Dear All:
As friends and colleagues of mine, I wanted to let you know about a great, inspiring upcoming documentary that will be aired on PBS the evening of Feb. 23 titled “A Class Apart.” Some of you may have received cross-postings already about this feature, and if so, then I’m very happy that the word is getting out. Some of you may have also seen the pre-screenings in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, NY, SF or DC. For those of you who have not heard of the film or seen it, please read on and share w/ your friends, familia and colleagues.
The film chronicles the U.S. Supreme Court case, Hernandez v. Texas, in which the Court held [unanimously] that Mexican Americans are a distinct class and entitled to protections as a group under the Fourteenth Amendment. But it is much more than just a film about the case and also includes details about the civil rights lawyers who argued the case before the Supreme Court (including the late Gus Garcia and Judge Carlos Cadena, among others) and the tough times Mexican Americans faced in the mid 1900s. The film was co-produced and co-directed by Carlos Sandoval and Peter Miller and is narrated by Edward James Olmos.
I had the pleasure of watching a run of the film before the final edits were made and I can tell you that I truly enjoyed the film from start to finish, and being a Latino civil rights lawyer in San Antonio had little to do w/ it.
I hope you will take the opportunity to enjoy the film and perhaps you can share w/ your friends and familia.
Links:
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE has launched its official A Class Apart page here; Active Voice has the A Class Apart, A Night Together toolkits online here; the filmmakers webpage is here; and we’ve also created an A Class Apart Facebook page, where we’re posting links to reviews and articles, notice about upcoming screenings, and so on.
Hasta luego,
David G. Hinojosa
Staff Attorney
MALDEF
MoPress 