race issues at Brave New Films

Clinton Supporters for McCain - Is it Race?

2008-10-06T21:28:16Z

Learn each Candidate's positions: www.ontheissues.org This video is not meant to endorse any particular political view. The thumbs up and down simply refer to agree and disagree with Senator Clinton's position respectively. Senator Obama's positions are far more like Clinton's than McCain's. On some issues they are nearly identical. If you supported Clinton in the primaries the choice in November is obvious. And don't claim it's because of experience. Clinton and Obama have equally little experience. If experience is your only deciding issue you should have supported McCain from the start. Finally, don't bother pointing out similarities amongst all three candidates. Yes they do exist, but similarities are not what enable one to choose between them. Will Senator Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention do anything to persuade her supporters to vote for Senator Obama? Discover which candidate is most suited for you. www.selectsmart.com Think about it.

Gospel Hill at the DNC

2008-09-17T12:43:44Z

Director Giancarlo Esposito and actors Ellen Burstyn and Danny Glover discuss current events at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO. These interviews were recorded in collaboration with a screening and discussion on the movie "Gospel Hill," presented by the Creative Coalition.

For more interviews from this event, visit fora.tv

Complete FORA.tv coverage of the DNC: for a.tv/topic/democratic_convention

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The Creative Coalition kicks off activities at the DNC with a screening of "Gospel Hill".

Artists come together to talk about this important movie, thoughtfully advocate on behalf of important issues, and to exercise their responsibilities as US citizens to speak up and participate in the country's political process.

Giancarlo Esposito is the Director of the movie Gospel Hill. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Ensemble (Atlantic Theater is the theater company started by David Mamet and William H. Macy). In addition, he has won two Obie Awards for his performances in Distant Fires and Zooman and the Sign. Giancarlo served as a member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.

Ellen Burstyn was the first woman to be elected President of Actor's Equity Association (1982-85), and served as the Artistic Director of the Actors Studio for six years, where she studied with the late Lee Strasberg. She continues to be active there as co-president with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel. In 2000, Ellen received the Career Achievement Award from the Boston Film Festival. She was given the Career Achievement Award from the prestigious National Board of Review in early 2001, and was most recently honored with the Career Achievement in Acting Award from the 2006 Hamptons Film Festival.

Danny Glover is the recipient of several prestigious honors for his impressive body of work. They include two NAACP Image Awards, 3 Cable ACE Awards, the Independent Feature Project/West's Best Actor Award, the Phoenix Award from the Black American Cinema Society and induction into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Glover also received an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the mini-series "Lonesome Dove" and Turner Network Television's "Freedom Song". Off-screen, he is a powerful advocate for literacy and has spoken to grammar and high school students around the nation about the joys of reading and education. He was also appointed the first Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Development Programme, and received the first annual William Kunstler Racial Justice Award for his work on a variety of social issues. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Amnesty International and an Essence Award.

Stuart Schultzke is the Director of Content Development for FORA.tv. He oversees the development of FORA.tv partnerships with content providers and plays a primary role in formulating the company's overall content strategy.

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TPMtv at Netroots Nation: Jeff Merkley

2008-07-19T08:44:20Z

Jeff Merkley

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Blacks Pick Obama Over Jackson as Spokesman

2008-09-02T08:47:20Z

Black Americans are far more likely to choose Barack Obama as the one person they would like to speak for them on issues of race (29%) than Jesse Jackson (4%).

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William Rhoden - Muhammad Ali and the Athlete as Role Model

2008-06-11T16:40:28Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden gives his take on professional athletes as cultural role models, using Muhammad Ali as an example.

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Athletes as Role Models in the Steroids Era

The Mitchell report revelations of baseball's "steroids era" led to outrage and dismay. Now the government is involved, with Roger Clemens testifying before Congress. But that's not all - 2007 turned out to be a year of scandal in sports: Michael Vick's dogfighting, Bill Belichick's "spy-gate" and Isiah Thomas' sexual harassment trial, to name a few. In light of all this, many have criticized professional athletes for unacceptable behavior. But are athletes held to a higher standard? Should they be judged as role models? At a time when the sports pages seem to contain more social commentary than game breakdowns, the NY Salon has assembled a panel of experts to discuss what this all means for both the sports world and our society at large - NY Salon

William C. Rhoden has been writing about sports for The New York Times since March 1983. Previously, he was a copy editor in the Sunday Week in Review section since October 1981 when he joined the newspaper. Author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete.

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Randall Kennedy - Barack Obama's "Crossover Appeal"

2008-07-09T14:41:32Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Controversial African-American cultural critic Randall Kennedy discusses Barack Obama's "crossover appeal" to white voters, in a conversation with Dean of UC-Berkeley School of Law Christopher Edley, Jr.

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Randall Kennedy in conversation with Christopher Edley, Jr.

Randall Kennedy is one the most outspoken and compelling commentators on race in America. Born in segregated South Carolina at the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy had early ambitions to become a Civil Rights attorney. The Rhodes Scholar graduated from Princeton University and then Yale Law School, earning a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall before joining the faculty of Harvard Law School.

Kennedy's work received national attention with the publication of his book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word. In the book, Kennedy dissects the most notorious racial slur in the American language and also examines the linguistic baggage behind such words as "racism," "discrimination," and "diversity." His new book Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal explores the idea of African-Americans denying their heritage to get ahead in society. Kennedy is a longtime professor at Harvard Law School where he teaches courses on freedom of expression and the regulation of race relations - City Arts & Lectures

Christopher Edley, Jr. joined Boalt Hall as dean and professor of law in 2004, after 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School. He earned a law degree and a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University, where he served as an editor and officer of the Harvard Law Review. Edley's academic work is primarily in the areas of civil rights and administrative law. He has also taught federalism, budget policy, Defense Department procurement law, national security law, and environmental law. Edley was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a renowned multidisciplinary research and policy think tank focused on issues of racial justice.

His publications include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race and American Values and Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy.

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The one film every Right-Thinking American ought to watch

2008-06-13T21:29:18Z

(Especially so such inclined to support candidates for office of the Tom Tancredo model in Indecision 2008.)

As in: Schwarzfahrer (German; literally, "Black Rider," but colloquially also meaning "fare dodger"), German filmmaker Pepe Dankert's Oscar-winning short film (presented, thankfully, with English subtitles).

(BTW, how many of you are aware of the urban legend on which the film is based? Are there any American versions you're aware of?)