Allyship and Film Series: Two American Families

Event Details

The Allyship and Film Series project is a partnership between YWCA Northeast Indiana’s Racial Justice program and the Fort Wayne Cinema Center. The goal of the film and discussion series is to create space for viewers to develop empathy and understanding of diverse cultures, model ways for viewers to practice allyship for other communities, promote the voices and stories of marginalized groups (including local stories) and educate viewers through specialized scholar facilitation and thought-provoking community discussion.

This month’s film is Two American Families, produced by journalist Bill Moyers for PBS’s Frontline. Since 1992, Moyers has been following the story of two ordinary, hard-working families in Milwaukee—one black, one white—as they battle to keep from sliding into poverty. A remarkable portrait of perseverance, Two American Families raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the U.S. economy and the fate of a declining middle class. (Note: The original documentary was released in 2013, but the Cinema Center is in conversations with Frontline to inquire about potential updated/new content to share.)

The post-film discussion will explore poverty as something that is not “other” but as something that exists in all communities. It can be easy to objectify people in poverty, but allyship to people living in poverty is treating them as human beings and understanding that poverty is caused by many things and not only the direct result of someone’s actions. A goal of the discussion will be to help viewers identify how easy it can be to enter poverty and how hard it is to exit.

All programming takes place at the Fort Wayne Cinema Center, located in downtown Fort Wayne. The Cinema Center is easily accessible via local bus routes and also has a parking lot across the street. Films will be shown in the Spectator Lounge, which is a secondary theater that is easily accessible from the entrance of the building and includes the box office.

For more information, visit YWCA Northeast Indiana’s website, email ckilgore@ywcaerw.org or call 260.424.4908.

This program received support from an Indiana Humanities Action Grant.