http://inthesetimes.com/article/18873/bernie-sanders-arrest-1963-civil-rights-chicago
The footage
was taken from Kartemquin Film's '63 Boycott project, which
chronicles the Chicago Public School Boycott of 1963, and was filmed
by Kartemquin co-founder Jerry Temaner.
The protest on Chicago's
South Side took aim at racist education and housing policies being
carried out in Englewood—namely the proposed contruction of a new school
for black students made up of aluminum trailers known as “Willis
Wagons,” named after the Chicago Public Schools Superintendent
Benjamin Willis who first ordered them. These trailers were used by
the city to deal with overcrowding in black schools,
thereby preventing integration of black students into less-densely
populated white schools.
A Chicago Tribune report
from the time confirms that Sanders was in fact arrested at the action and
charged with resisting arrest.
Controversy recently sprung up
over the accuracy of photos of Bernie Sanders at civil rights actions in
Chicago during this period. Time magazine published a
story last November claiming that photos of Sanders distributed
by his campaign do not actually depict the Vermont senator, but rather show
fellow University of Chicago classmate and activist Bruce Rappaport. Since
publishing that story, the original photographer Danny Lyon has come forward maintaining
that his photos are indeed of Sanders.
This newly-released video
seems to confirm Sanders' active role engaging in civil disobedience in a
historic civil rights protest demanding equal treatment for black students in
Chicago schools. Sanders is currently working to galvanize
African-American support ahead of the Feb. 27 primary in South Carolina,
as well as primaries in other minority-heavy states on Super Tuesday.
He plans to meet
with civil rights leaders on Thursday morning and his campaign has recently
released ads hailing his
record on racial justice issues as well as his endorsement from Erica
Garner, Eric Garner's daughter.
Sanders has also received support
from other prominent African-American activists, thinkers and artists
including rapper Killer
Mike, former N.A.A.C.P. president Benjamin T. Jealous, Harry
Belafonte, Danny Glover, Cornel West and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.
If Sanders' campaign is
looking for a new way to prove the candidate's dedication to the movement
for civil rights and racial justice, this video may be just the proof it
needs.
Miles Kampf-Lassin, a graduate
of New York University's Gallatin School in Deliberative Democracy and
Globalization, is the Community Editor at In These Times.
miles@inthesetimes.com @MilesKLassin
