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Ocoee is a thirty-minute digital video documentary that will lead the audience through a journey of recollection and reconciliation. The film interweaves the history of the 1920 Ocoee race massacre and the present day political and social efforts of the Democracy Forum and the West Orange Reconciliation Task Force as the documentary oscillates between the past and the present. This documentary is the first to examine the events that unfolded in 1920 in this Orlando, Florida suburb. The main goal of the film is to not only shed light on the massacre, but but also the attitudes that reside in the aftermath of the event.
In 1920, Walter White of the NAACP wrote a report about his investigation and findings at the crime scene..."The effect upon the adult white citizens was distressing enough-an air of meritorius work well done. When asked about the rioting, an eleven year old white girl, intelligent and alert, told exulting of 'the fun we had when some niggers got burned up.' The outlook for a more enlightened generation to come is indeed unpromising when a little girl can exhibit so callous an attitude towards such a revolting crime." (Courtesy of The National Archives and The NAACP)
African-Americans did not move back into Ocoee until 1981.
Ocoee did not hire it's first Black municipal employee until 1986.
Ocoee did not celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday until 1998.
In the last few years the citizens of Ocoee and West Orange county have attempted to revisit the past. With the formation of the West Orange Reconciliation Task Force and the Democracy Forum, there has been a concerted effort to acknowledge what happened and to memorialize those that lost not only their homes and their land, but their lives as a result of racial hatred.
Ocoee; Legacy of the Election Day Massacre uses interviews with members
of the WORTF and the Democracy Forum, as well as citizens of the town to structure
the narrative of the story. The film also uses observational footage of the
town, its citizens and descendants of the massacre victims as they attempt
to revisit the past in order to move peacefully into the future.
Despite press and media coverage since the release of this documentary and since the botched elections in 2000, the state of Florida still struggles with voting issues and racial equanimity for some of its towns and suburbs. In 2008, the nation can be more pro-active when it comes to voting by exploring these issues BEFORE the vote, rather than when it is too late.
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Copyright November 2008, Wise Eye Media, Inc.