Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 26 Mar 2018

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: Voices of Baltimore: Life Under Segregation

Description

With Morna McNulty and Gary Homana.

A

( ♪♪♪ ).

A

Voices of baltimore life under segregation.

A

Is a film that tells the stories of people who lived separate but unequal.

B

You didn't see the signs that said white and color.

B

You saw them when you went downtown.

A

And some places you just didn't go.

B

It didn't hold you back., it really propelled you further.

B

I need to stand up for what is right.

B

man:. We were arrested., we were tried.

B

woman:, mediocrity was not acceptable., not just for you and your family, but for a whole race of people.

C

What we saw in 2015 could have happened in the 1930s.

B

And as maya angelou say, "instead,, I rise, in spite of that.".

B

I'm not going anywhere.

B

A

Here to talk about the film and the all-too-recent times, it recalls.

A

Are the show's producers, morna, mcdermott mcnulty and gary homana. good to have you both here.

A

thank you,, it's great to be here.

B

Congratulations on what appears to be a great film., very moving film.

A

So I gotta ask you, you're both educators at towson university.

A

In the elementary ed department,, but you've decided to take this project on.

A

So I'm gonna ask you, gary, what was the motivation?

A

so,? I teach an urban education course.

C

I was the lead in that course, and one of the instructors asked me.

C

To come to his class and he had a guest speaker.

C

And the guest speaker's name was evelyn chapman and she was speaking about her growing up in baltimore during jim crow.

C

And her experiences in education and her life in the community.

C

And I walked away from that just knowing that these stories.

C

Had to be preserved, because these are people in their 80s and in many ways those stories will be lost., and so then I talked to evelyn a little bit.

C

Morna came on the team and then we started working on the project.

A

Okay. so, timing is always an issue.. Why now, morna?.

A

Why do you think this film is so important right? Now, needs to be done?.

A

I think there is that clip right in the film that you showed in the beginning.

D

That says, "what happened, then, could have easily have happened in 2015.".

D

And with the advent of the death of freddie gray and the rise of black lives matter and the recent election.

D

And things that are happening right, now,, those issues that were experienced in the jim crow era.

D

Are still with us and until we can reimagine.

D

The way we think of history and what we value and whose voices are important to listen, to,.

D

We're not gonna get it right, moving forward., so I think we've gotta really critically re-examine where we've been to understand where we're gonna go.

A

Okay,, so these themes that you're talking about, they resonate now in baltimore.

A

In what ways, would you say, gary?.

C

Well, I think that the like morna was saying: I think that the themes of the film are high expectations of individuals.

C

And how to realize that you're, not only responsible for yourself.

C

But you're responsible for a whole group of people.

C

And one of the key themes that came out in the film was exactly that.

C

It was you weren't doing this for yourself.

C

You were doing it for your community and you were doing it to bring people up behind you so that they could achieve what you achieved.

C

So it wasn't just one person succeeding,: it was a whole race of people, succeeding.

C

And community was essential.

A

Yeah. and communities speaking of community,, what's been the response from the community to your film?.

D

It's been very favorable.. I feel that older generations of people who have come to watch it.

D

And identify so much with oh, my gosh! yes!.

D

That was exactly our neighborhood too!, so there's that connection. and to the younger generation, there's that reaching forward.

D

And that reaching back of youth seeking advice, suggestions,.

D

Support from the younger generation--, the older generation that came before them.

D

And it speaks to two keys issues that we still have yet to untangle..

D

One, if the deficit model of understanding, historically black communities,.

D

And the way that we mistake desegregation as some universally.

D

Yay! we're done!. Let's move on narrative.

D

And the other is the specter of white privilege.

D

Which? Still undergirds a lot of the systemic oppressions that we're experiencing.

D

And I think the film doesn't shy away from having that conversation.

D

So a very important topic. gary.

C

And some of the other issues building on that, for example,, we were doing some pilot showings of the film.

C

And the recent premiere that was on february 16th.

C

And people were saying this is absolutely necessary..

C

People were crying for this. "I teach students in rural missouri.. They need to see a film like this.".

C

Or "I teach films in minnesota--, I mean,, I teach classes in minnesota with native americans.".

C

They resonate., so it's not just an african-american race-based issue.

C

It's a wider-based issue of addressing how we understand.

C

And communicate with each other and listen to each other.

C

So that we can rise above where we are.

A

Right. okay,. Well, I think this film is wonderful.

A

And I congratulate you both on your intentions and on your success with this.

A

And we encourage people to go online at towson university on the website.

A

They can find out more about the film and where they may be able to see it and experience it..

A

So thank you again and congratulations.