Balancing the Scales: Examining the Need for a Moratorium on Executions in Texas

Produced by the Texas Moratorium Network, this 2002 documentary provides a careful examination of the death penalty process in Texas and examines the questions: Do defendants receive effective counsel? What role has police and prosecutorial misconduct played in capital murder cases? Does it make sense to execute people with mental disabilities or juvenile offenders?

"Balancing the Scales" includes commentary and interviews with exonerated death row prisoners, the mother of a murder victim, a professor of criminal justice, a former judge and district attorney, a Texas state representative and parents of prisoners executed by the state of Texas. 1 hr. Download here.

Reel Bad Arabs, How Hollywood Vilifies a People

This film takes a look at the history of image of Arabs in Hollywood films. Author Jack Shaheen makes a compelling case that Hollywood projects Arab stereotypes that would be considered totally unacceptable for any other ethnic group. This reflects a racism with deep political and cultural roots. 50 mins. Source page here.

Incident at Oglala- The Leonard Peltier Story

Because Leonard Peltier is currently up for parole, I am posting the 1992 film about the situation that led to his life sentence. The government sponsored terrorism at the Pine Ridge reservation remains shocking, even 40 years later. Another hidden chapter of American history. 89 mins. Source page here.

Tim Wise on White Privilege

What does it mean to be white in America? Tim Wise author of "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son", Wise speaks about how white privlege is often invisible to those who benefit from it. From historic segragation to modern social "norms" we are all a product of a system of privilege that is often ignored, even by liberals. He describes how racial privilege operates in a class system, so that poor whites still have an advantage over poor people of color, and how passive language allows us to think of privilege as a condition that occurs without intent. He concludes by describing how white privilege is destructive of white people by instiling a sense of entitlement that stunts the ability to cope with adversity and leads to various pathologies of control. 1 hr.

COINTELPRO – The FBI's War On Black America

This documentary looks at the secret Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), initiated by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, which aimed to neutralize black political figures and groups of the late 1960's and early 1970's. This was a systematic effort to prevent the mobilization of the African-American community into a strong political force. Combining declassified documents, interviews, rare footage and exhaustive research, this film investigates the government's role in the assassinations of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King Jr. Were these murders the result of this program?
To download this video: click here to go to the source video page, and click on the line “Download video - iPod/PSP” to the left of the video window. Save the file and play in full screen mode. For tips on viewing this video on your TV, see our section on “A way to see web video on TV”. Let me know how it works for you.

UNREPENTANT: KEVIN ANNETT AND CANADA'S GENOCIDE

This documentary reveals Canada's darkest secret - the deliberate extermination of Native Americans and the theft of their land, under the guise of religion. This never before told history as seen through the eyes of this former minister (Kevin Annett) who blew the whistle on his own church, after he learned of thousands of murders in its Indian Residential Schools. This is the blood-chilling story of the campaign of kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder waged against the native peoples of western Canada that continued up until the 1970’s. Learn more at http://hiddenfromhistory.org/