The highpoint of the early period is the history of the Brownsville Boys Club, a club started by poor boys themselves who were too poor for any other kind of amusement, which was unprecedent in offering a place for Jewish and Black kids to mix as equals back when every ethnic group had its own neighborhood and gangs. It became famous for its sporting success throughout the city back when high school sporting success mattered. The crescendo of the second part is the Teacher's strike, which centered in the same neighborhood in the late 60s after the Jews had moved out. Both are full of surprises. And both I think will give you an Aha feeling. At least it did me.
The film sticks to the history and doesn't dwell on how people later interpreted it. But if you have ever been interested in why the holocaust and anti-semitism became big themes in the late 60s precisely when quotas against Jews in education, business and social clubs were falling, the two answers are: the split reaction to the 1967 Arab/Israeli war; and the Brownsville teacher's strike. And the second is the more important.
It will also tell you a lot about the origins of neoconservatism. And of political black anti-semitism for that matter.
It replays in New York on Ch 95 next Monday 19 at 3pm and 7pm
and next Tuesday 20 at 9am and 5pm
To see if it's playing on some public cable channel near you, click on http://www.tvguide.com/ open the "search listings" java box, and type in Brownsville.
The full name of the film, BTW, is Brownsville Black and White. It's 90 minutes long.
Michael