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Fannie Lou Hamer’s Essential Voice Captured in New Documentary Co-Produced by her Grandniece, Monica Land

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Fannie Lou Hamer’s Essential Voice Captured in New Documentary Co-Produced by her Grandniece, Monica Land

Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America Reframed spotlights the story of the late activist icon , a prominent voice of the civil rights era — from her roots in the cotton fields of Mississippi to her rise in the halls of Congress and global communities where her voice still echoes, will have its world premiere on PBS and World Channel, Tuesday, February 22 9:00am – 10:30PM, on PBS; andand on WORLD Channel on Thursday, February 24 starting at 8:00pm.*

Monica Land


The film airs at a time when Black women are being acknowledged for their work at the forefront of the fight for voting rights amidst unprecedented voter suppression efforts targeting citizens of color — in the spirit of Hamer’s famous quote, “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
Produced by Ms. Hamer’s grandniece, journalist Monica Land and Joy Davenport, the powerful documentary captures the pure essence of the leader by presenting her through her own words, speeches, interviews and songs.
Through rare footage and recordings, some not seen or heard in half a century, Hamer tells her story — and that of America — more than four decades after her death. The brainchild of Land and featuring the directorial debut of Davenport, the film offers photos, documents, performances and sources, some unearthed by family members, to a new generation of audiences called upon to take up the mantle of preserving American democracy.

Fannie Lou Hamer (Methodist Church Global Ministries/Kenneth Thompson)


Fifteen years in the making, Fannie Lou Hamer’s America presents the daughter of Mississippi sharecroppers’ passion and commitment to voting rights and economic justice and her rise to national prominence.


The film captures Hamer’s resistance as she works to register Black voters, runs for Congress, fights for economic opportunity in her home state and more — all while government leaders, the media and even her civil rights peers tried to silence her.
Young viewers, who may not be familiar with Ms. Hamer’s importance in American history, and older viewers who may have lost perspective on her impact on their lives, will be spurred to discuss “Fannie Lou Hamer’s America” when they hear for the first time, or recall, her passionate cries: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” and “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” . In fact, the documentary will show that for some groups, Ms. Hamer’s \ words are beginning to touch the heart of a new American generation and are emblazoned on placards at rallies across the country.


“Fannie Lou Hamer put her life on the line working to ensure that America lived up to its promise,” said Davenport. “She urged us to look directly at the truth of this country. In the decades since her death we’ve collectively looked away, but to a sick and tired nation that yearns for the American dream, her message remains painfully clear: it’s time to wake up.”
The film opens season 10 of the Peabody Award-winning America ReFramed series coproduced by WORLD Channel and American Documentary, Inc.
*Beginning on February 22, the film also streams on worldchannel.org, WORLD Channel’s YouTube Channel and on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video app, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.
The film will also stream through Women’s History Month.
Fannie Lou Hamer’s America: An America ReFramed Special is a coproduction of Monica Land; The Bitter Southerner; GBH WORLD Channel; American Documentary, Inc.; and Black Public Media with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

For more information, visit www.WORLDchannel.org.

Locking up Black Lives Matter activist Pamela Moses for registering to vote makes her a prisoner. A political one

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Locking up Black Lives Matter activist Pamela Moses for registering to vote makes her a prisoner. A political one

During a 2018 conversation with 1960s civil rights activists David Acey and Calvin Taylor about the need to strike a balance between business and political interests and people trying to succeed in a system stacked to benefit said interests, Pamela Moses just wasn’t feeling it.
“There is no balance when you have one entity that has everything, and a minority of the city which has none,” the Black Lives Matter activist said.
 “There is none…”
Still, a year later, Moses swallowed her skepticism and tried to participate in that system; one that she already believed was stacked against people like her.
 And, now, she’s doing prison time for it.
In 2019, Moses ran for mayor of Memphis, only to be told by Shelby County elections officials that she was still on probation for felony convictions from 2015 – convictions which included stalking and threatening a judge, perjury and evidence tampering.
Those convictions made her ineligible to vote, much less run for office.
But while looking into her eligibility Moses realized that she had never been removed from the voting rolls, which prompted her to go to court and ask a judge for clarity.
You know, go through the system.
The judge told Moses that, yes, she was still on probation. Still, there she was, on the voter rolls.
Could the judge have miscalculated her sentence?
To settle that question, Moses went to a local probation office to sort it all out – where an officer filled out a form and signed a certificate saying that, yes, she had indeed completed her probation.
So, Moses then submitted paperwork and the officer’s signed certificate to elections officials – along with a voter registration form.
Then, this: The corrections office said that officer had made an error. Said Moses was still on probation and ineligible to vote.
But her attempt to simply register to vote was a crime; one that landed Moses a six-year-prison sentence.
Criminal Court Judge W. Mark Ward said that Moses had tricked probation officials into restoring her rights. Said that if she behaved herself in prison, he’d consider placing her on probation after nine months.
If Moses was so smart as to “trick” professionals into mistakenly restoring her rights, they’re the ones who should be made to stand in a proverbial corner.
Not her.
Yet if the goal here was to make an example of Moses, it’s backfiring spectacularly.
National news outlets, ranging from The Washington Post to MSNBC, have picked up on the ludicrousness of Moses, a Black woman, being sentenced to prison for trying to register to vote when, around the nation, numerous white men have received probation for committing actual voter fraud.
And what it illuminates isn’t Moses’ lawlessness, or probation officials’ incompetence as much as it illuminates a confusing and unjust law – and a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, Tennessee’s felony disenfranchisement laws are among the most complex in the nation.
It’s easy to see why.
On the Secretary of State page it lists certain felonies for which a person is permanently disenfranchised, such as murder and rape.
But it also includes other felonies, grouped by various time periods, such as misconduct involving public officials and employees, or interfering with government operations, that might, at least hypothetically, be used to disenfranchise protesters who get arrested while demonstrating at government buildings.
Interestingly, those offenses were added to the permanent disenfranchisement category in 2006, the year in which there were widespread demonstrations all over Tennessee, and the rest of the nation, for immigrant rights.
Anyone could be confused and overlook, or misunderstand, parts of that law, such as the part that states that anyone deemed as infamous – as Moses was because of her numerous prior convictions – loses his or her voting rights permanently.
But people who have paid their debt to society should be able to vote again. Anywhere. Otherwise, what’s the point of rehabilitation if the person isn’t ever allowed to fully rejoin society?
And someone like Moses, who was confused about whether she had finished paying that debt, shouldn’t be locked up because of that confusion – especially if the confusion was abetted by people who should have been able to clear it up.
Which makes me wonder if there’s more to this unfairness.
Moses is no fan of Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, who made the decision to prosecute her.
She and BLM members have been persistent critics of Weirich for what they believe are failures to hold police officers accountable for shooting unarmed Black men, and for, according to a 2017 Harvard Law School project, being ranked tops in Tennessee for prosecutorial misconduct.
Weirich disputed that ranking. But by prosecuting Moses for trying to register to vote, it doesn’t look as if she’s pursuing justice.
Instead, it looks as if she’s trying to pluck a perennial thorn from her side.
Weirich, however, hasn’t exposed Moses as a felon, but as, for all intents and purposes, a political prisoner.
No matter how one wants to look at it, sending someone to prison for six years for trying to register to vote is unfair– and to pursue that punishment invites more distrust of a justice system in Memphis that isn’t trusted by many Black people anyway.
Even though, at least for a while, Moses was trying to give that system a chance.

Tonyaa Weathersbee can be reached at tonyaa.weathersbee@commercialappeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter: @tonyaajw

What’s Going On – 2/10

Victoria Horsford
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THE WORLD
The Winter Olympics unfolds in Beijing, China and we watch countries compete with each other for a gold, silver or bronze medal for excellence. Sports is a welcome alternative to war. Thousands of miles away in Western Europe, nations are in disarray awaiting Russia’s next move of an imminent invasion of Ukraine, its neighbor, which will lead to war. NATO, the EU bristle at the thought of a war in Europe, with myriad ramifications for world society. A major NATO ally, the US has provided support to Euro allies and close to a billion dollars in military support direct to Ukraine. Is there a new axis of power, Russia/China? Let’s talk sanctions and diplomatic solutions with the Russians, instigators of the impending Ukraine aggression. There are too many extant fires to extinguish now in Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen, and in the USA with the threat of domestic terrorists.

Two years ago, no one could have predicted a pandemic which would claim millions of lives worldwide and which would plunge the planet into chaos. Battling COVID and its variants has been warlike. Now another war emerging in Europe which will have serious worldwide consequences. No Way! Let’s do more cold wars, no hot wars!

THE NATION
Black History Month 2022 opened with grim news. On February 1 media headlines focused on the bomb threats to 14 historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs, including Howard, Spelman, Xavier, Kentucky State and Jackson State University. A week later, the FBI reports about six people of interest, all members of white hate groups. Domestic terrorism intervenes during BHM.
On February 1, former pro football coach Brian Flores sued the National Football League (NFL), and three teams – Miami Dolphins, NY Giants and Denver Broncos – for discrimination in hiring practices for coach and upper management positions. All defendants denied the Flores claim. The NFL is the nation’s highest revenue-generating sport, which boasts team players who are 80% Black, and which has no people of color who are franchise owners.

Flores went public two weeks prior to the holiest NFL day, the Super Bowl which is February 13. Its half time roster is 95% Black, all HIPHOP deities like Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg Dr. Dre, and Kendrick LaMar. By February 7, the Houston Texans promoted African American Lovie Smith to head coach. The Dolphins hired biracial Mike McDaniel as head coach. Brooklyn-born Brian Flores, the son of Black Hondurans, may have ended his NFL coaching career with his lawsuit. He is to be commended for exposing fault lines in the NFL configuration of 32 teams.


The 2022 American midterms are arguably the most important election for the nation this Century. Americans must return to the polls in large numbers and cast their votes for Democrats this year, if American democracy is to be sustained. Early polls and stats do not favor Democrats control of Congress. Voter suppression laws in many states disproportionately impact voters of color. The Republican propaganda machinery says that the 1/6/21 insurrection was “legitimate political discourse,” its Critical Race Theory culture war is popular; and its anti vaxx stance is attractive to many. They outwit Democrats, unable to take victory laps for recent Congressional victories. GOP censures its reps who sit on the Jan 6 investigation. GOP Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell recently said “Jan 6 was a violent insurrection.” NY Congressman Hakeem Jeffries says that RNC stands for Republican National Cult. Rumors abound about an early exit by Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.

ARTS/CULTURE
FILM: Film industry’s nominations for the 3/27 Academy Awards were announced. African Americans were finalists in top categories. Best Picture, KING RICHARD, a biopix about the father of tennis phenoms, Serena and Venus Williams. Best Actor: Will Smith in title role and as co producer, in KING RICHARD and Denzel Washington THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: Best Supporting Actress, Aunjanue Ellis, KING RICHARD and Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY Best Documentary: Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry, for ATTICA, about the NY prison uprising and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, co-director of SUMMER OF SOUL (Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised”), a 1969 Harlem culturefest. Best Original Song, “Be Alive” by Beyonce for KING RICHARD.
FINE ART: The DC MOORE Gallery’s new exhibit, “DAVID DRISKELL: Mystery of The Masks” runs from February 17 to March 26. Fine artist David Driskell, (1931 to 2020) is a household name among international collectors and art scholars. The show includes 60 art works, paintings and works on paper, and is the first major Driskell exhibition since his death in 2020. DC Moore is located at 535 West 22 Street, Manhattan. DCMooreGallery.com


The Skoto Gallery celebrates its 30th Anniversary with a group exhibit highlighting works by as many established and emerging artists, which runs from February 10 to March 19. Skoto is headquarters for contemporary African art including the Diaspora in NYC. Jamaica-born Peter Wayne Lewis, Senegal-born Mor Fall, Worsene Worke Kosrof, Sokari Douglas Camp, and Carl Hazelwood are among the 30th Anniversary artist participants. . Skoto Gallery is located at 529 West 20 Street, Manhattan. Skotogallery.com

THEATER: Black Theater thrives on Broadway. MJ, THE MUSICAL about Michael Jackson, with a catalog of about 40 songs, starring newcomer, Myles Frost, opened on February 1. Some reviewers note that he channels the King of Pop like a devoted disciple.
The drama “Skeleton Crew,” starring Phylicia Rashad, Joshua Boone, Brandon Dirden, directed by Rubin Santiago-Hudson, which is set in a Detroit car factory got universally good reviews about the acting, direction and script. It seems to be an audience pleaser.

THE FEBRUARY CALENDAR
The NY Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, Asian Legislators host its 51st Annual Legislative Conference, from February 18-20, in Albany.
This year is one with a plethora of a NY elections, the result of the 2020 Census and the new redistricting maps. In 2022, New Yorkers vote for Governor, Attorney General, NY Assembly members and Senators, and all Congress members. Visit NYSABPRHAL.ORG.


The Positive Community Magazine hosts its Second Annual Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet on February 19 from 2-6 pm at The Robert Treat Hotel, Newark NJ. Event honorees are Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka; Suzan Cook Johnson, US Ambassador at Large; Dr. Ben Chavis, President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association; Debi Jackson, CEO/President Youth Development Foundation, Bishop Johnny Ray Youngblood, Mt Pisgah Baptist Church; and Kim Nesbitt Good, Friends of The NJ Legacy Foundation. Visit ThePositiveCommunity.com

A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria can be reached at victoria.horsford@gmail.com

Mayor Expands Lifestyle Medicine Services to Additional Public Hospital Sites, including Woodhull and Kings County

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Mayor Expands Lifestyle Medicine Services to Additional Public Hospital Sites, including Woodhull and Kings County

Mayor Eric Adams on Monday announced the expansion of “lifestyle medicine services” to six sites run by New York City Health + Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system. The initiative, which will be implemented this year, is meant to promote lifestyle changes for people with chronic illnesses “including adopting a healthy plant-based diet, increasing physical activity, improving sleep habits, reducing stress, avoiding risky substances, and providing social support,” according to the mayor’s office.


“Today, New York City is again leading the way with the most comprehensive expansion of lifestyle medicine programming in the nation,” Adams said Monday. “This is personal to me — a plant-based lifestyle helped save my life, and I’m thrilled that New Yorkers in every zip code will have access to this critical programming. Together, we will stop feeding the health care crisis and ensure all New Yorkers can access the healthy lifestyle they deserve.” 


The program will become eligible to adult patients at sites in each borough — Jacobi, Lincoln, Woodhull, Kings County, and Elmhurst hospitals, and Gotham Health, Vanderbilt — over the next year, the mayor said. It builds on Bellevue Hospital’s Plant-Based Lifestyle Medicine Program which was launched in 2019 when Adams was Brooklyn borough president. Monday’s announcement is Adams’ latest initiative to encourage plant-based diets in New York City after the Department of Education made public school lunches vegan on Fridays starting last week in a rollout that was criticized for having meager offerings in some schools. Adams faced criticism again last week and Monday when sources close to the mayor said he occasionally ate fish, despite fashioning himself repeatedly as a strict vegan for years, including on the mayoral campaign trail. 


“Let me be clear: Changing to a plant-based diet saved my life, and I aspire to be plant-based 100 percent of the time. I want to be a role model for people who are following or aspire to follow a plant-based diet, but, as I said, I am perfectly imperfect, and have occasionally eaten fish,” Adams said in a statement to Politico New York.

Rise in Teacher Burnout

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Rise in Teacher Burnout

Nearly 2,000 teachers have left New York City’s public schools during the pandemic

NYC Mayor’s Office
Nearly 2,000 teachers have left New York City’s public schools during the pandemic, according to a new report from the state comptroller.
The report’s release follows nearly two years of pandemic wherein teachers and school staff have reported extensive burnout due to disruptions and challenges in classroom instruction. It said the city’s education department lost 1,992 teachers between June 2020 and November 2021 –  a 2.5% decrease – with 77,160 teachers on the education department’s payroll last fall. The number of paraprofessionals and teaching assistants plummeted even more significantly —  by 15%, a loss of 3,851 employees. 
In interviews, many educators said that may be the tip of the iceberg: They expect to see more colleagues exit the field soon. Some said they are seriously contemplating leaving themselves. 
“I really love teaching, but I have definitely considered leaving the city,” said Jessica Cohen, a science teacher at Francis Lewis High School in Queens. 

A teacher leads a virtual class at One World Middle School at Edenwald in the Bronx, October 2020


The New York City data appears to reflect a nationwide trend: a recent poll of teachers found more than half now expect to leave the profession earlier than planned and the Bureau of Labor of Statistics reported more than 500,000 have already left.


The decline in teachers comes as public school enrollment is also shrinking. But even with enrollment down, administrators have been scrambling to cover classes, either to accommodate social distancing, cover instructors who left because of the vaccine mandate, or fill in when teachers get sick, as many did during the omicron surge. 


Sarah Casasnovas, a spokesperson for the city’s education department, said there was a “temporary decline in the number of teachers” after the city’s vaccine mandate went into effect last fall, but approximately 5,600 new teachers were hired for the 2021-2 academic year. There are 27,000 substitute teachers “on hand,” she added. 


“We’re grateful to our incredible educators who go above and beyond for New York City students each day, and we’re proud that our teacher retention rate remains high,” Casasnovas said. 
According to the city’s teacher’s union, the United Federation of Teachers, the school system had to replace more than 5,000 teachers every year even before COVID-19. 


“Keeping a stable pedagogical workforce in the schools has been a constant challenge for the city’s Department of Education,” union spokesperson Alison Gendar said. “The long-term effects of the pandemic are going to make this problem even more difficult to solve.”


Teachers throughout the city have reported tremendous burnout – after an unprecedented pivot to remote learning in March 2020, followed by a combination of virtual and hybrid learning last year, and the challenges of returning to schools this fall. 

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