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3 years ago
Current issues in America
Students talk about today's subjects. Promotional video for the Ghetto America video and documentary youth educational project.
541 views
jomox07060
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4 years ago
HIV/AIDS Overview
Epidemiologist Lisa Rose-Rodriguez discusses the overview and future of HIV-AIDS in the United States and the world.
2,254 views
jomox07060
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4 years ago
Youth Monologues
Theatrical players perform real-life scenarios about subjects affecting today's youth.
233 views
jomox07060
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4 years ago
Youth Roundtable
New Jersey high schoolers talk about crime, drugs and education in roundtable discussion.
111 views
jomox07060
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4 years ago
Aunt Eva's Words
Aunt Eva, a black woman in her 90s, discusses civil rights, religion and civil rights.
232 views
jomox07060
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About Ghetto America
Ghetto America is a cross-country examination of socioeconomic factors that affect underprivileged Americans across racial and cultural lines. Seen though the lens of journalist/filmmaker Ray Williams, this documentary project also explores personal, oftentimes hidden obstacles that make members of certain segments of American society more likely to live non-productive lives. Through our website and documentaries, it is our goal to examine the causes of these problems, challenge conventional notions about the people experiencing them and to look for solutions that won't necessarily come from lawmakers or university professors but from the very people living with these problems or those working to resolve them.
Ghetto America is a cross-country examination of socioeconomic factors that affect underprivileged Americans across racial and cultural lines. Seen though the lens of journalist/filmmaker Ray Williams, this documentary project also explores person...
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jomox07060Latest Activity
Sep 4, 2010Date Joined
Nov 10, 2006About this user
Since 1995, Ray Williams has been moving toward the idea of grassroots reporting, covering urban and rural life from the ground up. His first attempt at this kind of reporting was The Field, a self-published tabloid that covered events and people in the Greater Plainfield, N.J., area, his adopted hometown of the last 13 years. The Field was a one-time experiment that went out to 33,000 households and was well-received. Three years ago, he left The (Newark) Star-Ledger after nearly eight years to pursue his journalistic ideals. This summer, he embarks on a cross-country exploration of socioeconomic factors that negatively affect teens across cultural and racial lines. He plans to turn his interviews, observations and experiences into a documentary series called Ghetto America. By reporting on one negative factor in each of the five cities he plans to visit, he hopes to draw a diverse audience to his website, www.ghettoamerica.com. This project is his way of examining the causes of social problems, challenging conventional notions about the people experiencing them and looking for new solutions that won't necessarily come from lawmakers in Washington or university professors but from the people living with these problems and those working to resolve them.The project is also the fruition of the seeds of self-discovery planted in him while he was a student at North Carolina A&T State University. It was there that four students who would one day alter the course of history staged sit-ins to protest restaurants that would not serve black Americans. They became symbols of the Civil Rights Movement and a model for the struggle for dignity and equal rights. As the grandson and great-grandson of poor tenant farmers who lived through those times, Ray Williams believes those alumni of years past who risked their lives for their beliefs charted a path for him to carry on where they left off by being socially responsible for his community and working to serve the larger world community.