Community members are invited to participate in a community forum aimed to confront and understand our past related to hate and violence in the County so we can work together on the shared goal of building a more unified, cohesive community.
The forum is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 6:45 p.m. at the Silver Spring Civic Building located at One Veterans Plaza. “Remembering the Past to Protect the Future” will be hosted by Montgomery County’s Human Rights Commission, the Office of Human Rights, the Department of Police and the Committee Against Hate/Violence.
The program will include film screenings of “This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer,” a documentary by Robin Hamilton of ARound Robin Productions and “Burning: The Lynching of George Armwood,” a documentary by Will Schwarz.
Following the documentaries, Schwarz, a Baltimore-based filmmaker, video producer and founder of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, will provide a brief overview of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, Inc. In addition, local historian and The Menare Foundation, Inc. President Anthony Cohen will discuss lynchings that took place in the County. James Stowe, the director of Human Rights will give a brief overview of the County’s current Remembrance Lynching Activities. A Police Department representative will present the current status of county hate crimes.
Human Rights Commissioner and Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame member Terry Vann will moderate a panel discussion and a question and answer segment.
Stowe and Schwarz will be joined on the panel by Acting Police Chief Marcus Jones; Anthony Cohen; and Willie Pearl Mackie King, who transcribed Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham Jail.
More information about the event is available in the press release.
