Join Independent Lens, Texas PBS, Houston Public Media, KERA, and Black Public Media for a virtual Texas Town Hall Debate on the future of reparations in America, inspired by the new PBS film The Big Payback. Filmmakers Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow, along with film participant Robin Rue, Texas-based change-makers, and Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students will come together to address these controversial and pressing questions:
- Is restitution warranted, and on what basis?
- What forms might repayment take?
- Can disparate local standards lead to equitable national repair?
- What consequences might their implementation have for American race relations?
- Can monetary reparations resolve centuries of injustice that extend beyond economic condition?
The Conscious Lee will open the event and moderate a debate conducted by students representing HBCUs.
Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session with filmmakers, panelists, and student debaters through polls and the interactive chat. ASL interpreters will be present during the panel discussion and debate, and the film trailer will be closed captioned.
The event will feature:
- Erika Alexander, influencer, activist, actor, and co-director of The Big Payback
- Whitney Dow, co-director of The Big Payback
- Eddie Robinson (moderator), host of I SEE U on Houston Public Media
- The Conscious Lee (debate host), social media influencer, educator
- Robin Rue Simmons, featured in The Big Payback, founder and executive director of FirstRepair
- Jerry Hawkins, executive director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation
The Big Payback is part of Stories for Justice, a public media partnership made possible with the generous support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation and Park Foundation.
Event Partners:
- Black Public Media
- KERA
- Houston Public Media
- Texas PBS
ABOUT THE FILM
Rookie Alderwoman Robin Rue Simmons of Evanston, Illinois, led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill in U.S. history for Black Americans. What follows is grief and debate as she and her community struggle with the burden to make repair and restitution for its citizens, while a national racial and social crisis engulfs the country. Meanwhile, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee faces a 30-year battle to pass H.R. 40, a national bill to study reparations and make recommendations. Both women are met with racism and resistance, as well as help from allies and abolitionists within. Together, they pressure the government to deliver monetary justice and appropriate remedies for Black Americans harmed by centuries of chattel slavery, state-sponsored terrorism, systemic injustice, and corporate exploitation. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally get the big payback? The Big Payback is streaming now through April 16, 2023, on the PBS App.
ABOUT INDEPENDENT LENS
INDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series, airing on PBSMonday nights at 10:00 p.m. ET. The acclaimed series, with Lois Vossen as executive producer, features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers.Presented by ITVS, the series is funded by the Corporation for PublicBroadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from PBS, Action Family Giving, the John D. and CatherineT. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more visit pbs.org/independentlens. Join the conversation onTwitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @independentlens.