'Blast from the Past' features an excerpt from a 1972 interview with FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks on the need to increase the numbers of African Americans in the television and radio professions.
'Blast from the Past' with FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks. Program is divided into two halves: the first consisting of five dance segments aired in previous programs, the second of newsmagazine-style segments. Dance performances are by the Dance Company of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (performing the piece 'Doogla'), the Dance Theatre of Boston (performing 'Black Light'), and Halim Adbur Rashid (Fred Johnson, performing a mime/modern dance piece). Additional segments include 'Information' (on preparing for unemployment), 'Community Access' (on the work of the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency and its role as a financier of mixed income developments), 'Blast from the Past' (with an excerpt from a 1972 interview with FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks on the need for increasing the numbers of African Americans in the television and radio professions), the 'Community Calendar,' and 'Commentary' by Producer Marita Rivero (consisting of film footage of an African American couple on a date). Produced by Marita Rivero. Directed by Conrad White.
Carmen Fields reports on the history and present activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Fields notes that recent statistics show an increase in hate crimes. She adds that membership in the Ku Klux Klan has increased. Fields' report includes footage from Eyes on the Prize of an interview with Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, footage of Ku Klux Klan ceremonies and graphic shots of lynching victims. Fields talks about murders and lynchings by the Klan. She reports that the Ku Klux Klan turned out in large numbers to stop a march honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. (American civil rights leader) in Forsythe County, Georgia. Fields' report includes footage of the march in Forsythe County. Fields notes that David Duke (Louisiana state representative) is a former Ku Klux Klan member who has founded a new white advocacy group. Fields' report is accompanied by footage of Duke in the studios of WHDH radio and by footage from A Walk Through the Twentieth Century with Bill Moyers. Fields' report includes footage of Sterling Brown (poet) reading a poem about a lynching. This edition of the Ten O'Clock News also included the following items: Controversy surrounds David Duke's visit to Boston. David Duke speaks in Boston. Avi Nelson and Dianne Wilkerson talk about quotas and civil rights.
Barbara Barrows interviews Gretchen Wortham after her recent appointment to Station Manager of WILD Radio, who discusses the role of minority women in management positions and the difference in respect and responsibility accorded to White counterparts.
David Boeri reports that E.W. Jackson is the manager of WLVG radio station in Cambridge and the pastor of the New Corner Baptist Church in Roxbury. Boeri notes that Jackson addressed a community meeting in South Boston last night about the city's public housing desegregation plan. Boeri reports that Jackson attacked atheism, school busing, and seat belt laws in his speech; he adds that Jackson called the city's housing desegregation plan a form of 'social engineering.' Boeri's report includes footage of Jackson addressing the community meeting. Boeri interviews Jackson in the studios of WLVG. Jackson discusses public housing integration and says that 'freedom of choice' is more important than integrated developments. Boeri reports that James Kelly (Boston City Council) and Dapper O'Neil (Boston City Council) are leading the fight against the desegregation plan, but that interest in the issue is waning among South Boston residents. Boeri interviews Neil Sullivan (Policy Advisor to mayor Ray Flynn). Sullivan says that elements of choice have been preserved in the city's new public housing policy. Boeri's report includes footage of the WLVG radio studio.
