[COMM-ORG] documentary--The Bus Riders Union

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

From: James Riker jriker at umd.edu

*The Bus Riders Union*

/This empowering documentary offers a complex portrayal of a
multi-racial grassroots movement that is mobilizing to improve public
transportation for low-income peoples in Los Angeles, California.
Directed by Academy Award cinematographer Haskell Wexler (Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; American Graffiti;
Coming Home; Matewan), the film provides important insights into the
dynamics of effective organizing and legal advocacy that led the
California State Court to take action against the City of Los Angeles
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). In October 1996, the Bus Riders
Union won a landmark civil rights Consent Decree, following the class
action civil rights lawsuit brought against the Los Angeles MTA in 1994.
The agreement, signed by both the MTA and the Bus Riders Union, is a
10-year contract in which MTA is obligated to improve L.A.'s bus system
and make the bus system and the transit users its first priority for
funding. The agreement places the Bus Riders Union in a unique role as
the court-appointed class representative of Los Angeles' 450,000 bus
riders. *"...Captures the joy of struggle of a polyglot group...all of
whom never lost their humanity in the struggle." -- Los Angeles Times
*/

http://www.thestrategycenter.org/project/bus-riders-union

/**/

-- 
James V. Riker, Ph.D.
Director, Beyond the Classroom
Office of Undergraduate Studies
University of Maryland
Mail Address: 0200 Calvert Hall
College Park, MD 20742-5251 USA

Campus Office Address: 1104 South Campus Commons
Phone: 301-314-6622
Fax: 301-314-6623
E-mail: jriker at umd.edu
Web: www.BeyondTheClassroom.umd.edu
/"Civic Engagement and Social Change in a Global Context"/