New documentary commemorates Atlanta race riot on 116th anniversary

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) – A brand new documentary commemorating the 1906 Atlanta race riot premiered Thursday night time on the 116th anniversary of the tragedy.

Individuals gathered on the Nationwide Heart for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta to observe the movie.

“I believed the documentary was a tremendous strategy to shed gentle not solely on how these previous cases have occurred, but in addition how these identical persisting points whether or not it’s authorized, financial, socioeconomic, all of these points all coincide into right this moment’s society,” England Meadows stated.

The race riot started on September 22, 1906 when a white supremacist mob started concentrating on black properties and black households throughout Atlanta.

The riot lasted three days and an estimated 25 to 100 folks had been killed.

Atlanta native Adria Kitchens says she didn’t be taught concerning the riot till later in life. Now she desires to assist educate others.

“The story shouldn’t be extensively identified,” Kitchens stated. “I grew up in Atlanta and once I was in social research I didn’t be taught this story. It’s now a part of the curriculum and I feel most adults don’t know the story. And I feel part of what we needed to do is share that story.”

The documentary casts a highlight on an vital second in Atlanta historical past. Kitchens and others say it’s a narrative that must be amplified.

“These points have to be addressed. We have to look again on our historical past. To not solely change the current, however you recognize going into the longer term as properly,” Meadows stated.

The Nationwide Heart for Civil and Human Rights, together with different coalition companions, have launched an internet petition to alter the title from Atlanta Race Riot to Atlanta Race Bloodbath when referenced on-line, within the media, and within the instructional curriculum.

“That phrase riot doesn’t completely and precisely describe what occurred in 1906,” stated scholar and activist, Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris. “Sadly if we don’t acknowledge it and perceive the causes of it, it will likely be part of our future,” stated Dr. Myrick-Harris.

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