American Promise

American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys’ divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation at Manhattan’s Dalton School, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity. An Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and winner of the Grand Jury Award at the 2013 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

In the U.S. today, African-American students across all income levels score an average of twenty-five points lower than their white counterparts on standardized tests. This is known as the racial achievement gap. The group that suffers most from this debilitating phenomenon is African-American males. Unfortunately, the racial achievement gap is just the beginning of lifelong inequality.

Check out the website and trailer here: http://www.americanpromise.org/#/intro

This screening will be followed by a panel discussion of community members, including:

Jason Young, PhD, University at Buffalo
Sam Radford, III, President, District Parent Coordinating Council of the Buffalo Public Schools

Maisha Drayton, M.S., Mother, Evergreen Health Services
Caitlin Crowell, Nichols, Multicultural contact
Jim Anderson, moderator, State Vice President of Citizen Action

This collective effort between the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Learning Choices Network, Citizen Action of New York, The Mandala School and Alliance for Quality Education is free and open to the public.

This screening is free.