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HOUSE-Fac-Guide.Pdf A Message from the Film’s Producer, Eugene Jarecki With Vision ... e senselessness and scope of the tragedy of drug abuse while inicting immeasurable By Faith ... in Newtown, CT demand that we as damage both on those targeted by drug rough Action Americans take a moral inventory of who laws and on the hopes and beliefs of those we are as a nation and what we want to be who enforce them. A Message from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference going forward. I’ve spent the last several years making a documentary about the But there was hope, too, because in so - e Social Justice Network - severity of America’s drug laws and their many people I met, I found great majesty– e United States represents 5% of the world’s population, yet holds 25% of the world’s incarcerated. For the past devastating impact on poor and minority the capacity to forgive, to search within several years, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has been engaged in implementing a national educational communities and the national soul- oneself, to seek a higher purpose and to awareness campaign on the impact of mass incarceration on our families, communities and this nation searching that Newtown demands is not look for a better way. I can report that the (www.tobefreeatlast.net). We have done so, along with many others in an interfaith and ecumenical manner. Two unrelated to a long overdue reexamination approach America has taken to our drug seminal works on this issue are: e New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle of the drug war and the brutality it has problem is increasingly seen as morally Alexander and Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon. unleashed on families, children and questionable and more destructive to communities across this country. society than the drugs ever were. e 2013 Martin L. King commemorative lm screening events of e House I Live In are due to the personal convictions and generosity of the producer, Eugene Jarecki. e lm won the 2012 Sundance Film Award and is now Unfortunately, both of these areas of ere is a growing movement of people in the running for an Academy Award. To honor the legacy of Dr. King, Mr. Jarecki and the other producers are concern are underscored by a common of good will, including many youth, all over making it available without cost to all communities of faith and high schools. e Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference moral quandary: how did a nation founded this nation who are inspiring America to is privileged to collaborate work with Mr. Jarecki and Charlotte Street Films to bring attention to these pressing issues. in enlightenment principles of decency, reconsider the moral priorities of the drug human dignity and kindness become a war and, more broadly, to lead the way down For many, the presence and consequences of the failed War on Drugs and mass incarceration in America reveals the staging ground for so much that is brutal, a path towards a more compassionate and real soul of this nation and is the unnished business of the civil rights movement. In many ways, the entangled web insensitive and demonstrative of man’s decent society. of policies and practices which led up to the Newtown, CT slaughter is linked to the failed War on Drugs and the way inhumanity to man. this nation glamorizes violence, marginalizes people of color, those with mental illness and the poor. I, along with Dr. Iva Carruthers and the e title of my lm, “e House I Live In,” Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, are By these events, we hope to help change the pulse of the nation, its moral center and ber, by informing our audiences is borrowed from a 1940s ballad that delighted to honor the legacy and life of of what is happening under our collective watch. famously asks “What is America to Me?” the Rev. Dr. Martin L. King, by sponsoring As I traveled to more than 25 states screenings of e House I Live In all over documenting the lives of those touched by the nation. It gives me great personal “In Germany, the Nazis rst came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then the drug war– from the dealer to the pride and hope that we will launch these they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and grieving mother, the narcotics ocer to the screenings for the faith community I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because congressman, the inmate to the federal and high schools across the nation at I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.” judge– I grappled with how the world’s the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in - Reverend Martin Niemoeller beacon of freedom became its leading Atlanta on January 12th and culminating at jailer, with 2.3 million people behind bars, Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, more than 500,000 for nonviolent drug D.C., on January 19th during the week- We thank you for your participation in these commemorative events of the legacy, man and mission of Rev. Dr. oenses. end celebration of the inauguration of Martin Luther King. is is a Kairos moment – a moment of national opportunity. Spread the word! President Barack H. Obama. Taken together, the testimony of those Dr. Iva E. Carruthers, General Secretary I met lled me with both pain and hope. Eugene Jarecki, Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference Pain because the war on drugs producer “e House I Live In,” January 12, 2013 has proven to be an unmitigated disaster, “Freakonomics” and “Why We Fight.” failing in every way to address the scourge January 12, 2013 Visit: www.sdpconference.info / www.tobefreeatlast.net / email: [email protected] f 1 Rev. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we become “Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness silent about the things that matter.” in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.” • Short prefatory statements for the four focus areas “In Germany, the Nazis rst came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a • Actual verbatim from the film’s trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that script as examples to which you “It is said that no one truly knows a time there was no one left to speak for me.” - Rev. Martin Niemoeller can refer nation until one has been inside its jails. • References for additional sources A nation should not be judged by how it I. How Are You Feeling? (Psycho-Emotional) (It is suggested that participants form small group clusters and begin the following excercise using a post-it note.) • Several fact sheets / FAQs from treats its highest citizens, but its lowest several partners as an addenum ones.” - President Nelson Mandela We know that any documentary lm that has earned the Sundance Film of the Year Award and is nominated for an Academy Award must have portrayed a powerful message to which the audience has an emotional and mental connection. We will begin by rst We hope you have someone designated to discussing our most basic reactions as humans: how do you feel? take notes on the types of questions and Let’s start with a simple metaphor elicitation exercise by sharing our emotional responses to the lm. Several questions to be discussed issues that the participants raised. We follow this initial exercise. welcome all the feedback you care to share • Write down 1 – 3 words only on how you FEEL. about your event, any next steps and how we might support your eorts. Please • Identify an object (or draw an image) that expresses your EMOTION. Briefly share why you chose that word(s) and object. “There can be no keener revelation of a encourage your participants to go to our society's soul than the way in which it • Who or what could you most identify or empathize with in the film? websites and register so we might treats its children.” • Who or what were you most unable to connect to? continue to share information with them. - President Nelson Mandela ey are provided on the participant Rev. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.: handout and your guide. “A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies… True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. We know, many events will have invited Verbatim from It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” The House I Live In: program guests as a post-screening panel. We trust our collective eorts will greatly “Do you know what it’s like going home at (Sociological) II. What Are You Thinking About The System? contribute to this nation’s 2013 Martin night knowing that you did a personal Luther King Commemorative programs. injustice? I did an injustice to Maurice.” e House I Live In shows how the prisons have become crisis sites of relocation, as opposed to rehabilitation, for too many people - Judge Mark Bennett who suer the eects of poverty and reduced opportunities or who are victims of addiction and mental illness.
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