“Sneak Peak” at New Film on Racial Reconciliation
On Sunday, June 24th, St. Mark’s was pleased to host a screening of Resurrecting Love: the Cemetery that could Heal a Nation.
Resurrecting Love is the independent narrative documentary film about race, reparations, and reconciliation told through the lens of a small East Texas mixed community near the Louisiana border. As part of the backlash to the civil rights movement, private landowners began denying descendants the right-of-way across their property to maintain their family graves.
Writer/Producer China Galland recalls, “The African American members of this community found themselves locked out of their nearly 200-year old ancestral burial ground named Love. Two of the Black community leaders asked me to join them in getting back into Love as I went back to East Texas regularly to visit cousins. That was 2003. Mrs. Nuthel Britton and Mrs. Doris Vittatoe had hit a wall and that wall was white people. So they asked a white person to join them and that was me. I was honored, terrified and liberated all at once. I got to name the discomfort of growing up white in America and Christian in Texas.”
Galland published a book about her experience in 2007, which sparked statewide debate and uncovered similar stories from many others. In 2009, the state legislature made it a crime for property owners to deny the public access to these historic cemeteries. But, sadly, the struggle continues.
PHOTO CREDITS: MARSHA MACKEY
“I was first approached by Teaneck resident, friend and former White House Correspondent Randall Pinkston, who asked me to co-host a screening of a new documentary film,” said parishioner Allison Davis. “The film chronicled the struggles of an East Texas African American community who had been denied access to an historic sacred ground. The co-producer, Alexis Yancey, was a mutual friend who previously was a producer for CBS News. Randall’s request coincided with the Juneteenth Pilgrimage, organized by the Diocese, that was to be hosted at St. Mark’s,” she continued. “I thought it was appropriate to continue the discussion of what was happening to these sacred grounds by asking St. Mark’s to host the screening of the film. We all were thrilled when Joan graciously allowed us to show the film at the church to members and guests.”
Ms. Yancey is an award-winning producer of a wide variety of media. Born in Mississippi, Mr. Pinkston covered New Jersey for WCBS-TV’s before moving on to become the network’s White House correspondent. He holds four Emmys and numerous other awards.
“Those in attendance provided constructive feedback which was relayed to the film’s producers,” said Davis. “The feedback and comments were thoughtful and helpful to the producers who continue to refine the documentary before submitting it to various film festivals.”
Familiar Story
The idea of people being unable to honor their deceased ancestors is sadly not a new one for us. As part of the Sacred Ground curriculum we learned that many of our indigenous children, separated from their families and sent to boarding schools for cultural “reprogramming” were buried in unmarked graves that are only now being discovered. Last weekend, as part of a Juneteenth pilgrimage, we explored three historic Black cemeteries in our area, only one of which has any markers left intact. And a congregation of our church on Long Island recently delved into rumors of a burial ground on land that it owned, and–with the help of an ancestor of one of those buried there–it has again become a place where the dead can be visited with respect.