Reel and Meal at the New Deal Presents

“Always in Season”

Monday, February 17, 2019

On Monday, February 17, Reel and Meal will show Jacqueline Olive’s 2019 documentary, Always in Season, that explores our traumatic history of lynching with a focus on the brutal events of 1934 and 1946. The screening takes place at the New Deal Café, 113 Centerway in Greenbelt’s Roosevelt Center. A optional vegan meal ($14.00) at 6:30 p.m. precedes the free screening beginning at 7 p.m.

More than 4400 African American men, women, and children were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white mobs between 1877 and 1950. Like the sport of hunting, black people were “always in season.” The film connects our history of racial terrorism with current tactics of white supremacy, inequitable policing, gun violence and mass incarnation. The film depicts the annual reenactment of the lynching in 1946 at Moore’s Ford Bridge in Monroe, Georgia that serves to remind us of the horrors of racial injustice that traumatized black people throughout the country. Discussion following the film will center on Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative. The 2019 film Just Mercy depicts Stevenson’s work to provide legal assistance to innocent death row prisoners in Monroeville, Alabama. The EJI asks that we recognize the victims of lynching in our county by collecting soil from lynching sites, and erecting historical markers and moments in these spaces, similar to those at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Such efforts aim to create a regional dialogue about racial justice and reconciliation. Discussion leader will be Jay Mallin who has made a documentary about Montgomery County’s three (known) lynchings with the help of a Montgomery County Arts & Humanities Commission grant. 

The Reel and Meal is a monthly film series about environmental, social justice and animal rights issues. The February Reel and Meal program is sponsored by the Peace and Justice Coalition of Prince Georges County. For more information contact justpeacepg@earthlink.net or Donna Hoffmeister, 301 441 9377. Other sponsors of the Reel & Meal monthly series are Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group, Green Vegan Networking, and the Utopia Film Festival. For information about Reel and Meal, contact reelandmeal@newdealcafe.com or visit the website: https://www.newdealcafe.com/events/reel-and-meal. . 

The New Deal Café is accessible by Metro Buses G12, 13, 14, & 16 from the Greenbelt Metro station (on the green line). We also encourage bike riding!