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  Bus Riders Union

  Studs Terkel

  Documentary about an activist group called the Bus Riders Union. Their focus is on improving the public transportation system in Los Angeles. The bus system there is in a sorry state. Busses are overcrowded. A rider will routinely see three busses pass her by, completely full, before being able to board. Handicapped riders find that the lift system on most busses is broken. Many riders need to take three or more busses to arrive at their destinations, and late night service on some routes is discontinued without any notice. On top of this, the MTA was planning a massive fare increase and focusing their energy on subways and trains that are costly and benefit mainly upper class white people. The B.R.U. views this struggle over Los Angeles busses as the new civil rights battle. The bus system is utilized almost exclusively by minorities and low income residents. Since the busses are so unreliable, workers are not able to predictably arrive on time and therefore have trouble holding jobs. This means that an already disadvantaged segment of the population is being further held back. Kikanza Ramsey, B.R.U. organizer, describes her organization as “an experiment to see if we can create a multi-racial, bi-lingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people.” The tape follows the legal struggles of the group throughout the 90’s as they battle with the city and the MTA for service improvements.

• This Is My World

  Uncategorized

  0:00 Bars and tone, slate, black.

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  [Skip Blumberg raw tape for The 90’s]

  Black, Communities, Skip Blumberg, THE 90's

  Interview with Reverend Calvin O. Butts about his campaign to remove cigarrette advertisments from low-income minority communities.

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  The Bill Veeck Show: Sex And The College Student

  Bill Veeck

  Host Bill Veeck and his guests discuss the issue of sex on college campuses. Dr. Alfred Flarsheim had recently published a book called “Sex and the College Student,” so his research was used as a guide. The other two guests, Andrea Tyree and Frank Wallace, were described as consultants. The panel’s feeling is that at that point in history, sexual morality was shifting, due in large part to the widespread availability of birth control methods. The guests describe sexuality as switching from being bounded by public morality to a private morality. The feeling is that since pregnancy is no longer a concern, the moral issue for couples is now whether sex is the “right” thing to do in the context of their relationship. The discussion moves between topics, but generally focuses on whether/how to enforce moral norms onto sexuality.

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  [Jane Byrne’s Easter at Cabrini, Weinberg / Finerty edit]

  Black, Chicago, Chicago Politics, CLIR, Communities, Guerrilla Television, Politics, Tom Weinberg, Viewers Choice, Voices of Cabrini

  Tom Weinberg and Tom Finerty’s edit of Jane Byrne’s Easter Celebration at Cabrini Green. Shot for “Ambassadors of Cabrini.” Footage of an Easter celebration held by Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne at Cabrini Green, where she was temporarily living at the time. The tape begins with Byrne trying to lead the crowd in religious songs. However, after a short period of footage of Byrne’s official program, the camera turns to a large group of protesters (presumably Cabrini Green residents) who are angry at Byrne for her policies towards African-Americans, shouting, “We need jobs, not eggs!” In a widely publicized PR stunt, Byrne had briefly taken up residence in Cabrini Green, the notorious housing project. The protesters are almost immediately beaten by the police and taken to jail. The remainder of the tape is the crew’s attempt to understand what happened and locate the jailed demonstrators.

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  [Addie Green – Tom talks to kids – Wildlife Way Station – Prisoner TV show]

  GDDF, NHPRC-2, Patrick Creadon, THE 90's

  Raw footage for the award-winning series, The 90’s. Addie Green talks about her passion for food and eating right and creating a respectable restaurant in Washington, DC, that celebrates natural foods and healthy cooking. Tom Weinberg interviews young kids about their perspective on getting old. Followed by a brief segment with Martina Colette’s Wildlife Way Station in Angeles National Forest, California, a shelter for abandoned exotic animals. Last, there is a segment about Jeff Town, which has a tv production program for inmates.

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  [The 90’s raw: Norval Morris]

  Chicago, THE 90's

  Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90’s. Interview with Norval Morris (1923-2004), University of Chicago law professor and advocate for criminal justice. He describes the iniquities in the American criminal justice system.

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  L.A. Riots

  American Way, Andrew Jones, Black, Communities, Latinx, Viewers Choice

  Andrew Jones goes to Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots of 1992. He speaks with many people about the racial issues that sparked this uprising–the feeling that blacks and Latinos had been systematically discriminated against in their own neighborhoods for years. The main complaint is that stores in their neighborhoods were owned by whites and Koreans and they were overcharged for all services and products. Much of the tension appears to be between the blacks/Latinos and the Korean shop owners. Another interesting feature of the tape is the discussion of the differing motives between rioters and looters and between the actions in different parts of the city. For example, in some areas, only specific businesses, those that were seen as longtime oppressors, were targeted. A man shows footage from his camcorder of the looting, and notes that all of the looters were white, and all were smiling. Clearly, the situation in Los Angeles was far from simple. This tape is a fascinating glimpse into the psychology of the time period.