Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, 7 St. Louis college students evolve into advocates and activists as they demand change through policy and protest.

Amidst the uprising in Ferguson, seven St. Louis college students evolve into advocates and activists as they demand change through policy and protest and test the validity of the Margaret Mead quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Show Me Democracy documents the efforts of The Scholarship Foundation’s Education Policy Internship Program, which empowers students to research education policy issues that affect them and their peers, and to coordinate efforts to influence public policy around increasing post-secondary educational access for low-income students. The documentary follows the interns’ initial frustrations with police brutality and failing school systems; their first meetings as a team; one student’s experience of being tear-gassed on the streets of Ferguson; and the group’s visits with Missouri representatives. At the state capitol, they advocate for educational reforms that would improve educational access for students of color, those with limited financial resources, and immigrant students in Missouri. The film examines the students’ personal lives and diverse backgrounds, follows them as they cope with the events in Ferguson, and will ultimately reveal whether a group of committed young people can make a difference in complex and imperfect systems.

Show Me Democracy functions as a powerful tool that educates young people on not only the need for educational advocacy, but the power they have to affect change for themselves and those around them. Too often young people are dismissed as a group without the right to have their views considered or their interests independently represented at any level of decision making. One of the film’s taglines represents that well “Nothing about me, without me.” Our audiences will realize they have the capacity, potential, power, and right to speak up on those issues that directly affect them and their peers.

Before Michael Brown was killed, I had only been to Ferguson once even though I had lived in St. Louis for over 25 years. As his death and the subsequent community response became an international story, I wondered if I should be a part of documenting what was happening in Ferguson. I had made documentaries in Kenya, Malawi and Nicaragua, and now there was a story to be told in my own backyard. I went out to an organized protest, and there were so many cameras there. I quickly realized this wasn’t my story to tell. Two months later we heard a series of gunshots just blocks from our apartment.

Vonderrit Myers, a young man who the police say was armed, was shot and killed in a confrontation with an off duty police officer just blocks from our house. This was a young man I had probably driven past nearly every day on my way home. A day later, right outside our front door, we heard drumming and protesters chanting “Out of Your Homes and Into the Streets! Out of Your Homes and Into the Streets!” I went out with my camera into the streets and started filming. For the first few weeks, I didn’t know why I was filming or what might come of it, but literally every day there were people protesting right by my house.

A few weeks later I had a meeting with Faith Sandler, the executive director of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis (where I had been a student receiving funds years before).  She told me, “We’re doing this unorthodox, advocacy internship program,.” I asked, “When does this program start?” And she said, “In an hour.” I ran home, got my film gear, and that was the day the story started to come together revolving around the Active Advocacy Internship program.

One of the biggest personal drivers for this film is that for two years prior, I had been mentoring students from Roosevelt High School, a local high school in St. Louis city with an organization called Young Life. I had worked with students with similar backgrounds and life experiences to Mike Brown. These students are very close to my heart and they’re friends of mine and I felt in a lot of ways, I was making this movie for them.

The story quickly evolved to be about a lot more than Ferguson as an event or a place or a movement, but about how inequity shows itself most in education systems. Our vision was to connect what was happening in Ferguson with police-community relations with the history of systematic injustice in St. Louis specifically in terms of education.

As a white male originally from a more affluent part of the city (though I experienced financial hardship too), I think my privilege offered me an interesting perspective. Living in the city, being married to a social worker, and volunteering in our city’s public schools gave me some insight on inequality. Growing up white in well-funded school districts in the suburbs, I also understood what the majority was thinking about the Ferguson protests. One of my biggest realizations was that when we were talking about Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter movement, people are often talking in code about very different things. Often when white people from the suburbs heard about protests in Ferguson and Black Lives Matter, they imagined burning buildings, overturned cars, hate directed at police officers, or things like that. When my black friends were involved in or talked about the protests, they saw those events as fighting for justice, fighting for “US.” This is what you will see in the film: struggling schools; lack of quality housing; lack of opportunity; as well as personal experiences with police profiling. In the film, you’ll hear individuals thinking about their friends who have been shot by the police and about structural inequality that’s been in place for hundreds of years. Among us, we are often using the same words while talking about different things. As a community, we’ve been having two different conversations.

My hope is that the film challenges audiences to consider the way they view the Ferguson Movement and the underlying issues of race, poverty, undocumented students, our current educational system and most importantly, what role individuals can play in our messy democracy. As Brittany says, “Every person has a role to play.” Your voice is a gift and a chance to make sure the idea of “nothing about, without me” rings true in your community as well. Engagement in democracy is as important now as it has ever been.

Since the film ended, the Active Advocacy program received funding to grow the program to 100 students statewide and each of the policy interns has gone on to further their education or start new jobs, but all of them continue to speak up on the issues they care about. Each of them are fighting the issues that break their heart by doing what makes them come alive. I hope this film inspires others to do the same.

Dan Parris, Director of Show Me Democracy

A Speak Up Productions film

The Active Advocacy Coalition

The Coalition seeks to increase higher education access and affordability for students in Missouri and Illinois by inspiring, advancing, or defeating policies at the institutional, state, or federal level that affect access and success for low-income and first-generation students.

Continuity STL

One way the St. Louis community got involved with the film is through the nonprofit Continuity. Continuity’s mission is to expand diversity in media production through skills-based training, mentorships and opportunities for untapped talent. Continuity had a training program where we trained underrepresented, aspiring filmmakers to help edit and market the film. A lot of the scenes in the film were actually edited by students initially, and then fall 2016, Continuity had a program where students learned film marketing and had experts come in and speak to them. They helped design posters, logos, T-shirts, gave feedback on the trailer and they did grassroots marketing on the streets. See highlights from the Marketing & Distribution class.

Financial assistance for the Continuity training programs has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency and with support from the Regional Arts Commission.

THE Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis

The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, a nonprofit organization founded in 1920, is based upon the conviction that an educated citizenry is essential to a healthy democracy. The Scholarship Foundation provides access to postsecondary education to members of our community who otherwise would not have the financial means to fulfill their educational goals.

The Foundation sees higher education as a catalyst, an agent of change for individuals, families, communities, and nations. They envision a community that recognizes the importance of educational attainment and assures positive educational outcomes are accessible to all regardless of economic circumstance. In their community, doors will not be closed to those lack financial resources, and postsecondary education will be available to all with the potential to succeed.

This film was made in partnership with the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. Financial assistance for this project was provied to them by Missouri Humanities Council and St. Louis Community Foundation.

Volunteer Lawyer & Accountants For The Arts

Though not featured in the film, the VLAA helped coordinate pro-bono legal assistance for the project. They are an incredible asset for any St. Louis artist needing legal or accounting assistance. Their mission is to provide quality direct legal and business services and ongoing educational programs for artists at every career level and across all arts disciplines.