Redevelopment of Norris University Center’s East Lawn to begin this summer
April 5, 2024
EVANSTON, Ill. --- In recognition of Black History Month, Northwestern University’s African American studies department and Organization of the NorthEast (ONE), a Chicago community organization, are presenting free and public film screenings of “The Interrupters” and of “The Black Power Mixtape” Feb. 16 and March 1, respectively. They will be followed by discussions.
“The Interrupters” follows three CeaseFire anti-violence workers who put themselves in harm’s way to defuse scenarios of intense volatility in some of Chicago’s most troubled neighborhoods. Directed by Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) and written by Alex Kotlowitz (“There Are No Children Here), the film will be shown at 6 p.m. at the Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave., Chicago. Doors open at 5 p.m. A panel discussion with representatives of Northwestern, CeaseFire, the United Church Rogers Park, Organization of the Northeast will follow.
The March 1 screening of “The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975” will take place at 6:15 p.m. at Alternatives, Inc., 4730 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. The film examines the evolution of the Black Power Movement in the black community and Diaspora from 1967 to 1975. It includes archival footage and footage of Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Eldridge Cleaver, Louis Farrakhan, Bobby Seale and residents of New York’s Harlem and Brooklyn and California’s Oakland.
“The series came out of a broader violence prevention initiative that ONE has been coordinating in Rogers Park and Uptown,” said Northwestern’s John Marquez, an assistant professor of African American studies and Latina and Latino studies who will moderate the after-film discussion. Marquez mentors youth of color through ONE and serves as an adviser of its anti-violence initiative. He has worked on neighborhood anti-violence efforts in Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Cory Muldoon of the Organization of the NorthEast, and J.W. Hughes, a Chicago north side Ceasefire worker, approached Marquez in the fall. “They suggested that people of color on Chicago’s north side often get overlooked by the media but also by scholars of racial inequality,” Marquez said. “We came up with the idea of a free, public film series to begin a dialogue between Northwestern community members, community organizers and north side residents.”
For further information about the screenings, call (773) 769-3232 or or e-mail jhughes@onechicago.org.
