DC LABOR FILMFEST THIS WEEK: At The River I Stand
Thursday, June 12, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Friday, June 13, 12 noon (bring your lunch!)
AFL-CIO, 815
16th Street NW
Click here to see the trailer.
Memphis, Spring 1968 marked the dramatic climax of the Civil Rights
movement. At the River I Stand skillfully reconstructs the
two eventful months that transformed a strike by Memphis sanitation worker into
a national conflagration, and disentangles the complex historical forces that
came together with the inevitability of tragedy at the death of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
This 58-minute documentary brings into sharp relief
issues that have only become more urgent in the intervening years: the
connection between economic and civil rights, debates over strategies for
change, the demand for full inclusion of African Americans in American life and
the fight for dignity for public employees and all working
people.
Endemic inner-city poverty, attempts to roll back gains won
by public employees, and the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us
make clear that the issues Martin Luther King, Jr. raised in his last days have
yet to be addressed. At the River I Stand succeeds in showing
that the causes of (and possibly the solutions to) our present racial
quandary may well be found in what happened in Memphis. Its riveting portrait of
the grit and determination of ordinary people will inspire viewers to
re-dedicate themselves to racial and economic justice.
Part of the
2014 DC Labor FilmFest, this film is co-sponsored by the
AFL-CIO