Riverside film screening promotes activism, health for Black communities

A film screening and panel at Riverside church aims to promote civic engagement and healthy lifestyles in the Black community.

Mt. Rubidoux Seventh-day Adventist Church will host a free viewing of a new Peacock documentary, “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power,” on Saturday, April 1. The film explores Black residents’ fight for the right to vote in the county, a rural area of Alabama with a history of poverty and racism, during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

Through first-person accounts and archival footage, it tells how, after passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Black student activists fought for the right to vote in a county “that was 80 percent Black, but had zero Black voters,” event organizers said in a news release, “and laws were just paper without power.”

Directed by Sam Pollard and Geeta Gandbhir, the documentary was a 2022 Tribeca Film Festival selection and Critics Choice Awards nominee.

“The Lowndes County movement is a powerful demonstration of what local communities are able to accomplish when they are empowered,” Alfonzo Greene III, the church’s senior pastor, said. “We believe that, as a faith community, the fight for human rights and dignity still continues. We wanted to bring together other organizations and people who are burdened to see health parity become a reality in Riverside.”

Greene will moderate the panel discussion, at which officials will discuss civic engagement and social activism in communities of color. The event will also highlight Riverside County’s “Black Lives, Blue Zones” initiative, which aims to address health disparities, promote longevity and a healthier, more active lifestyle for residents in underserved communities.

“The blue zones initiative promotes healthy living by engaging policy makers, community leaders and city residents in creating environments that make it easier for people to make healthy choices,” Greene said. “This is in addition to policies that need to be addressed to make access to health care a reality for the Black community.”

The church has been active in Riverside, participating in grassroots projects and initiatives to bring more resources to Black communities.

A similar screening occurred earlier this year at the Philadelphian SDA Church in Long Beach, where participants discussed how the Black vote movement in Lowndes County can inspire coalition building and activism.

Greene said he hopes people will leave the event “motivated to be the change,” and learn from those students who fought for “Black Power” during the Civil Rights Movement.

The 7:30 p.m. event is at the church, 5320 Victoria Ave., Riverside.

For tickets and information, click here.