Speaker 1: (00:00)
In honor of Martin Luther king, Jr. Turner classic movies has created a program of documentary shorts and features looking at the civil rights movement of the 1960s KPBS film critic. Beth Amando has this preview of tonight's lineup that begins at 5:00 PM
Speaker 2: (00:17)
To celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther king Jr or Turner classic movies has partnered with the Chicago film archives to broadcast eight films from the film group collection. The program was curated by TCM host and film scholar, Jacqueline Stewart, the rarely screen documentaries offer a window onto the civil rights movement of the 1960s with a specific focus on the unrest that took place in Chicago during the 1968 democratic national convention. Most delegates
Speaker 3: (00:45)
To this convention do not know that thousands of young people are being beaten in the streets of Chicago.
Speaker 2: (00:53)
The film group was initially formed to make commercials and industrial films, but turned its attention to social documentaries after its commercial film crew Whitney, this police violence during the 1968 protests, the crew then started filming the events unfolding before them. And that eventually led to an educational series called the urban crisis. And the new militants,
Speaker 4: (01:14)
The ideology of the black Panther party, you know, is, uh, pretty much the ideology of, of the masses, the black people, you know, we only offer forth what black people want, you know, and what they've been crying for for a long time. And, uh, that is to have complete freedom, you know, and that means in every facet of life, we want freedom. And we all realize that right now we are living in a pseudo type of freedom. We haven't got the old slave shackles on us anymore, but we live in a society where our mans are shackled.
Speaker 2: (01:46)
The film group's founder, bill coddle has described the films as designed to teach by raising questions rather than by attempting to answer them. And by showing real events with real people, acting spontaneously in this film called black moderates and black militants members of the black Panther party, sit down with a black principal to better understand each other.
Speaker 4: (02:07)
I have my doubt. I understand what you understand, but as long as you work within a framework of what is existing now, I think you've always run into a hangup because you see the thing is we are about changing what exists now, you know, by whatever means necessary, including revolution. You know,
Speaker 2: (02:22)
In addition to the shorter works are two outstanding feature length documentaries, American revolution, two, and the murder of Fred Hampton German.
Speaker 5: (02:30)
Fred is gone, gone from the streets where his heart and his people are, but not for long for the people's love for Fred Hampton is lovely than lovely.
Speaker 2: (02:40)
Just recently, the national film preservation board selected the murder or a Fred Hampton for the national film registry at the library of Congress. Films are selected for their cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. The murder of Fred Hampton looks to the charismatic 21 year old leader of the Illinois black Panther party. So
Speaker 5: (02:59)
We say, we always said the black Panther party that they can do anything they want you to. We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere, but when I leave, you can remember I said with the last words on my list, a revolutionary, and you gonna have to keep on saying
Speaker 2: (03:15)
That David F. Walker has written a graphic about the black Panther party. I I've
Speaker 6: (03:20)
Known about the Panther since I was a, you know, a teenager, you know, that's when I first read Bobby seal's book, I first became familiar with who Fred Hampton was in my early twenties and, and really became obsessed with him and his life and his murder. I, I have this firm belief that the day that the civil rights movement officially ended was the day that he was murdered. I, and I still hold to that belief in a lot of ways. And so this is a story I always wanted to put out because I felt like everybody needs to know the story of Fred Hampton. Everybody needs to know. And, and I remember a time when there was no books about him and, and the only people that seemed to know who he was was either people in sort of the radical political movement or, or people Chicago
Speaker 2: (04:00)
Hampton was killed in his sleep in 1969 during a police raid. But his murder garnered, little mainstream attention, the film group's 1971 documentary looked to Hampton and his tragic death Walker explains the details.
Speaker 6: (04:14)
The FBI worked in conjunction with the Chicago police department to, to murder Fred ham in 1969. And, and that's not an exaggeration that's, that's documented proof. And I think that what the most valuable lesson we have to learn is that we can't underestimate the forces that were up against and their desire to stop the, the people from, from getting out under their oppressive stance. Uh, and I think that the other thing that, that we need to learn from the Panthers and, and this is something that, that really was not, is not talked about is the idea of solidarity. They became their most dangerous in the eyes of the government when they started reaching out to other organizations and Fred ham specifically, and the, the, uh, the Chicago branch of the Illinois chapter of the party was, was more successful at that than anybody else. And he had built this coalition of youth street gangs in Chicago and white radicals and, and Hispanic LA radicals. And, and he was talking about building almost like a people's army of the poor and disenfranchised. But if you study Fred Hampton and you study what was going on in Illinois, you see this, this blueprint for a, a grassroots movement of solidarity, the
Speaker 2: (05:35)
Documentaries highlighted on TCM tonight, allow us to see and hear members of the black Panther party in an unfiltered way. But Walker says you won't find many films fiction or nonfiction that focus on the black Panther party.
Speaker 6: (05:48)
I think the reason there hasn't been that many films dealing with the black Panthers, it's, it's pretty complex. I think part of it is that a lot of people still see them as being very controversial. And, and I think that, that it's more, that they're misunderstood than controversial. And I think that it, it comes down to the fact that if you were to write a story, if you're writing a, uh, I guess you, for lack of a better term, a traditional narrative of the, uh, the black Panther party that casts them in the role of the good guys. Well, then the bad guys are the United States government. The bad guys are definitely Jay Edgar Hoover in the FBI, but it's the Chicago police department. And so I think that when we're, and, and it's, and we're talking about a level of corruption on a governmental level, both federal state municipal, that is kind of mind boggle when you really think about it.
Speaker 6: (06:38)
And now it's not as mind boggling now because we're seeing some of these things play out on, on the news on a daily basis, the, the acts of police brutality, the coverups that are going on, the, the lack of transparency, all of this was going on in, you know, in the sixties. And, and before that. And since then, but I think the, it, in terms of popular entertainment, it's difficult for a lot of people to get down with. How do we show that? I think that part of the, the problem dealing with things like systemic racism is that it, it forces people to take a look at their own culpability. It's not just racism. It's also, uh, sexism and homophobia and all the other forms of re oppression. Once you acknowledge it, you have to look at your own culpability. And, and sometimes that culpability is, is merely inaction or apathy. And, and nobody wants to . Nobody wants to face that
Speaker 2: (07:35)
Tonight. TCM serves up a collection of documentaries that provide a vital and fascinating historical context to more recent social and political unrest. It's a history lesson that resonates loudly today and provides a great way to remember Martin Luther king, Jr.
Speaker 1: (07:52)
That was Beth Amando with excerpts from her 2020 and 2021 interviews with author day. David F. Walker Walker's graphic novel is called the black Panther party. The film group documentaries screen tonight on Turner classic movies starting at five
Speaker 7: (08:26)
Paul and Tylers found in jail had no money for the go their bail, your eyes on the prize. Hold on, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on.
