(Via Ho’okele News)
Reid Tokeshi
Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam Morale, Welfare and Recreation
The library at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam will continues its “Created Equal” series Saturday, in partnership with the National Endowment of the Humanities.
A condensed version of the full-length film “The Loving Story,” will be shown. It tells about the struggles one married couple faced just because they were not of the same ethnicity. Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in 1958 for violating a ban on interracial marriage in the state of Virginia.
The base library showed two other documentaries on the civil rights movement in America earlier in the year. Saturday’s viewing is the first since the library took a break over the summer to accommodate the out-of-school crowd.
“The series is a tremendous eye-opener, regardless of viewers’ race or ethnicity,” said Phyllis Frenzel, head librarian. She added that the series of videos illustrates the difficulties the country had moving forward with civil rights.
“Racial Equality essentially took over 100 years to achieve and did not happen simply because of constitutional amendments,” says
Frenzel. “It came about as a direct result of the beneficiaries claiming it through great personal sacrifice.”
Jack Taylor III, assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, will be the facilitator at Saturday’s showing. Taylor will give insight into the film and will lead a discussion with the viewers after the viewing.
The final documentary in the series, “The Abolitionists” will be shown on Sept. 20. The time for both showings is 1 p.m. Frenzel said all four full-length documentaries are available to be borrowed at the library. Those interested in learning more can stop by the library or call 449-8299.
