All around us are memorials, streets and parks but what happens when we find out who those places are named for and it honors a dark side of history?
How we memorialize our past tells us so much about our present. This show explores that through two films that complement each other nicely. Change the Name is a short documentary that looks at a Chicago park that was named after a slave holder until a teacher and her students diligently worked to rename it. CJ Hunt’s unforgettable feature film, The Neutral Ground, examines the removal of statues in New Orleans that honored Confederate generals and other people who upheld the pernicious slave state that existed there long ago. Hunt is a comedian so he approaches this fraught material with humor but also bravery as he goes to talk to people who believe that the Confederate South was well-intentioned and misunderstood. It is tricky ground to walk and while the title has its point, which you will find in the film, Hunt is far from neutral and really working to explain to us how complicated history can be.
Films: The Neutral Ground, Change the Name
Speakers: CJ Hunt; Cai Thomas, Bianca Jones
Virtual •Oct 16 - 31
The Neutral Ground
The Neutral Ground documents the City of New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s troubled romance with the Lost Cause. In 2015, director CJ Hunt was filming the New Orleans City Council’s vote to remove four confederate monuments. But when that removal is halted by death threats, CJ sets out to understand why a losing army from 1865 still holds so much power in America.
Change the Name
Student activists and educators from Village Leadership Academy campaign to change the name of a park from a slaveholder to abolitionists Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood.
CJ Hunt (he/him)
Comedian, filmmaker and Columbia University alumnus CJ Hunt is currently the field producer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He has served as a staff writer for A&E's Black and White and a field producer for BET's The Rundown with Robin Thede. He is fascinated by race and comedy as an avenue to discuss topics many individuals don’t dare bring up. CJ began filming the removal of a confederate monument in 2015, which brought him to produce The Neutral Ground, a 2021 film that he will speak to, virtually, at our show Dismantling The Narrative.
Cai Thomas (she/her)
Cai Thomas is a documentary filmmaker who explores and shares stories about the intersection of location, self-determination, and identity about Black youth and elders. She grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and is deeply interested in stories rooted in place. Her most recent film Queenie about a Black lesbian elder premiered at NewFest winning the NY Short Grand Jury award. She is a NeXt Doc and Sisters in Cinema Fellow as well as a Mellon Arts Practitioner Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Cai will speak virtually at our show Dismantling The Narrative.
Bianca Jones (she/her)
Bianca Jones is an educator and organizer whose work centers around creating pedagogy that develops historical understanding, structural analysis, critical dialogue, perspective taking, and creative ingenuity to promote a love of intellectual growth, increased awareness, and community transformation. Bianca will speak virtually at our show Dismantling The Narrative.