Hate Crimes in the Heartland is an award winning documentary film and community outreach project that explores our national epidemic of hate crimes through the lens of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here two crimes, over 90 years apart, are impacting human rights, media, crime, race and punishment in communities today.
The film begins in Tulsa, where two white men drove through the African-American Greenwood neighborhood targeting blacks at random, killing three and leaving two others in critical condition in 2012. The film follows the murders, social media uproar, manhunt, capture and prosecution of two suspects who faced the death penalty.
Like no other documentary exploring this topic, Hate Crimes in the Heartland exposes current and past hate crimes in our nation, especially the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot in which Black Wall Street was burned to a cinder, 10,000 were made homeless and up to 300 perished at the hands of a white mob. Heartland exposes how racial animosity still haunts American culture by exploring the most violent race riot in our history. Set in the same Tulsa neighborhood, the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot brings the thorny lessons of the past into the still surging river of present-day unrest.
Post-screening discussion including:
Rachel Lyon, Filmmaker
Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty International
Reggie Turner, Founder of The Tulsa Project and Associate Producer
Moderated by Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.
Co-sponsored by Amnesty International