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Where is Dr. King's Dream Today?

Celina R. De Leon of Alternet.org interview Heidi Ewing, co-director of Boys of Baraka

As we celebrate the birth of the great civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is only appropriate to see where his dream of social justice and equal opportunity is today. The new film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, The Boys of Baraka, shares a glimpse of Dr. King's ideal in today's public school system.

According to these filmmakers, Dr. King's vision of equal opportunity and potential for social mobility is far from reality for lower-income, inner-city children, who are predominantly African American and Hispanic. Public schools in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Oakland and thousands of urban areas across the country look almost exactly like schools in Mississippi 50 years ago -- poorly funded, segregated and offering low-quality education.

The Boys of Baraka documents the lives of four 12-year-old boys from the rough streets of Baltimore, who escape their fate and find better education in Kenya. Richard, his younger brother Romesh, Devon and Montrey went to a school where 75 percent of African American boys do not graduate from high school. They were selected, along with 16 other seventh-graders and 20 eighth-graders, to take part in an experimental private boarding school -- the Baraka School in rural Laikipia, Kenya.

The film skillfully captures their individual journeys and transitions from their toxic home lives -- Devon's mom is struggling with drug addiction, Romesh and Devon's father is in jail -- and the realities of their violent inner-city environment to the potential-filled lives they are allowed to lead at the Baraka School.

The Boys of Baraka brings to the big screen what thousands of children and families across this nation endure every day: the fight for potential, the fight for an education.

WireTap spoke to Heidi Ewing about their new film. Read the interview here

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IssuesInternational, Politics/Government, Racial Justice, Youth, Africa, U.S./Foreign Relations, African-American, Educational reform, Identity
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Posted on January 17, 2006 in News Elsewhere by Anayansi