January 7, 2003

PRESCREENING OF "TWO TOWNS OF JASPER" – PART OF BOISE STATE’S HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK

A free preview screening of "Two Towns of Jasper," a film that focuses on the racial divide in Jasper, Texas, following the murder of James Byrd Jr., will be shown at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20, in the Student Union Special Events Center. Community activist Cherie Buckner-Webb and Les Bock, Executive Director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, will lead a follow-up discussion to explore local racial issues. This film is a part of the Martin Luther King Jr./Human Rights Week Celebration at Boise State.

Documentary producers Whitney Dow and Marco Williams are old friends. Growing up, they didn’t talk much about race. Then came one of the most appalling crimes in recent American history — the brutal murder of African American James Byrd Jr., who was chained to a pick-up truck and dragged to his death by three white supremacists in Jasper, Texas. Like many others, Dow, who is white, and Williams, who is black, were shocked. Unlike others, they decided to do something — they made a film.

Dow and Williams took to the streets of Jasper during the murderers’ trials to see what the town had to say. And they decided to do it with segregated crews: Williams filmed the black community and Dow filmed the white community. The resulting portrait in "Two Towns of Jasper" is an explicit accounting of the racial divide in America — a montage of contrasting realities that somehow inhabit the same place and time.

The filmmakers talked to 30 Jasper citizens — evenly divided between black and white — compiling 240 hours of video. What emerges first is not the picture of a racist southern town — Jasper has a black mayor and an integrated city council. The authorities moved vigorously to apprehend and prosecute the killers, anxious to show the world that Jasper was not racist. Many leading white and black citizens were similarly anxious to counter the infamy of the crime, pointing to the generally harmonious relations between races.

But "Two Towns of Jasper" reveals a more troubled and nuanced reality behind the demonstrations of racial unity. Beneath honest outrage lurks a legacy of mutual distrust between blacks and whites — and wildly differing accounts of race relations in the town.

Dow had this to say about the film: "‘Two Towns of Jasper’ is not so much about the murder of James Byrd Jr., as it is about two perspectives on the murder." He also adds, "The facts, after all, weren’t in doubt. It’s a question of how you explain those facts. Listening to the black and white communities of Jasper talk about the crime turned out to be a pretty startling revelation of the depth of the division that exists between black and white Americans."

The film ultimately invites intense and often provacative discussions about race in America, its history, its future and most importantly, how the question of race plays out in our daily lives.

"Two Towns of Jasper" was produced in association with the Independent Television Service with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It will air on Idaho Public Television Jan. 22 at 10 p.m. The following night Ted Koppel will host a town hall meeting. "America in Black and White: Jasper, Texas" will be broadcast at 9 p.m. Jan. 23 on Idaho Public Television. Produced by ABC News "Nightline" and POV/American Documentary, the meeting brings together members of the black and white communities of Jasper for the discussion.

Lynn Allen

Independent Television Service

345-4453

Michael Crump

MLK/Human Rights Committee Chairperson

426-1242

Pat Pyke

communications and marketing

426-1987

Patri Ann Thompson

communications and marketing

426-3196

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