An Occasion for Reflection, Squandered
By Cynthia Young
ASSATA AKA JOANNE CHESIMARD
(DVD, 2008), a film by Fred Baker, 93 minutes, www. filmsbyfredbaker. com
WITH SENATOR BARACK OBAMA HAVING become the United States' first black presidential candidate from one of the two dominant parties, it is useful to look back at the 1960s, a decade when the nation's racial divides seemed insurmountable. In Obama's life story, one of racial hybridity and good old "up by your boot straps" determination, many in North America have found a charismatic symbol of racial reconciliation, a signal that the civil rights era is finally, truly behind us.
But is it? What Obama's exceptional life story obscures is ...