Activist and filmmaker Ira McKinley recently appeared on Democracy Now! to talk about his path from prison to homelessness to community television in Northampton to spending the last number of years crafting a film as co-director and subject in The Throwaways.
“When I was homeless, sleeping in a tent, I wanted to document my journey. So I put—actually, what happened, I put together a homeless artist showcase one year. Because of me being homeless, I wanted to show the goodness of homeless people. And I wanted to document that. But I lost control of the project, so they said, “Well, if you want to do it, you need to learn how to do it yourself.” So I went to Northampton Community Television, and I learned how to film and edit there.”
(Ira gives us a shout-out around 8:40)
Community media was only a small part of Ira’s story, but this is a potentially powerful story of the kind of change we can be partners in affecting in people’s lives – as spaces for education, hope, and voice.
