Rural-Urban Solidarity Project

Join us on August 5th at Maiden Alley Cinema in Paducah for a panel and premiere screening of the Rural-Urban Solidarity Project, a film series celebrating rural racial justice leaders who are bridging a connection to urban Kentucky and showing solidarity & interdependence across generations & institutions.
With KERTIS, Hotel Metropolitan, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Foundation for Women, LEE Initiative

$12 admission

Murray / Western Kentucky - "Ghosts of the Lost Cause"
The murder of Breonna Taylor and the failures of the criminal justice system that followed thrust Kentucky into the 2020 Movement for Black Lives, and required us to reckon with persistent racial disparities in social and economic conditions and outcomes. Resistance in Louisville triggered resistance in small communities such as Murray, for the first time in a generation. This segment documents the stories of ordinary citizens who chose to fight in an advocacy desert against the “good ol’ boy” network. The segment explores the quintessential questions-- What does it mean to be a Kentuckian? Whose voices and lives matter? What happens when we silence the voices of citizens seeking justice? Produced by Gerry James and Sherman Neal II, videography by Josh Mauser (formerly of KERTIS) and Curtis Franklin, with editing by Seth Hawkins.

Paducah / Western Kentucky - Preserving the Past to Build a Better Future
Betty Dobson runs the Hotel Metropolitan, a hotel-turned-museum that hosted superstars like James Brown, Etta James, and Louis Armstrong during their stays in Paducah, Kentucky. In this segment, she talks about Paducah as an epicenter for Black Kentuckians in the early 1900s, the 8th of August (a local version of the Juneteenth holiday), and the importance of preserving and sharing Black history — especially the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — to create a better future. Produced by Betty Dobson and Taylor Killough with support from Kasper Brightside and Chelsae Ketchum (KERTIS). Edited by Wesley Bacon.