LEWISTON – On Tuesday, April 8, just days after the 40th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, the Western Maine Labor Council will offer a free public showing of the award-winning documentary film “At the River I Stand.”
The hourlong movie chronicles the 1968 struggle of 1,300 African American sanitation workers in Memphis to win a union, respect on the job and a better life as well as King’s involvement – and ultimate death – assisting the workers.
Following the movie, there will be a community discussion in response to the film, examining connections between civil rights and workers rights and how the movie applies today. There will also be a panel presentation and discussion. Panelists include Winston McGill, past president of the Portland NAACP and current president of the Portland Firefighters Union; Peter Kellman, a civil rights movement activist who worked on the Selma to Montgomery marches and 1960s voting rights struggles in the South, and current president of the Southern Maine Labor Council; and one panelist still to be determined.
Local musicians Ethan Miller and Kate Boverman will play music from the civil rights and labor movements.
The film will be shown at 6 p.m. at IBEW 567 Union Hall, 238 Goddard Road.
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