and i m joined by the stars of the big payback and as well the founder of first repair. i have to start with you, my friend, eric alexander. talk about the genesis of this film. yes, thank you so much for having us on. the big payback genesis is it s a documentary about reparations. directed by me and a white malle co-conspirator and clan nator whitney dowd, and it s following the historic stories of alderman robin simmons and congresswoman sheila jackson lee. we started this at the initial hearings in 2019, and then we heard about what are robin simmons did and totally pistd on got there and started filming her where we witnessed her beginning to implement the ground breaking bill in evanston as the tax reparations bill in america. that s what we did, and we ve been following congresswoman lee
sunday commemorates jooept, recognizing the emancipation of black americans. it s been 38 years since john congersman introduced hr-40 now sponsored by sheilla jackson lee. every coming has failed to pass it. call year hr-40 got further than ever passing the house judiciary committee but it remains stalled. while congress languishes on address the wrongs inflicted on generations of black americans, cities and states are taking action. last year evanston, illinois became the first city to issue slavery reparations, a $10 million project funded with revenue from recreational marijuana sales. the new documentary pig bay pac followed the fight for the reparations and congressman sheila jackson lea s fight to
pass hr-40. we were so excited when we saw the legislation. we ve used it in preparations that we ve made. wow. i use your out standing cop struct. you ve been a real hero to me, shero to me. being a member of the national league of city, we learn that governments start locally and the thought is why not do what we can do at a local level while hr-40 is working through its process, through your leadership. we could have layers of repair and layers of remedy because as we know the damages, yes, were rooted in slavery but, you know, it look like discrimination each today because of the color of our dark skin. last week i joined simmons and congresswoman jackson lee along with co-directors actress eric alexander and filmmaker whitney dowd for the premiere of the big payback at the tribeca and my husband jason and i are among the co-executive producers
leading the 30-year fight to pass the national study in congress. and whitney i know you from the whiteness project. that s how we met. used to speak to my classes when i used to teach at syracuse. why did you t wte filmmaker like yourself to be involved in a project that was about reparations? why should white audiences care about in? well, we created the situation. it s our job to solve, it right? i mean, we created slavery. we created the structural racism that disenfranchised black americans for generations, and i really feel like i hope that when audiences watch this film, they see a place for them in the story and that they need, to you know, step up to the plate and participate in the repair. absolutely. robin, you know, we get to know you and your daughter and your family through this film. talk about the fight because it was a fight to try to not only get the reparations project in place, but also to have the recipients in the community of