Another project still in progress is to finally edit and complete a series of video films tentatively titled SAVING PEOPLE'S PARK. Towards this end Claire Burch has already shot many hundreds of hours and also completed a history of this Berkeley park which is famous throughout the world as intimately connected to the Free Speech Movement of the 60s. Recently she transferred film footage of the park's beginnings, including the riots of Bloody Thursday of l969 when the then governor of California, Ronald Reagan called out the National Guard in an attempt to halt the people's takeover of UC property.
She had also begun to order and catalogue her fourteen hundred hours of footage which include park events, concerts,demonstrations. Living a few blocks away, her camera has recorded life at People's Park on a weekly basis since l978. Music, fights,sickness and fun fill almost every hour.
A long record of what has happened to people discharged from psychiatric units with no place to go, exists as a running theme on these historically relevant tapes which trace the lives of and in some cases, the death of a subculture of park dwellers. The footage has already been catalogued as to date and event, also naming individuals from the group of "park people" she has been following in depth for many years. In addition, we have archived copies of much of the Copwatch footage of the past years.
In editing down this enormous amount of footage of the park and issues surrounding the park, our method will not necessarily be chronological. Starting with the present, as each person remembers incidents of the past, the film will leap back in time, attempting to document those individual memories. Collaged against the Mario Savio Free Speech issue which always surrounded the park, will be the lives, dilemmas, and strivings of that long term Berkeley subculture, the people who spend their days and nights until the police chase them, in People's Park.
Therefore SAVING PEOPLE'S PARK will follow the daily lives of a small group, interspersing this footage with scenes from the park's stormy past.
We plan to also include the stories of a few People's Park "martyrs" such as James Rector, killed by National Guardsmen on Bloody Thursday, Alan Blanchard blinded by their bullets the same day, Rosebud Denovo, a young homeless girl shot to death by a cop in l992, and park memorials for Bob Sparks, Jonathan Montagu, Yume, John Michael, Blue, and others.
The film series, SAVING PEOPLE'S PARK, will trace the history of this small plot of land and of the street survivors who occupy it, up to the present, which includes the recent suicide of Blue, a long time park resident.It will take another close look at some of the lives this longitudinal study has followed.
They include One legged Danny, the Infamous Bones, BN Duncan, Ace Backwards, Loose Bruce, St Paul, Louie, the Naked People of Berkeley, Julia the Bubble Lady, and others. Possible narrators might be Michael Rossman, the historian, filmaker Jonathan Jerrold who was there at the beginning, , and the people who still make their daily home in the park. Part of the documentary will also include a history of Food Not Bombs, Homes not Jails, and the county Needle Exchange program, all associated with still unresolved issues surrounding this famous piece of land. Our present proposal uses only Claire Burch footage but if further funding is available we hope to to also license other film taken at the park because of the Free Speech issues still involved.
MORE RUNAWAYS
More Runaways is a film in progress which follows the daily lives of a few young kids living in squats.
Some of them have been discharged from psychiatric units with no place to go.
It archives a time span in the life of a group of "at risk" kids, many of them from neglected or abusive home situations, foster care or group homes, who exist on the edge; Our video film presents their lives in abandoned and condemned broken-down houses. Most of the kids are homeless again after being evicted. Our piece describes their past, their present and their dreams of future. They speak of everything from impossible family situations, loneliness in this world, to politics, love and happiness. It tells the story from their viewpoint and some of the material was shot by them as part of our mentor training program of the last three years.
Art and Education Media, a non-profit organization, had donated space, video and editing assistance, computer use and other in-kind help. Claire Burch who acted as mentor, had been teaching them video and camera skills.
Runaways and Street Survivors takes a close look at the lives and hopes of a group of young runaways living in squats. The piece breaks stereotypes of "youth at risk". Shadow, Jailbait and Lucky are idealistic, acting out their theories of urban communes. Lilly and Homeboy are classic anarchists. Moongirl and Starr see the world as having trashed them so they'll trash it back.
We are still deeply involved with the feelings and issues of people who live on the street and are committed to continuing to document the paradoxes of their days. Our goal is to let people know why so many kids are killing other kids and grownups, and by suspending judgment , encourage a dialogue between these rebels with and without cause, and the world they live in. The faster this video is presented via broadcasts and screenings, the sooner this dialogue can begin and the violence can end.
The video and writing project helped raise their self-esteem, giving them credibility and helping them relate better to the community. It gave them the chance to be heard, since many runaways living in squats, or on the streets feel lost in the cracks of the system.
Because of the enormous group of homeless people in the United States (numerically far more than even during the Depression of the 20's), the issue of squatting in abandoned or unused buildings, is a vital one. This film, incorporating direct talk from kids at risk, (most of them have been without a legal address for years now), presents the true stories of squatters who cannot be lumped under one category and dismissed. Some of their histories are touching and heartwarming, others exist as our window to the minds of kids whose thoughts and actions border on murder. Some are gentle and rational, others suicidal and in some cases homicidal, violent and unpredictable.
Runaways and Street Survivors breaks the stereotypes that society attaches to homeless people generally. Some of the squatters are idealistic, acting out their theory of good utopian communes by putting intense "sweat equity" into improving the vacant buildings where they are living.
Others experience that the world at large has been usually cruel to them and they intend to pay the power structure back in kind by trashing and even destroying the places where they crash. For this reason their stories run the gamut from heartbreaking and compassionate to the painful reminders that not everyone is "nice". A few, possibly those abused as children and young teenagers, are so enraged that their main effort goes into beating the system by any means possible.
A substantial group has had brushes with the law for trespassing on vacant property and other reasons. Some had been in psychiatric units only to be discharged with no place to go. Others have adopted this lifestyle as a philosophical position, defining their choice as meaningful and appropriate given the givens of housing in America today. Their stories are alternately funny, tragic, upsetting and poignant. Trust Me tells of having to work at a sex club to support her baby after welfare cuts. Shadow describes his philosophy and politically sophisticated lifestyle, Homegirl recounts her years in an abandoned building with a group of other runaways. Their stories are all different, as are their agendas.
In addition to the exciting individual stories which come across as raw, gutsy and honest, we've added a kind of overview at the end. This is possible because of our artistic director's long term deep and enduring friendship with those being documented. She has connected closely with street survivors for many years, archiving their lives, the happy moments and triumphs as well as frequent personal troubles including time in jail, group homes and Juvenile Hall. Many are on probation or parole, others are simply rebels in a society with goals they despise.
The piece includes assorted self descriptions of today's youth, often clothed in punk grunge gear, resplendent in leather, chains, sporting tattoos like entry tickets, with multi body piercings and Mohawks, shaven heads or dyed hair, and other signs of the current youth sub-culture. Rock and thrash music figures prominently in their lives, creating an additional youth audience.
HOW AND WHEN PROGRESS WILL BE MEASURED BY THE COMMUNITY
We see as a potential audience, young people thinking about being runaways and living in squats, plus the grownups they run away from. Our consultants became involved with the material in order to explore possible solutions to the problems of mentally crisised young people living on the streets or in squats.
Since the piece is now finished we will be doing free screenings of and giving talks at organizations in the Bay Area that work with the homeless and those labeled mentally ill.
As a part of screenings and exhibitions, we arrange regular discussions in the community to help others understand what "at risk" youth feel and see, and therefore help the community to better assist them.
A local cable station, Channel 25, which runs three hours of our programming each week, will air this one regularly. We are hoping that the completed project will give others in the community some real understanding of the life and difficulties these kids face, as well as the talents many have. Our plan is to furnish copies free to social services agencies and send one for broadcast to the Free Speech Channel in Boulder Colorado which has already run some of our videos. They broadcast to a group of over two hundred cable stations, reaching a combined subscription of nearly six million.
We have also been encouraged by Focus multimedia in Chicago which is already distributing several of our videos for social change. The Moffitt Library of U.C. Berkeley has purchased a large group of our videos and the Berkeley Public Library also. Any funds received for sale of our videos, goes back into our organization.
The documentary will also help those involved in a position to get jobs, or go back to school. Some received training in video and writing skills. Hopefully this will get them past bare survival living so they do not have to return to the streets.
The look of this piece is similar to our previous work in that it is mostly cinema verite, with frequent collaged images that suggest the state of mind of the person being documented. This is sometimes surreal, and can include meaningful superimpositions and a series of stills. We try to avoid standard "effects" but spend much time after a shoot working with images that describe the essence of the subject in a wordless freeze or series of freezes. A lot of the material catches action on the street.
These are voices that need to be heard. The film will appeal to youth sub-cultures and everyone who wants to understand youth sub-cultures today. Young urban squatters and Street Survivors are doing and saying things that can affect the future of this country. Their stories need to be checked out, for better communication as well as their sometimes amazing content.
The James Baldwin Anthology
In the years that I lived in New York (I moved to Berkeley in 1978), my visual work was recognized by several galleries, well reviewed by Hilton Kramer and Peter Schjeldahl of the New York Times, reproduced in the New York Times Book Review section, and some still hang in assorted museums such as The Brooklyn Museum,Chicago Art Institute, Guild Hall, East Hampton,Columbus Museum and others. An encouraging mentor was Ivan Karp, then Director of the Leo Castelli Gallery.
My website, www.claireburch.com, shows part of a group of watercolor collages which I did as a memorial to writer James Baldwin, a close friend since our adolescence, though much of his life was spent as an expatriate because of his early treatment as an African American here. The series celebrates Jimmy's visit to Berkeley and Oakland in April of 1979 where he served briefly as a Regents Visiting Professor at UC and spoke to young people at Martin Luther King Junior High and other schools. After Jimmy's death in 1986 I was moved to work from a photo I had taken of him at age 18. First I did a series of large watercolors.
I had completed twenty-two of these large watercolors as my memorial when Jimmy came to me in a dream and said "Put the watercolors on my forehead." I said, logically, "But the photo of you is small and the watercolors are large". His answer, given with his usual enigmatic smile, was "You'll find a way". A few days later I took snapshots of the large watercolors and began placing them on his forehead, on a series of xerox copies I made of the original photo. A exhibition and memorial would include a few of the large watercolors and the collages on his face that resulted from Jimmy's dream instruction to me. Also included in an installation might also be the documentary film I made of his Berkeley, Oakland speech, and the enormous amount of memorabilia gathered with the assistance of Prof. Erskine Peters, at that time Chairman of the Afro-American Dept at UC Berkeley, who, sadly, died last year. I would experince this as a memorial to Erskine also.
Purchase of any part of this collection will be used for furthering the James Baldwin Film Anthology. Towards this end we have the cooperation of consultants, Professor Beverley Robinson of UCLA, David Leeming, author of the Scribner biography of Mr. Baldwin, and others. We are a public educational non-profit, and therefore tax-deductible.
A. Audience
The impact of this documentary when completed, will be measured first by the response we receive when broadcast as part of Art and Education's weekly series on Berkeley, CA cable station channel 25. We will use several methods of publicity, to attract the largest possible audience for our screenings and broadcasts. It will be submitted to the Learning Channel and the Free Speech Channel in Boulder with its subscription network of 200 cable station adding up to viewers of nearly six million. Previously, we have had three of our films broadcast in series on the Free Speech Channel. Those titles are:
People's Park of Berkeley: Then and Now
What Really Killed Rosebud?
We will have several free screenings during the year where we can test reactions to the material. Our screenings and broadcasts will be publicized on various community bulletin boards. We plan to submit notices to California newspapers plus university and college calendars.
We will also utilize our world wide web site:
[http://www.claireburch.com] and contact local school districts with packets of information about our free events. Another important forum for this documentary will be social service agencies and art and literature organizations that provide free services to the public.
B. Personnel
At the present time our staff consists of a small group of individuals, volunteers and by contract, with assorted skills:
Artistic Director: Claire Burch, cinematographer, director
Computer Research: John Delmos
Assistant Editor: Christopher Sorrenti
Executive Director: Mark Weiman
Business Advisor: Shawn Gage
Executive Editor: Joseph Wollenweber
Research Consultant: William Patterson
The topics and issues our proposal addresses are these:
Our documentary with accompanying pamphlet and art exhibit will show how the body of writing by James Baldwin has affected the lives not only of African-Americans in California but members of other races living alongside and communicating with African-Americans. Mr. Baldwin's books and essays paved the way for a social change that is slow in happening although there were some direct results after his historic incendiary speeches in 1979.
The main topic was and continues to be civil rights for people of color. Although never overtly political in the sense of running for any kind of office, most of Baldwin's work addressed the problem of treatment of black Americans in book after book, essay after essay, from his first novel Go Tell It On the Mountain, to his most famous The Fire Next Time, printed first as "A Letter to my Nephew" in The New Yorker.
His views also affected Californians on the issues of homosexuality as expressed in his book Giovanni's Room and during his tenure as visiting Regents lecturer at UC Berkeley when he answered a question from the audience with the indignant reply, "Nobody has a right to tell another person who to love or who to marry."
His fiery vocal support of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers striking union (UFW), along with his help and encouragement for writer-teacher Angela Davis at the time she was imprisoned, did not endear him to the heart of reactionaries in white America, but proved effective, especially when accompanied by his impassioned speeches, as during his visit to Berkeley, California.
At the time of his death he was working on a triple biography of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. and had just published a long essay on the Atlanta child murders. Some national impact came through use of some of his early screenplay in Spike Lee movie Malcolm X, but the most significant relevance to California occurred during those 1979 and 1981 visits when he roamed through Berkeley and Oakland with his then host Prof. Erskine Peters, at that time Chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at U.C. Berkeley. There he influenced people wherever he appeared by the sheer power of his personality and the strength of his arguments. During that time he spoke at high schools as well as at UC public forums, making converts to his ideology wherever he went.
The humanities scholars and disciplines are central to our project because of the broad range of intelligent and caring information and criticism they undoubtedly contribute.
People like David Leeming who wrote the Knopf "authorized" biography of Baldwin, which appeared several years after his death, contribute a wealth of personal anecdote and recollections to improve our project.
Some who were sharply critical of Baldwin during his lifetime, can help balance the overview so that an opposing point of view by another well known African-American writer can be aired, along with what may be tributes from famous writers such as William Styron, and others.
Scholars such as Dr. Anthony Lemelle of Purdue University, author of Black Male Deviance, (a book which goes into the causes of young men forced by crowding and workplace discrimination into lives of violence), can help relate Baldwin's relevance to California issues. Dr. Lemelle first studied under Dr. Erskine Peters who sadly passed away six months ago. Novelist William Styron provided a free place for Baldwin to write at crucial times - his opinion of the significance of James Baldwin in relation to California issues, will be immeasurable.
Consulting Baldwin's long time friends will help us evaluate his impact on California racial history. Mr. Baldwin's sister Gloria can bring relevant memories to the project. Bill Miles, Associate Director of the 1980's PBS aired film "The Price of the Ticket", will contribute material from Baldwin's later years.
The humanities disciplines are central to our project, for the life and work of James Baldwin clearly illustrates the difference one talented individual can make. As a young penniless man he worked at Connie's West Indian restaurant in San Francisco, and ran an elevator, (dangerously) , he would say with humor.
Professor Peters, who co-wrote the film Ethnic Notions with the late Marlon Riggs, was Baldwin's host during his California visits.
Although now deceased, we have uncovered a truly relevant exchange of letters between them and plan to document these letters in our post-production project.
The film should actively engage a mass audience since media has been shown to have a strong effect upon the viewers. For this reason strong persuasive speeches such as Baldwin's, begin to expose larger parts of the population to respecting the literary work and liberal ideals contributed by a member of a frequently misunderstood group.
We intend to quote heavily from Baldwin's writings in that the most effective persuasion should come from the power of his actual words in the way that literature has influenced human behavior since the invention of the printing press brought ideas to the masses instead of just a few. In addition the video and film format, with its ability to be easily heard and seen by millions, opens up aspects of the humanities in the cause of greater tolerance.
We plan to evaluate how successfully our project fostered multi-cultural understanding and strengthened community life by presenting free screenings, passing out the pamphlets at community events and festivals, and setting up seminars at meetings of community organizations during which we will distribute questionnaires for audience participation and feedback.
Our proposal advances the a mission to foster multi-cultural understanding and strengthen community life in California. It presents to a wide California audience the internationally known work and thoughts of an American writer who suffered such personal hurt and discrimination as a young African-American that he fled to France, returning to march with Martin Luther King at Selma, and point out in most of his work, the vast gap that still existed between lip service to civil rights and the actual situation as it still existed.
James Baldwin never advocated violence. In 1970, at the time his play "Blues for Mr. Charlie" was presented at Carnegie Hall along with a Ray Charles concert, and another play "The Amen Corner" was being shown at the Fillmore East, he advocated a general strike by African-Americans, an action that might have had a strong economic effect had it been taken. Even as late as 1979 when he spoke in Berkeley and Oakland, his solutions were all non-violent, though he was friendly with the more militant brothers as well.
Our own effort to increase the impact of his ideas in the direction of fostering multi-cultural understanding and strengthening community life in California, hinges on Baldwin's work itself, for although he wrote a series of novels, his mission in life since age eighteen was to point up discrepancies between what America said; it was doing to abate racial discrimination, and what it really could do if it meant what it said. This he accomplished mainly through his essays and speeches. As a child preacher, he was an uncanny force; as an adult speaker his charisma was such that he could persuade even an arch conservative that all was not right in California, and that it needed to be put right, and soon.
WESTBETHWe welcome correspondence from anyone who lived at Westbeth from 1970 to 1978 or has lived there since, including photos, memories, tapes etc. towards the early history of this experiment. Info@claireburch.com