Little Rock

       Last Friday, Ben Guest, Program Manager of the Mississippi Teacher Corps, Briana Hanny, and I piled into the School of Education van and lit out for Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the next two days, we attended the Little Rock Film Festival, visited both the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and Little Rock Central High School, and enjoyed a nice dinner with Dr. Sybil Hampton (the first black student to attend Central High for three full years, beginning in 1959) and Zak Piper (co-producer of the film The Interrupters).

     The film festival was phenomenal. In addition to having the pleasure of seeing Ben's film The South Will Rise Again, a documentary short which looks at issues of race at Ole Miss, make its Little Rock debut, I was able to watch four full length films and numerous shorts. The two most compelling, in my opinion, were Hot Coffee and The Interrupters.

     Hot Coffee, directed by first time filmmaker and former laywer Susan Saladoff, uses three famous legal cases of the last twenty five years to engage the debates regarding tort reform and mandatory arbitration. Saladoff's work was forceful and at times absolutely gut wrenching as she mapped the circuitous route some must take to find, if ever, equal protection uder the law.  

      The second film, The Interrupters, was from Kartemquin Films and captured the daily struggles of violence interrupters in Chicago. Their only goal to prevent wanton violence and killings, the interruptors must engage the most volatile elements of the city while also reconciling their own past contributions to the violence "epidemic." I recommend this film to anyone concerned with the lives of others; its success predicated upon the immeasurable selflessness of the lead characters.

     Meeting Dr. Hampton and visiting Central High was another clear highlight of the weekend. We have all been impacted by the civil rights movement in some way, but far fewer can say they contributed mightily to it's progression. Dr. Hampton is among those few and still today when listening to her speak the strength and moral fortitude which carried her down those lonely halls is undeniable.

     The school itself appears much like it did when the Little Rock Nine first enrolled. Looming overhead and built like a fortress, it has protected both the immoral and moral. Yet, as the adjacent museum indicates, in doing so it has served as a vehicle for exposing that which our intolerance inflicts upon us.

     All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I hope to return to Little Rock again sometime to learn more. Much has happened and much needs to happen in order to establish true citizenship for all, but a comprehensive understanding of both is not mutually exclsuive and in few places is that more evident.