We're excited to be going back to Oklahoma's deadCENTER Film Festival, where we screened our first film, The Path to Prison, to a wonderful audience of indie filmmakers (and indie film lovers). It's run by great people who are committed to art and social justice.
It's interesting to consider the importance of films that bring issues of race equality to the forefront, especially with some of the news coming from Oklahoma in recent months, where a fraternity was exposed for its deep-seated culture of racism (fortunately caught on camera). It makes one wonder, how far away is "history"?
It was in Okahoma where George McLaurin, a black teacher, was admitted to Oklahoma's school of Education, but only under Jim Crow laws, meaning he had to sit in a segregated smaller classroom, work in a segregated private space of the library, and only eat in the cafeteria during designated times when white students weren't present. In 1950, two years later, his case was argued in front of the Supreme Court in George W. McLauren v. Oklahoma Board of Regents for Higher Education, where this segregation was proven unconstitutional. But as we all know, changing laws and changing hearts and minds are very different things.
We look forward to bringing Code Oakland to Oklahoma and having some of the candid conversations with audiences that TEACHED is all about. For screening details, go to: http://www.deadcenterfilm.org/
