Filmmakers Challenge RNC on Lack of Outreach Efforts to Urban & Minority Voters

SHAMROCK STINE PRODUCTIONS LLC

FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN

NEWS

 

January 4, 2013 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
                                                                                       

                            

filmmakers challenge republican national committee
on its lack of outreach efforts to recruit minorities

Diversity Issues in GOP & Two-Party Political System Not Being Addressed

Trenton, NJ - Director Kevin J. Williams and Producer Tamara E. Williams are challenging the current Republican National Committee leadership to announce its plans for Party outreach in Urban and Minority communities before its Winter Meeting in Charlotte, NC later this month. The FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN filmmakers are also challenging the Republican National Committee to require all of its candidates for Chairman or Co-Chairman to publicly present their plans with stated goals for Party outreach to Minorities and Urban voters during their term if elected. The Republican National Committee's members from around the country will be voting to select a new Chairman and Co-Chairman during its annual Winter Meeting from January 23-26.

The FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN filmmakers stated, "So far, there has been little to no action from the Republican National Committee showing us that it has learned from its poor results in 2012. It is incredulous that after nearly two months, no answers have been provided to Republicans and Conservative activists around the country. What is particularly disturbing is that the message being sent to the public is that "all is okay here and nothing needs to change." The Election results say otherwise and anyone leading our Party into the future must acknowledge this and have solid ideas on how to win while gaining more Urban and Minority votes. Writing off these voters is not working."

 

Director Kevin J. Williams continued, "Our experiences as Republicans in an Urban area inspired us to make our film and try to help make the GOP a better Party. While we captured the life experiences of Black Republicans, Urban Republicans and others struggling within our political system... we found that many people of all political stripes and demographics are being ignored by both political Parties. This situation must change and change now. The Republican Party at the national, state and local levels must stop being afraid and start working now to improve its standing with Urban voters and Minority voters. Our Party cannot lose in 2014 and 2016. If it does, then it will just be a matter of time until it goes out of existence and joins the Whig Party on the ash heap of history."

 

To learn more about the filmmakers or view the film's trailers, please go to www.fearofablackrepublican.com.  For interviews or stories, please contact the film's Producer via e-mail at producer@fearofablackrepublican.com.
The filmmakers are also on Twitter (#FearOfABlackRep) and Facebook (Fear Of A Black Republican).

Film Distribution Information & Synopsis:

FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN has been seen by thousands of Americans and has screened before diverse audiences in Atlanta, GA; Charlotte & Greensboro, NC; Wilmington, DE; Kansas City, MO; Buffalo & Rochester, NY; Trenton, NJ; Portland, OR; Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Montgomery, AL; Jackson, MS; Dallas & Waco, TX; Tucson, AZ; Albuquerque, NM; Salina KS and Chicago, IL. Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele attended both the New Jersey and Washington, DC Premieres and participated in Q&A sessions with audiences lasting over ninety minutes each. More screenings of the controversial documentary feature film are expected nationwide in 2013. The trailers for FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN can be viewed on the film's own website www.fearofablackrepublican.com, as well as the YouTube, Apple iTunes and Vimeo websites.


Synopsis: Filmed and edited over a six year period, FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN examines why there are so few Black Republicans (and by extension, other Minorities) and how this affects the U.S. political system. The film begins with a simple question... Does the Republican Party really want more African Americans? To get an answer, independent filmmaker Kevin J. Williams takes a non-partisan journey over two Presidential Elections to find out why there are so few Black Republicans and what that means for the future of the Two-Party Political System in America.

From the Civil War to the Great Depression, the GOP was the Party for many African-Americans, but today, barely 10% of African Americans consider themselves to be Republican and Urban areas are no longer considered competitive parts of America's Election map. Beginning in his hometown, Williams speaks with BOTH Democrats and Republicans as he takes a personal and humorous look at his own Republican Party's efforts in urban areas versus the suburbs, the Democratic Party's success in retaining the African American vote, the seeming phenomenon of Black Republicans and what this all means for America. FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN gives audiences of all Demographics and Political Persuasions a ground-breaking and moving view of current American Politics.

During the film's journey, Williams speaks with scholars such as Professors Cornel West and Howard Taylor; and newsmakers such as Michael Steele, former Chairman of the Republican National Committee; Presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain; former Governor Christine Todd Whitman; Commentators Tavis Smiley and Michelle Malkin; political leaders, including past RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, Congressman Peter King and Governors Jim Gilmore and Sonny Perdue; Conservative thinkers such as Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist and Ann Coulter; and the first and last Black Republican Senator popularly elected since Reconstruction, former Senator Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, amongst others. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Senator and President-Elect Barack Obama, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney also appear in the film, along with very rarely seen archival footage of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Vice-President Richard M. Nixon and the great baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson. The film also examines the History of the Republican Party since its founding.

FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN is available on DVD at its own website and Amazon.com and also on VOD streaming via its own website and Apple iTunes. It is also available for Education use and has screened or is currently being used on college campuses such as Northwestern University, Portland State University, Tuskegee University, Loyola Marymount University, Jackson State University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

The film has received Print, TV and Radio coverage from the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Current TV's THE WAR ROOM WITH JENNIFER GRANHOLM, HUFFINGTON POST LIVE, Christian Broadcasting Network's The Brody Files, Al Jazeera's INSIDE STORY, the Mark Davis Radio Show, Steve Deace Show, Michael Eric Dyson Show, Chris Stigall Show, Victoria Taft Show, The Voice of Russia and many others.

APPROX. 111 MINS   Printed in U.S.A. 4:3 aspect ratio

THIS FILM HAS NOT BEEN RATED

 

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Our Movie's Big Year & What We Learned...

We have learned a lot in this past year of trying and struggling to get our documentary film, FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN out into the world and before audiences.  We have had some great Screenings in different parts of the country and even had former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele graciously give us a hand at our New Jersey Premiere (in our hometown) and our Washington D.C. Premiere (Michael's hometown).  Michael was awesome as expected and we had another 90+ minute Q&A discussion after the film.  Very inspiring to say the least!

This past June, we had an amazing Philadelphia Premiere with Philly’s #1 Conservative Talk Show Host, Chris Stigall, serving as our Q&A Moderator and Deputy Chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, Renee Amoore, serving as our Special Q&A Panelist.  Both Renee and Chris were outstanding and made the whole event one we (and the Audience) won't ever forget.

Renee Amoore, Deputy Chairman of PA GOP Makes A Great Point

Director Kevin Williams, an Audience Member, WPHT's Chris Stigall
and Renee Amoore After the Philly Premiere Q&A

That the event went so well… was a HUGE relief after my Alma mater, La Salle University, DENIED us a rental of the on-campus theater to screen FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN.  What they were afraid of?  A race riot?  Thousands of well-dressed Republicans clogging the streets of the Gernantown Section?  An actual unbiased discussion about Politics, Race and Urban Areas?

Redacted Email which we received from La Salle University denying our rental application.  Disappointing.

We still do not have a reason why La Salle denied us after repeated requests for an explanation. Needless to say, screening our film across the street from Bill Cosby’s Temple University was a much better choice in the end.

Most recently, Tamara (our film’s Producer and my lovely wife) and I completed a nearly four-week South and West Screening Tour of the United States.  Having traveled with our kids in a mini-van (without a DVD player) and seeing the South, Midwest and Southwest as we screened FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN for audiences, we have been constantly reminded of the goodness, decency and intelligence that exists here in America.  We felt this trip would be a great challenge and opportunity to see if our little film and our work as filmmakers could play with audiences not as familiar with the material or storylines.  Particularly in the Southwest, Latinos are way more numerous than African Americans.  Even so, the many issues in our film are practically interchangeable and we’ve received requests to make a sequel called FEAR OF A LATINO REPUBLICAN.  We’ve also received other requests for sequels about Jewish Republicans, Asian Republicans, Irish Republicans and others along the way.

Dallas' Inwood Theatre, home of our
TEXAS PREMIERE on July 26/27, 2012

Inside of The Inwood Theatre (Landmark Cinemas)

We traveled from the wilds of Trenton NJ (where our current Mayor is currently under FBI investigation) to Charlotte NC, Montgomery AL, Jackson MS, Dallas TX, Waco TX, Tucson AZ, Albuquerque NM and Salina KS.  In each city, we were greeted by enthusiastic audiences made up of folks from across the political, racial and economic spectrums.  Something that we found consistently before and after each screening is that there are a lot of people searching for a new political identity in our current Two-Party political system.  And these people come in all sizes, shapes and colors. 

That being said, each city was quite different.  In Montgomery AL, we got more Republican turnout than Democrat and for the first time, had a good number of GOP officials (local and State) in attendance.  In Jackson MS, we screened at a Historically Black College and University called Jackson State University and had a moving and thoughtful academic discussion with Professors, Faculty, Students and the local community.  In Dallas TX, thanks to Talk Show Host Mark Davis, we received the ONLY pre-Texas Premiere coverage of the film (unless you count the Dallas Morning News’ Film Critic ripping us on the newspaper’s blog for being White Filmmakers).  

In Waco, where we had an older African American couple (who traveled over an hour to see our film) cry in the back row because as Conservatives – they related so much to our film’s story.  In Tucson AZ, there were White Liberals filing complaints about what we didn’t include in our film (but should have, in the version THEY wanted us to make).  In Albuquerque NM, we had a “spirited” post-Q&A discussion with a different older African American couple about the Auto Bailout, NAFTA, Bill Clinton not really being a Democrat (as opposed to President Obama), “dark-skinned” political candidates versus “light-skinned” candidates and its apparent importance, as well as their charge that our film was a “recruiting tool” for the Republican Party.  Finally in Salina KS, where we had a tough crowd of hard-core, mainly White Democrats come out of our film amazed that it was as informative, moving and balanced as it was.  We learned a lot from screening our film in so many places and before so many different audiences.

 
We also found out that when it comes to Media, be prepared for unforeseen opportunities.  Opportunities can come from Media sources that you would never expect to be interested in your subject matter.  This occurred previously when I was interviewed on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s THE BRODY FILES (expected); then later the same day - I was on a Panel about our film on Al Jazeera English’s INSIDE STORY (unexpected).  While on our Screening Tour, we caught the eye of one of cable news’ most interesting shows… THE WAR ROOM WITH JENNIFER GRANHOLM on Current TV (Al Gore’s Network).  I kid you not, dear readers.   

Governor Jennifer Granholm is the former Democratic Governor of Michigan and I am pretty sure she will not be voting for Mitt Romney this fall.  But, she and her Staff were very interested in our film – especially after seeing it.  Well, on Friday night July 6^th, I was interviewed by the Governor about FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN and several clips from it were shown to their viewers during the piece.   Admittedly, I am not a regular viewer of Current TV, but I had seen this Show before and while Governor Granholm has a focused point-of-view – she was completely professional, kind and positive about our film and our message with it.  From her Producers we worked with via e-mail/phone calls to the Production Staff talking in my ear while I sat in a satellite studio in Tucson while they were in San Francisco to the Governor herself , it was a great experience.  I would encourage any other Republicans or Conservatives to go on her Show and put forth their thoughts and beliefs.  MSNBC on steroids, this Show was not!

This Current TV interview was by far the biggest TV Media piece we have ever done and was a good momentum builder for what we hope to achieve in the coming months before the Presidential Election.  We are working to bring get to FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN to New York City (Manhattan) for a Screening/Q&A and really get our film out into the world.  As far as we know, no independent film that positively portrays Republicans (without propaganda), let alone Black Republicans has ever screened in New York City.  As NYC is the home of American independent film and especially documentary, FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN would be the first independent film to do so.  

We do realize that even though we are “Mom and Pop Shop” kind of filmmakers, our film could attract some controversy.  Having no idea if Reverend Sharpton will show up with a bullhorn to protest us or if some group will picket the theatre, we go into this with open eyes and full hearts.  We feel pretty confident that not all the Big Media can or will ignore us.  If we get to New York City, maybe our little film can help get a real, honest discussion on Race and Politics going this fall instead of just the “race-baiting” junk that will likely go on. 

Tamara, our Producer, and I are Republicans ourselves and as much as some of our Friends on the Left don’t want to admit it – our Party is not racist and never has been.  Unfortunately, our own GOP has let the other Party get away with the “racist” charge for decades and Urban America and African Americans specifically have been the collateral damage resulting from this.  We think it is time to reset the clock on the whole discussion and that the best way we can do that is to keep screening our film and to now do it in New York City. 

As independent filmmakers, we can assure you that any help in bringing FEAR OF A BLACK REPUBLICAN to the Media Capital called New York City will be greatly appreciated.  Please consider purchasing a Pre-Release DVD or Movie Poster from our website, www.fearofablackrepublican.com, to help us make it all happen.  If we are able to achieve our goal, we hope to make you proud.