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Danny Glover & Kathleen Cleaver on “Black Power Mixtape,” Rare Footage Capturing Movement’s Rise

Always interesting to hear elders reflect on the continuing evolution of our fight for real justice, and a healthier and more vibrant community. Every generation must find ways to respond to the evolving dynamics of racism in this society, but that process can never happen fully without understanding and building - to the extent possible, on the experiences of our elders and ancestors. Thus, the real value of the discussion below.

From yesterday's Democracy Now broadcast - Tuesday, May 6, 2014...

AMY GOODMAN: The relevance of the Black Panther movement, the black power movement in the United States to today, Kathleen Cleaver? You just had a session of hundreds of people last night at the New School. Why do you think it still reverberates?

KATHLEEN CLEAVER: It reverberates because it was about conditions. It’s not an ideological situation where you believe something, but about the social and political and economic conditions that black people were facing at the time and how to go about improving that. Civil rights were guaranteed under law, but that was not sufficient for our community that was so excluded and so oppressed. And so, it challenges directly racism on many different levels. If racism had been resolved, then maybe people wouldn’t be so interested in black power.

The full description of yesterday's discussion from Democracy Now...

Based on the film with the same name, the extraordinary new book "The Black Power Mixtape" chronicles the black freedom movement in the United States using found footage of top African-American leaders between 1967 and 1975. Shot by Swedish journalists and discovered in the basement of Swedish public television 30 years later, the film features some of the leading figures of the black power movement in the United States, including Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver. We discuss the project with two guests: renowned American actor, film director and political activist, Danny Glover, and Kathleen Cleaver, professor at Emory Law School, who is featured in the film during her stint as communications secretary of the Black Panther Party.

Parts 1 and 2 of the video are below. The transcript is also available here (for part 1) and here (for part 2).

Part 1: Approximately 12 minutes...

Part 2: Approximately 28 minutes...