The March on Washington Film Festival, in partnership with the SNCC Legacy Project, invites you to a webinar: “Making Eyes on the Prize: Reframing the Civil Rights Movement” on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6 pm.  A screening of short clips from Eyes on the Prize will be followed by a conversation with those who helped shape that 14-hour series. The discussion will focus on how Eyes on the Prize helped change the narrative of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, more accurately reflecting its grass-roots foundation and highlighting the critical role of women and young people in ways that impact organizing today. Panelists: • Jon Else, Eyes on the Prize Series Producer & Cinematographer • Sam Pollard, Eyes on the Prize Producer • Judy Richardson, SNCC Veteran and Eyes on the Prize Series Associate Producer and Education Director Moderator: • Jessica A. Rucker, Washington, DC high school teacherEyes on the Prize, originally broadcast on PBS nationally in 1987 and 1990, is an Academy Award-nominated, multi-award-winning television series narrated by Julian Bond. Through contemporary interviews with those who actually lived the events and historical footage, the series covers major — but oftentimes little-known — events of the civil rights movement (1954-1968), including the call for Black Power, the Lowndes County (AL) Freedom Movement, the Detroit rebellions, the student take-over of Howard University, the community work of Black Panthers in Chicago, Boston busing, and the Attica prison rebellion.   The series reveals the impact of ordinary people working for a just world. March on Washington Film Festival A National Civil Rights and social justice organization that finds, encourages, and brings to life stories of both icons and foot soldiers from the Civil Rights Movement. We were founded in 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington March for Jobs and Freedom. In presenting a range of films, panel discussions, lectures, and performances each year, MOWFF fulfills a crucial historical role, connecting past and future generations of political and cultural activists in unprecedented ways. SNCC Legacy Project (SLP) The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) grew out of the 1960’s sit-in movement and was the only national civil rights organization begun and led primarily by young people.  SNCC workers committed themselves to full-time organizing, grounded in the bottom-up organizing principles of SNCC’s mentor, the legendary Ella Baker.   They were the primary movers behind the sit-ins, Mississippi Freedom Summer, the call for Black Power, and other movements for economic, political, and educational change.  The SLP was founded by SNCC veterans in 2010 to capture the history and legacy of SNCC’s work, including its collaboration with Duke University on a documentary website:  SNCCDigital.org.  SLP continues to work with today’s young organizers on many levels. SNCC’s 60th-anniversary convening has been re-scheduled for June 3-5, 2021 at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, DC. sncclegacyproject.org  REGISTER

Arlington Greens Call for Ending Marijuana Prosecution in Arlington Virginia

The Arlington Green Party in an open letter to the Arlington Commonwealth Attorney Theo Stamos have asked her to stop prosecuting people caught with small amounts of marijuana in Arlington. She has prosecuted over 300 individuals over the past few years for marijuana possession, most of them young black and Latino men. The life of a person convicted of a felony is often ruined–federal student loans and Pell grants are prohibited, and a criminal record makes finding a job very difficult.

Greens nationwide advocate decriminalizing marijuana. A recent opinion poll from the Pew Institute indicates that nearly two-thirds of Americans favor legalization of marijuana, with three-quarters of Millennials, two-thirds of Gen Xers, and a majority of Baby Boomers in favor. Arlington residents are of the same mind: they want an end to prosecuting possession of small amounts of personal marijuana. Marijuana has been legalized in many states and Washington, DC. The use of marijuana is purely a private act, and affects no one except the user.

Arlington police and prosecutors should concentrate on crimes of violence and significant felonies, and not waste our public dollars jailing and prosecuting mostly youth caught with a marijuana cigarette. It costs about a hundred dollars a day to jail someone, and then ties up court and prosecutor’s time to process a charge. The Arlington Commonwealth attorney should stop prosecuting, and ruining the lives of so many people caught with small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

Arlington Greens Sandra Hernandez and John Reeder attended the Dec. 13, 2014 rally and march against police violence against blacks at the Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Tens of thousands of people from all over the U.S., including from Ferguson, Missouri and New York City attended in a peaceful and organized fashion to demand that police killing and violence against people stop. The NAACP, ACLU, churches, unions and youth groups participated.