completing Back Burner Dreams – A Women’s Passion Project a reality! Find more information about the film here. For more information, email Brenda Hayes at bhayesfilms@gmail.com. 
In January 2014, a randomly selected group of Potomac Gardens’ and Capitol Hill residents who live in the townhouses and market-rate apartments and condominiums surrounding Potomac Gardens found the following letter in their mailbox or attached to their door. Hello Neighbor- As a resident of Potomac Gardens and/or Capitol Hill, your opinions about the community are important. What are the neighborhood’s advantages? What are its shortcomings? What would make Capitol Hill a better place to live? With the support of the Humanities Council of Washington, Grassroots DC, a nonprofit that provides basic computer and media production training to low-income and working-class District residents, is producing a documentary about the changing demographics of Capitol Hill with a focus on Potomac Gardens and the area surrounding the public housing complex. On (date here) between noon and 6pm, representatives of Grassroots DC, will conduct a survey on your block/in your building. The survey will be used to help us decide what issues to include in the documentary. We want to represent the viewpoint of Capitol Hill and Potomac Gardens residents as honestly as possible. Therefore, it is crucial that we get as many survey participants as we can. We hope that you or someone else in your household will be available to take the survey on the afternoon of (date here). If you would like to participate but are not available at that time, please contact me, Grassroots DC’s coordinator Liane Scott at (202) 608-1376 or liane@grassrootsdc.org. Thank you for your time. Liane Scott Coordinator, Grassroots DC 1227 G Street SE, Ground Floor Washington, DC 20003 (202) 608-1376 As the letter indicates, teams of Grassroots DC members went door-to-door for about three months, in preparation for the documentary Potomac Gardens Inside and Out, which is a community-driven documentary project that explores the changing demographics of the Capitol Hill neighborhood surrounding the Potomac Gardens Public Housing Complex and the divide between those who live within Potomac Gardens and those who live outside of Potomac Gardens. What are the barriers to communication between the two groups and how can they be overcome? Here’s our trailer. It took us about four months to complete the surveys. We began interviewing folks on video in the spring and summer. By the fall we were transcribing and editing the footage. This week, our website PotomacGardensInsideAndOut.com went live. There’s still much more to be done–more interviews, more editing, more surveys, etc. We’ll post updates about the project here, but for the most complete picture of the project, visit the site. Comments are closed Art & Culture, Communities, Potomac Gardens Capital Hill, documentary, Hill East, Potomac Gardens Inside and Out, public housing 
I asked DC Public School graduate Quintess Bond why she thought DCPS test scores were so low? She presents her thesis in the form of this documentary. In it, Quintess explores the theory that good schools need active parents, engaged students and a dedicated faculty and administrative staff. I think she puts a bit too much emphasis on the role of the parents but that can be forgiven. After suffering a stroke and losing her job, Quintess’ mother struggled mightily just to keep her daughter clothed, housed and fed. In addition, she insisted that Quintess stay on top of her school work. As a result, Quintess graduated salutatorian from School Without Walls in 2012. School Without Walls is one of the highest performing high schools in the DC public school system. Not many parents have the strength and determination that Quintess’ mother Pearl has. If they did, we might not need to worry about the school system at all. Quintess’ documentary explores the theory that Next week, Anaise Aritide will present her take on why there are such large disparities in DC public schools. Comments are closed Education, School "Reform" D.C. Public Schools, DCPS, documentary, Quintess Bond, School Reform, video |
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