University Screening in the Midwest
March 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a reader:
About 40 students watched excerpts from the upcoming film REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion: A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN at the Black Studies Department of a state university. BA Everywhere organizers had built widely for the screening on the campus during the previous week, working together with the Black Studies Department.
Half the students were from the university and half were from a local high school. Their teacher had attended the live Dialogue in New York and had really encouraged his students to come see the preview clips of the upcoming film of the Dialogue. It was significant that so many came, especially being an evening event. One high school student came with a parent and both were excited about what they saw of the film.
The high school teacher had been reading BA's work and didn't want to miss the chance to see BA live in November in NYC. He said about being at the Dialogue, and why he was on a mission to bring his students to see the film clips, that “It took me to another place, it filled out the strategy for how to get there. We don't have to accept the way things are.” He especially liked the part in the Dialogue where BA goes through “What If...” with examples of how things could be radically different—including if women could walk down the street and look every man in the eye without fear. He said, “BA is sometimes angry in the way he speaks. I am angry too. This is a way to get beyond our anger.” He was moved by the diverse audience at the live Dialogue in NYC.
The discussion with the students went on for almost two hours after watching the Dialogue film clips. Here are some of the questions that were wrestled with, with students going back and forth with each other:
Can you get rid of the system? Can you reform the system? Is the problem human beings and their mindset, or is it the system and government that keeps us down?
Revolution would mean some people would need to be ready to die. Why would someone do that? Would you follow a white leader, and is there a problem of making too much of a leader now, and after the revolution? What makes a leader worth following—is it what color they are, or whether what they are about is true? Why follow BA?
After most people left, some stayed and kept talking about God, religion and just how to determine what is objectively true or not.
Before people left many signed up for April 14th Stop Business as Usual Day and are looking forward to the March 28 launch of the “Revolution and Religion” film.
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