February 12th – Brothers of the Black List

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September 4, 1992: A woman in upstate New York reports an attempted rape by a young black man who cut his hand during the altercation.

While looking for suspects, police contact officials at SUNY Oneonta, a nearby college, and a school administrator reacts by handing over a list of names and residences of 125 black male students. For the next several days, those students are tracked down and interrogated by various police departments under a presumption of guilty until proven innocent.

In Brothers of the Black List, director Sean Gallagher tracks this story of racism that became the longest litigated civil rights case in American history. The now grown students and their school counselor, Edward “Bo” Whaley, recount the disturbing events that the college and police department tried sweeping under the rug for many years thereafter. An emotional story of social justice, this unsettling documentary is also a cautionary tale of equal rights gone wrong that is relevant today more than ever.

THIS Month’s Event Co-Sponsored with the American Civil Liberty Union’s Racial Justice Program.

 

   

As always, FREE!  

The Program Starts at 6:30 & seating begins at 6:15 at the Ossining Library’s Magnificent Budarz Theatre .  

Following the Screening, join us for Conversation!  We’ve got a terrific trio together as Panelists:

SEAN GALLAGHER is a documentary filmmaker & editor.  ODDS is pleased to have screened two of his films; in addition to Brothers of the Black List, Sean directed Whispering Spirits.  He works as an in-house editor on the production staff at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY.

   In 2008, Sean was a recipient of the Merit for ‘Artistic Contribution to Social Justice‘    by the SUNY Oneonta Department of Africana & Latino Studies.   In 2011, Westchester Magazine chose him as one of “Westchester’s Wunderkinds“, professionals under the age of 30 noted for their ideas, ambitions and community involvement.  In 2014, Sean served as a co-organizer of TEDxSingSing, one of the first TEDx events to be held inside a maximum security prison.

Sean lives in Albany, NY with his wife and two dogs. He thinks it’s weird to write in the the third person.

 

KIRK ALLEN currently teaches at Nyack High School in Nyack, NY.

He is also one of the subjects of the incident at SUNY Oneonta that is explored in this documentary, directed by Sean Gallagher.

When Mr. Allen first saw Brothers of the Black List,he cried in the arms of the director.

He has since participated in several screening events, and is looking forward to meeting with the Greater Ossining community to share thoughts related to the events in Oneonta.

Kirk Allen considers himself an extremely fortunate person.

 

JILLIAN MCRAE has been at Ossining High School for fourteen years as an English teacher.

She has co-created and co-taught several college level courses during her tenure at OHS including:

SUNY: Classism, Racism, Sexism; The Black Experience through Literature & History; Concepts of Race & Culture in the Modern World; and Latinos in the U.S.

She has an undergraduate degree in English, Urban Education and Africana Studies from the University at Albany and a Masters in English Education from Teachers College.

She lives in New Rochelle with her greatest accomplishment in life, her daughter, Jalen.