Final Thoughts on 10 Years of A Message to the Grassroots

An episode of Message to the Grassroots, a cable access talk show produced & hosted by Michael Zinzun from 1988-1998 at Pasadena Community Access Corporation, which is now Pasadena Media < //www.pasadenamedia.org>. This is the final program.

Note: Field footage of police violence is highly graphic and some may find it disturbing.

00:01Copy video clip URL Opening credits

00:30Copy video clip URL Final show of the Message to the Grassroots after ten years. Compilation of Zinzun introducing guests that have been on his show. Cut to Zinzun speaking about problems in L.A. communities. Clips of protests after the police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted. Clip from Message to the Grassroots about the murder of Michael Bryant and the beating of another man. Clips from Message to the Grassroots about racism and violence within the LAPD. News report on police house raids. Graphic footage of police violence. Clips about police abuse towards women.

14:40Copy video clip URL Cut back to studio. Nancy Buchanan speaks about how important she feels Message to the Grassroots has been. Bilal Ali expresses how important the program has been at providing alternative news voices. Others thank Zinzun briefly and they introduce the show’s topic of police brutality. 

21:52Copy video clip URL Clip of Nancy Reagan discussing the drug problem among young people. Clip about the Iran-Contra affair. Clips about government involvement in drug trafficking.

28:22Copy video clip URL Return to the show. A school teacher talks about how cocaine has criminalized children. Another man talks about how cocaine “destroyed the black family.”

31:00Copy video clip URL Clip about a Message to the Grassroots program that raised money for sick children. Return to the program. They take a phone call about police accountability for violence.

37:38Copy video clip URL Clip about homelessness and poverty. Return to the show; Perry Crouch speaks about homelessness. 

43:25Copy video clip URL Clip about a group of black trapeze artists. Clip about the influence of rap music. Clip about poetry as political expression. 

57:53Copy video clip URL Return to the show. Guests, including Bilal Ali, Mabie Settlage, speak about criminalization of youth, bias, pessimism within communities, and each person doing their part for a community.

1:05:04Copy video clip URL Roll-in clip about Haiti and political struggles there. Back on the show briefly, Meta McCullough speaks about gang truces. Another roll-in clip about Paul Robeson and his influence.

1:12:25Copy video clip URL Brief return to the show for Zinzun to introduce the next roll-in. Clip of Zinzun hosts a community panel for young people in the community to express their experiences. Another clip about black history, human rights for minorities, and Malcolm X. Graphic pictures of lynchings.

1:20:20Copy video clip URL Clip of Message to the Grassroots, guest hosted by Nancy Buchanan, about Vietnam and its relationship with the US. Clip of Michael Zinzun talking about the Vietnam War. Back on the show, Zinzun thanks Nancy Buchanan for her help throughout the show.

1:25:20Copy video clip URL Clips about Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt.

1:33:00Copy video clip URL Zinzun thanks The Lumpins, former members of the Black Panther Party, for the song that opens their show. Clip about the Million Man March. Back on the show, guests speak about their experience there.

1:40:59Copy video clip URL Clip about ebonics. Clip about bridging the Black-Chicano gap through art.

1:47:43Copy video clip URL Return to the show. Guests give their final thoughts. Zinzun thanks various people for their work on the show.

1:54:28Copy video clip URL Credits

1:55:32Copy video clip URL Tape ends.