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A great classroom conversation starter, this ABC News program explores the kinds of incidents and behavior that prompted The New York Times reporter Lena Williams to write an article entitled, "The Everyday Interactions that Get under the Skin of Blacks and Whites." Focus groups polled and interviewed on the subject reveal how statements, gestures, and even body language can be interpreted-rightly or wrongly-as racial prejudice.
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In addition to harming those directly enslaved, slavery in America has stigmatized all black Americans and deeply wounded a nation committed to providing liberty and justice for all. This highly charged yet balanced NewsHour program broaches the subject of social and financial reparations for descendants of African-American slaves. Representative John Conyers (D-MI), the introducer of reparation legislation to Congress; proponent Lerone Bennett, author...
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Breaking with the tacit practice of separate, student-sponsored proms, teens at a racially diverse high school in Georgia recently tried having only one dance, for all students. One year later they scrapped the idea. Is this a black-and-white case of racism, or is it somehow grayer than that? In this ABC News program, anchor Chris Bury and correspondent Jim Wooten give a balanced report on attitudes toward race in Taylor County as they play out in...
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This program examines the issue of affirmative action with Lani Guinier, professor of law at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and President Clinton's controversial nominee for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Among the many questions examined in the program are: How do blacks and whites differ in their understanding of affirmative action? Is affirmative action still necessary to remedy past discrimination? What changes, if any, should be made...
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Does the American justice system treat people differently based on their race? In this ABC News program, correspondent Michel Martin reports on the startlingly disparate outcomes of two almost-identical drug-related cases tried one after another in a Boston court. In one case, the judge sentenced an African-American defendant with no prior record to prison time on the insistence of the prosecution. In the other case, the prosecution asked for a sentence...
6) Inspirations
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In economically disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout the nation, local leaders, working through formal and informal groups, are pulling together to improve the quality of life by addressing such critical problems as child care, urban violence, "black on black" crime, housing, teenage pregnancy, economic inequities, and community development. Alice Lipscomb, Rachel Bagby, Sister Falaka Fattah, and David Fattah address the problems and the search...
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The demand for highly educated workers has made high-quality academics the most important challenge facing the U.S. today. In this provocative program, syndicated columnist Juan Williams moderates a town meeting of educators, politicians, and opinion-makers, including the chief-of-staff of the U.S. Department of Education; the presidents of Howard University, the College Board, and the NAACP; and retired NBA all-star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Together...
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In 1989, a New Jersey high school faced a painful decision: one of two teachers with equal tenure and equivalent credentials-one African-American, the other Caucasian-had to be laid off. By 1995, the reverse discrimination complaint lodged by Caucasian teacher Sharon Taxman had become a national issue of great political and legal significance, leading to a surprising out-of-court settlement funded by civil rights groups. In this program, ABC News...
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To practice his unique brand of scholarship, Cornel West moves in many worlds. As an academic, he teaches religion and Afro-American studies at Harvard. As an author, he has delved into subjects from liberation theology to postmodern architecture, from rap music to black politicians. As a lay preacher, he can be found speaking to community groups and high school students and in the pulpits of various faiths. In this program with Bill Moyers, West...
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As school populations become more and more diverse, racial intolerance is shoving its way to prominence. In this provocative program, five students from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds speak with candor about racial harassment at their high school in an effort to encourage teenagers to examine their own attitudes and behaviors. The greatest danger of racism is that it will go unaddressed-until it becomes headline news. This video, ideal...
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In this classic interview with NewsHour correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Having Our Say authors Sarah and Bessie Delany discuss the trials and triumphs of their first 100 years. Their subjects include life in the South for African-Americans in the early 20th century, coping with the implementation of the Jim Crow laws, and bigotry in the North. Bessie touches on what it was like to grow up with a father who recalled slavery and the arrival of...
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Challenging viewers to look beyond mainstream media treatment of the death penalty, this program portrays capital punishment as a blunt instrument that disproportionately targets racial minorities and the poor. The film highlights several difficult issues, concepts, and social conditions-including statistics on the racial makeup of America's death row population; questionable convictions resulting from mistaken identification; the emotional and psychological...
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When Washington Post journalist Lonnae O'Neal Parker wrote her controversial article "White Girl?" she struck a nerve-and opened a dialogue-with readers on both coasts. In this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent John Donvan explore what it means to be black in America, assisted by Ms. Parker, her biracial cousin Kim McClaren, and Peggy Sakagawa, Caucasian wife of an Asian-American man. Lonnae's message? Being black today is still...
14) Resurrection
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This program opens in Haskell Ward's hometown of Griffin, Georgia. A prominent African American with vast experience in government, Ward narrates a personal story of accomplishments, struggle, and joy. Conversations with his ninth-grade teacher, a former classmate who is now a police captain, a 90-year-old resident, and other citizens of this community of 25,000 recapture the ambience of black life in a small Southern town between 1900 and 1950-a...
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Immigration, racial identity, education, economic development-all of these issues converge on Crenshaw Boulevard, the 23-mile urban artery running through South Los Angeles. This program travels the storied roadway from disadvantaged South Central to the mansions of Palos Verdes overlooking the Pacific. Viewers meet many of the residents and entrepreneurs who breathe life into Crenshaw-including Laura Hendrix, owner of an African-American-themed art...
17) Liberty
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To what extent should African Americans strive to maintain their unique cultural heritage, and to what degree should they seek to become assimilated into the hegemonic culture? Rep. Charles Rangel provides perspective on Washington, D.C., and Harlem, and psychologist Kenneth B. Clark assesses the terrain and the hurdles ahead. Participants in previous programs in this series, and black and white high school and college students, discuss the broad...
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. This illuminating program, filmed during a guided tour of civil rights landmarks, blends potent archival footage and photos with group discussion to sensitively explore race relations in the U.S. Visits to Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, Memphis, Atlanta, Orangeburg, and other locations, combined with eyewitness accounts of key events by survivors of those years, steer the group's dialogue. Together,...
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With the final investigative work of journalist Peter Jennings as its cornerstone, this program studies the frightening rise of AIDS among African-Americans-a trend that has been developing for several years, but which has gone largely unnoticed outside the black community. Jennings' contribution to the program is a candid group discussion he conducted with HIV-positive African-American men in Atlanta. In addition to that eye-opening conversation,...
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This is a gritty and painfully real exposition of what it means to be black, poor, and elderly in the U.S. The film crew documents the life of Leonard and Sarah Bass on and off for six months, recording their struggle to survive, watching as well-meaning neighbors and opportunists come and go.