Breaking News: Additional DOC NYC screening Thursday, November 18, 9:30 p.m. at Cinépolis Chelsea, 260 W. 23rd Street.
Saturday, November 13, 10:45 am ET @ Cinépolis Chelsea Sunday
November 14 – Sunday, November 28 – Online Screening
Director: Joe Winston
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director Joe Winston chronicles the historic legacy of Chicago’s first African American Mayor, Harold Washington. PUNCH 9 FOR HAROLD WASHINGTON draws on archival footage of 1980s Chi-Town with all its corruption and racial discrimination, includes candid interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett.
The film shows Washington’s political repertoire of skills and stratagems. Winston believes Washington’s legacy continues to resonate for the Windy City and the nation as both confront the neverending inimical social issues that undermined the democracy.
Winston and filmmaking producers Raymond Lambert and Sonya Jackson are unflinching in their views that racism in American has taken an uglier turn, that while minorities and women are gaining political clout they’ve never had before, a showdown is inevitable.
Chi-Towner Winston has lived his entire life in Chicago, having grown up in the south side Hyde Park neighborhood where the University of Chicago is located. When Harold Washington ran for mayor in 1983, he was 16, and Harold lived just a few blocks from his high school. The jarring, racist campaign against Washington was an eye-opener for him, and Winston wrote about it for his high school newspaper.
Later, when Harold took office, parents of friends joined his administration. “Once I was with a gaggle of friends and we crashed an event where Mayor Washington was speaking, and I shot some Super-8 movie film of him – just to capture a bit of Harold’s inimitable speaking style,” he is quoted as saying
The racist white backlash to Harold’s mayoralty was dubbed “Council Wars.” As kids, we didn’t truly understand the machinations of Chicago politics – but we all understood racism and injustice,” he is quoted as saying
Years later, Barack Obama the nation’s first African-American President. He was annoyed by so-called liberals, white believed that America’s racism could be resolved by Obama’s election. “Are you kidding me?” I would retort, “Don’t you remember Harold Washington?”
End Part 1