NEO•GRIOT

Presents:

"Before They Die"

The Story of Black Wall Street and the Survivors

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Founders Auditorium
1650 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Doors Open At 6:15 P.M.
Open Mic At 6:30 P.M.
Film & Culture Series Begins At 7:00 P.M.

Take the #2, 3, 4 or 5 train to the Franklin Ave. stop.
The auditorium is between Crown & Montgomery Sts.

After the film we will have an Inter-Generational Community Education Dialogue The focus being:

Seniors/Leaders/Elders - Share your wisdom and view of the World.
What would you like to see from the younger generations?

Working/Adult/Professionals - What guidance do you need from the Elders?
How can you be the bridge between the Youth and the Elders?
How can the Youth and Elders help you, to help them?

Youth/Students/21+ - What do you value?
How can older generations help you develop your life chances?
What do you want the older generations to respect about you and learn from you?

Press Release

           The 'Film & Culture Series' and the School of Liberal Arts and Education at Medgar Evers College will host a screening of the documentary 'Before They Die!' on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 7 p.m. in the Founder's Auditorium, 1650 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225.   The film tells the story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot and the survivors journey for justice. The screening is open to the public.

Reginald Turner, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer, and his cousin, Denise Clement, co-produced the documentary upon prodding by Turners college friend, Charles Ogletree who was representing the survivors in litigation seeking reparations. Through interviews of survivors, the film chronicles the two days of death and destruction set off by an event which took place on May 31, 1921, in an elevator in the Drexel Building in downtown Tulsa. The incident between a 17-year-old white female elevator operator and a 19-year-old black shoe shiner, the details of which remain uncertain, may have started as innocuously as the young man accidently stepping on the foot of the young woman in the elevator.

What followed for the next two days is likely the worst racial violence in our nations history, but yet it is a story unknown to most citizens. A mob, fueled by inaccurate, exaggerated and inflammatory reports which spread across a city already experiencing racial tension, destroyed 35-square blocks of the African-American neighborhood of Greenwood. White rioters looted residents homes and set them on fire. Over 1,000 homes along with churches, schools, a hospital and a library were burned or destroyed. Nearly 9,000 people were left homeless and an estimated 300 people were killed.

The survivors of this horrific chapter of Oklahoma history have yet to be compensated for their losses. Ogletree, a Harvard law professor, has led the legal team representing survivors through the court system. In 2002 when the project to obtain reparations began, there were 151 survivors. Less than half of them are still alive and the youngest is 92 years old.

In explaining why he took years away from his law practice to make this film, Turner explained, Our goal is to make sure that this story, which has been hidden from history for over 80 years, is not allowed to go untold.

It is important for us to have this program, because the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot has fallen through the cracks of U.S. history and there are students who do not hear about this tragic event until college, if at all. Our goal is to inform the public about black history that affects the mind and touches the soul.

Prior to the screening, there will be an Open Mic period for community presentations and a performance by new young orator 'Jair'.

For more information about Before They Die! and the program go to
http://www.mec.cuny.edu/filmandcultureseries