Film School - Black Activist Histories

With Laurie Townshend and Alexa Joy

Join RPL Film Theatre on Thursday, March 4th at 7:00pm CST for a live discussion with Laurie Townshend and Alexa Joy

Link to watch films here: https://vucavu.com/rpl-film-school/black-activist-histories
Watch the discussion on YouTube Live: https://bit.ly/2L1m8f5  or on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/1SHRnvntG

Known collectively as the Akua Benjamin Legacy Project, these five short films celebrate the lives, the work and commitment of five Black Canadian activists. Executive produced by Alison Duke. Curated by filmmaker and teacher Laurie Townshend. 

The films focus on anti-Black racism and resistance and seeks to instill a sense of history and pride for the significant contributions of Black Canadians to the younger generation of activists and/or activists-to-be. The overall goal is to promote the kind of educational work and activism that builds a just, inclusive community and society. Films will be available for free viewing March 1-8, 2021.

“Dudley Speaks for Me” Dir. By Ngardy Conteh Georg
“Where is Marlene Green?” Dir. by Ella Cooper
“Book of Love” Dir. by Sara Michelle Brown
“Charley” Dire. By Laurie Townshend.
“Rosie”, Dir. By Sonia Godding Togobo

To watch these films, please sign up for a free Vucavu membership: https://vucavu.com/en/create-free-account 

Use #RPLFilmSchool and @RPLFilmTheatre to post questions or comments.

Writer-director, educator and photographer Laurie Townshend credits her mantra, “You have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé” for her ability to make groundbreaking films while successfully lobbying her 8th graders for “coolest teacher” nods. 

Alexa Joy is a researcher, activist and artist whose work attempts to dismantle structural white supremacy while encouraging demonstrations of Black, radical-advocacy. Her work as the founder and president of Black Space Winnipeg inspires her to push for authentic dialogue on challenging anti-Blackness in Canada and establishes critical inquiries on deconstructing how we think of race and racism. As a vocal percussion, Alexa explores the power of breath and rhythmic dialogue to create percussion communication while pushing the boundaries of beatboxing. Alexa continues to disrupt institutional inequalities by searching for truth and justice for society's most vulnerable. Alexa was also the Director of the Afro Prairie Film Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Questions to consider:

1. Rosie, The Fearless Rebel (Dir. Sonia Godding-Togobo)
Preamble: Akua Benjamin, in whose honour this 5-part series was commissioned, makes an appearance in this powerful documentary. Rosie Douglas for me represents that throughline that central motif that emerges when analyzing a great piece of literature. He was able to articulate how the oppression Caribbean students in Canada were experiencing was connected to the exploitation he’d seen first-hand in Dominica. 

Clip 1:36 - 2:36
Prompt: How important is it for young people today to understand the interconnectedness of oppression that happens close to home and abroad?
Prompt: What do we stand to lose if we fail to maintain this more global understanding of oppression?

2. Where is Marlene Green? (Dir. Ella Cooper)
Preamble: Green challenged that the issues identified in the school system would not be addressed with a “multiculturalism approach” of accepting cultures generally because what was truly at issue in schools was race and racism. Fast forward to 2017 where a report, Towards Race Equity in Education (James & Turner) states as its first of 80 recommendations that we publicly acknowledge that anti-Black racism in education exists.

Clip 3:00 - 4:00  The Black Education Project and the Race Relations Report

 Prompt: In January’s film school, I quoted Angela Davis and I’m going to quote her again,  “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”. How has this shift in language - in naming systemic racism specifically as “anti-Black” changed thinking, behaviour and/or approaches to confronting and dismantling racism in schools? 

3. Dudley Speaks For Me (Dir. Ngardy Conteh George) 

Preamble: In this clip, Thando Hyman states that Dudley Laws spoke for “the voiceless”. While I understand what folks mean when they say this, I’d like to challenge this notion of the voiceless.

Clip 0:20 - 1:15
Prompt: Is anyone really voiceless or are they in the words of author/activist Arundhati Roy “deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.”? 

4. Charley (Dir. Laurie Townshend)
Preamble: In making Charley, I remember being struck by how seamlessly Charles Roach moved between grassroots organizing, the halls of academia, the court system, poetry cafes, and the streets of Caribanna which he co-founded. He led what appeared to be a fully integrated life where advocacy, business, music, family, and community were always at play.

Clip 3:15 - 4:45 “More than just a lawyer…”
Prompt: Is activist burnout an inevitably, or might Charles Roach’s integrated approach to activism be an antidote? 

5. Book of Love (Dir. Sarah Michelle Brown)
Preamble: I absolutely love Clifton Joseph’s take on the Johnston’s legacy. “They made us feel that we meant something.” He’s articulating the hashtag that has become both a mantra and a battlecry, Black Lives Matter. He’s also echoing James Baldwin when he said “A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience, and all that gives him sustenance.”

Clip 4:14 - 5:43  ( “They knew that they were inspiring and that kind of inspiration hits you here…”)
Prompt: If Black children have to matter to those who teach them. If their lived experiences must be acknowledged and honoured as truth, what hope is there that public education will ever be as safe for Black kids as the Third World Bookstore was? 

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