Brick-by-Brick.com

The Ethical Culture Society of Westchester will be showing Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story (2007) as part of its First Friday Film series.

Brick By Brick is a one-hour made-for-television documentary about a contemporary American battle for civil rights. It follows three families in Yonkers, New York, in the middle of a confrontation about the politics and law of racial discrimination in housing and schools that challenges and changes their hometown.

The film describes how a ghetto was created through public policies.

The film initially paints a picture of isolation for many people of color in the city, most of whom are living in segregated neighborhoods served by failing schools.  The primary storytellers are local people from different backgrounds, who relate their personal encounters with housing and educational discrimination, as well as others who experience very different opportunities across town.

Brick by Brick tracks the resulting federal US v. Yonkers litigation, which challenged neighborhood and educational discrimination. Coming back out of the courtroom into the community, the story describes the bitter local confrontation about race and the very concept of community that follows.

Following the film, Bart Worden of the Ethical Culture Society will give a brief presentation to bring the story up to the present and explain the lasting impact of the forces depicted in the film.  There will be discussion about our choices as residents and citizens for opening up Westchester County to more rational and equitable housing policies.

For more info about the film, go to Brick-by-Brick.com

Light refreshments will be provided. Suggested donation is $10.

The film and presentation will take place at the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester,
7 Saxon Wood Road, White Plains, NY on May 6th at 7:30 pm.