Stirring Documentary Highlights Black Lives Matter Day at Eagle Rock
Here we are at the start of May, preparing for our 81st trimester at Eagle Rock, and COVID-19 has our community operating in a virtual world that’s powered by Internet-based technologies. As we look back on last trimester — seemingly a lifetime since we were on campus together — we want to highlight one day in particular. That important day was Feb. 22 during Black History Month. Coordinated by Nia Dawson and her team of Student Services Program staffers, our own Black Lives Matter (BLM) Day was truly a success.
Among the highlights of this year’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) Day, held on campus at Eagle Rock School in mid-February, was a screening of the award-winning documentary film “Agents of Change,” featuring Danny Glover.
This marks the third consecutive year that Eagle Rock has commemorated BLM Day, and this year’s theme was “Say It Loud!” The objective for the day was for students to be in action around an issue that matters to them, and to get things rolling, students and staff viewed the 66-minute documentary that was co-produced and directed by Abby Ginsberg and Frank R. Dawson.
In addition to Glover, the film features Ramona Tascoe, Harry Edwards, and Juanita Tamayo Lott. “Agents of Change” documents how students changed the curriculum of American universities in the late 1960s by being in action — through protest. The film received Best Documentary honors during Pan African Film Festival 2016.
“Agents of Change” examines racial conditions on college campuses and throughout the country that led to the protests in the 1960s. The film’s subjects find themselves caught at the crossroads of the civil rights, black power, and anti-Vietnam war movements during a pivotal time in America’s history. Co-producer / co-director Dawson is the Interim Dean of Career Education at the Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design and a former chair of that college’s Communication and Media Studies Department. He also happens to be Continue reading…