The Film

The film process, while quick, covered a great deal of ground, examining University of Oregon policies regarding race, discrimination, and protest, but also community issues dealing with organizations like CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Black Panther Party, the Eugene Police Department, and simply individuals in the community.  We interviewed four people from these groups: two were members of CORE, and both had some encounter, or level of involvement, with the BPP.  The other two individuals were outside the activism to a great degree, but were present in the community.  Each man told his story, reflecting on the elements of our story that he was most involved with.

During this process of acquiring these interviews, we spent a number of hours searching through the archives of a local television news station, eventually coming across footage of the BPP and CORE members o the 1960s speaking out against the injustices of the time, and seeking policy change at the local, state, and national levels.  Their testimony is compelling not only because it is historical footage, but because it is footage that is surprising to Eugene residents at this time ¾ surprising to learn that this relatively progressive community shares a dark, oppressive past with the rest of America.

In the end, while also providing brief entertainment to our audience, we also hope that it incites reflection, and that this same audience recognizes that, even a place like Eugene has perpetrated the injustices associated with racism and that it is not simply people “somewhere else” that need to deal with these difficult issues.  Instead, we need to continue the fight to end discrimination here.  It is time to prove to the country it can be done, once and for all.