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Re: Shifting demographics - Racism lives on
Posted By: Tom Meyers In Response To: Re: Shifting demographics - Racism lives on (dave9x)
Date: Sunday, 13 February 2005, at 3:18 p.m.
From time to time over the past few years I have added my two cents in to this discussion. Not to be repetitive, BUT, despite arguments to the contrary, Fort Lee is experienceing a reawakening in terms of our own history. I am 44 and neither public or Catholic schools in the Borough in the 1960s and 1970s taught local history, whether that local history be of the American Revolution or film history of Fort Lee. Today we have active local history programs in the public schools, we have a vibrant Fort Lee Museum since 1999, we have a Borough that went all out to celebrate the centennial of Fort Lee in 2004, and we have a population of diversity that appreciates our common history. In fact, there is a diversity to our history that was unknown a generation ago. The pioneer African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux shot many of his groundbreaking films in Fort Lee between 1920 and 1948. Recently, filmmaker Tim Reid featured Micheaux and this Fort Lee connection on his American Legacy television program. As we enter into this new century I and others who are involved in cultural programming in this town remain confident that our culture will continue to blossom. Our respect for the past will be highlighted by programs such as the recreation of Washington's Retreat from Fort Lee each November. Our past and future will coincide in our attempt to bring some small scale movie production back to the Borough as well as bringing an independent cinema to the heart of Fort Lee. And finally, this Fall you will see people of Fort Lee leading an effort to make a high school student film festival a success and put Fort Lee on the map as a home for young filmmakers of every ethnic background - all these filmmakers will have one thing in common - they are all Americans.
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