This is the trailer for “Stand,” a new film which executive producer Tavis Smiley describes as “my new film exploring the Black male experience through history, politics, music and culture.”The film is slated to run at the end of May on TV1. Here’s the longer description:

It was the summer of 2008 in Memphis, birthplace of Blues. America was commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., against the backdrop of then Senator Barack Obama emerging as the first African American to become the Democratic presidential nominee. As America approached the historic presidential election, the national dialogue and debate intensified about race relations, politics and the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Broadcaster Tavis Smiley dissects this national discourse with ten Black male friends over several days during a special road trip through Memphis and Nashville. While visiting places like the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King died, and Stax records, credited with laying the roots of southern soul, Smiley and friends explore the diversity and complexity of the Black male experience in America past, present and future.

STAND reveals the journey of a unique group of scholars, musicians, comedians and social critics as they gather for a rare reflection of brotherhood while confronting their own roles and responsibilities as pioneers of social progress.

CAST:
Tavis Smiley, Dick Gregory, Michael Eric Dyson, Cornel West, Cliff West, Eddie Glaude, BeBe Winans, Wren T. Brown, Daron Boyce, Robert Smith and Raymond Ross. Special appearances by Sam Moore, Isaac Hayes and David Porter.

What do you think?

Wow. I never thought I’d see the day…but on this morning’s “Meet the Press” I actually heard the word “poverty” uttered. Of course, it came from the mouth of the venerable Tavis Smiley, who pushed back eloquently on the complete disregard for the working poor and the very poor in this national economic discussion.

This clip gives a good flavor of the kind of fresh perspective Tavis brought to the table today (My favorite line? “We talk about about bailing out Wall Street, every now and then about about Main Street, but we have no conversations about the side streets, where too many Americans live today.”)

Tavis starts at about the 1:30 mark…

“Below the Line: The Changing Face of American Poverty”, the provocative series featured on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show, has profiled a vast range of people living at or below the poverty line in the United States. The series has critically examined what it looks like to be poor in America today, by telling stories as varied as the young, African American, single mother of two children who lost her job at Enron only to find herself making less than $10,000 a year as a nursing assistant; a young married couple, graduate student and carpenter, trying their best to sustain a family of five on the land by growing a community garden; and the Ethiopian immigrant working full time at a meat packing plant, and part time as a child care provider in rural Minnesota.

Angela Glover Blackwell frames each installment from a public policy perspective, while respective experts offer insight and strategic solutions for the foreclosure crisis, living wage, inadequate health care, homelessness, transitional housing, and ex-offender re-entry, along with other issues faced by a growing number of Americans.

Now you can catch the entire series right here on EquityBlog:

Episode One
The series begins with Terreal Grant of Baltimore who is coming out of poverty and drug addiction with help from the Thompson Mobility Program [PDF].

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Two
The second installment features Cici Youngblood, a college graduate who describes her path to poverty as “riches to rags” and Jeff Page, a former DJ who went from fame to a downward spiral into homelessness after cancer. Both profiles illustrate how poverty is compounded by health and how successful programs (e.g. Rainbow Apartments) in Los Angeles’s Skid Row community work to meet these challenges.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Three
Reporter James Mills shares the story of Abeba Adella of Minnesota. Originally from Ethiopia, Abeba left an abusive husband, raises two children alone, and works two jobs to barely avoid poverty.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Four
From Augusta, Georgia, reporter Charles Edwards speaks with two residents who struggle with less than the federal minimum wage. Richard Sparrow suffered a back injury and was shunned by employers as an insurance liability. Unemployed since 1996, Richard lives on less than 700 dollars a month, over half of which goes to medicine. Sunny Johnson, a former Enron employee, describes the sacrifices she makes with her wages from her day and night jobs.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Five
New Orleans producer Eve Abrams brings us the story of Vanessa Nevilles, who is struggling to find a job with health insurance, and Keith Carter who was shunned from employment after an arrest and a lengthy legal battle.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Episode Six
Executive Producer Cheryl Flowers visits Mississippi to find two stories of poverty in small rural communities. Mississippi is home to one of the highest concentrations of poverty in America.

[17 minutes | MP3]

Wrap Up
Dr. Cynthia Duncan, Founding Director of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire and Alan Jenkins, Executive Director of the Opportunity Agenda, joins Tavis Smiley and Angela Glover Blackwell for the series wrap up and analysis.

[53 minutes | MP3]

Audio courtesy of The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI. Check your local listings for more from Tavis Smiley.

Joan Walsh, PolicyLink board member and editor-in-chief of Salon Magazine, offers a summit roundup. Read it all here.

“…as a veteran of at least 20 years of meetings like this (although this one was larger, more diverse and better organized than anything I’ve ever attended): I’ve never heard such rough stuff voiced in such a large crowd. Smiley and his panel modeled painful honesty, and we’re going to need more of it as this election season continues to lurch along. It may turn out that the leaders convened by PolicyLink, with its commitment to nonpartisanship, have a role to play in the post-primary reconciliation discussions that most Democrats know need to happen once a nominee is chosen. I found myself more optimistic in New Orleans that Obama and Clinton supporters can all get along than I’ve been before — and also more confident that there are institutions that can help make it happen.”

Stay tuned for more thoughts from Joan including an interview with New Orleans activist, actor, and summit attendee, Wendell Pierce.