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Community Corner

Unseen RFK Footage Screened at Library

Westport's multi-cultural group presents a documentary of Robert Kennedy's historic 1966 trip to South Africa.

A strong showing of local residents gathered at the Westport library tonight to screen RFK in the Land of Apartheid: A Ripple of Hope. The film is a new documentary on Robert Kennedy's 1966 visit to South Africa during the darkest years of oppression, which draws parallels between the South African struggle and the American civil rights movement.

Filmmaker Larry Shore was in attendance to present this previously unseen historical footage and answer questions afterward.

The event was presented by TEAM Westport, a volunteer organization formed in 2003 to promote a more welcoming, multi-cultural community. Tonight's film was the 7th event in its ongoing series, "Conversations on Race," and drew a crowd of around 70.

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Kennedy's unprecedented South Africa trip was initiated when the senator was invited by the University of Cape Town to deliver an address. "I never expected he'd say yes," recalls the university president in the film. Nor did they expect the government to issue him a visa.

Kennedy, accompanied by Ethel, then went on to Johannesburg, Soweto, and Durban – speaking at top universities, mingling with people in urban slums, greeting cheering throngs while standing on the roof of his car (without any security).

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Shore spent eight years working on the film, unearthing historical footage lost in the archives of the BBC and NBC. To put the vintage clips in context, he interwove interviews with photographers and journalists who covered the event, RFK's erstwhile speechwriter, a daughter, Chief Lutuli, then president of the African National Congress -- even Ted Kennedy in his last interview before taking ill.

Shore explained his motivation for the project: "I always believed it was an important story. It had all the ingredients and it resonated."

The question-and-answer session with the director following the film was insightful and intelligent, sparking a lively discussion on the political risks Kennedy took in making the trip and the lingering impact it might have had on the institution of apartheid. (There was just one cringe-worthy moment when one audience member asked "What's happening in Africa now?" to which Shore responded, "South Africa? Africa is 54 countries.")

When asked what Shore learned during the making of the film, he explained, "I was amazed by how many South Africans still remember the visit and how few Americans have ever heard of it. But you've got to remember, South Africa was not only oppressive, it was boring. So Robert Kennedy coming in was like Bono and the Rolling Stones."

As much as the purpose of the historic trip to was to pull back the curtain on the apartheid's inhumanity, RFK took a lot away, as well. Says Shore, "It was very courageous of Kennedy to go. I think he knew he'd learn something there. He deepened his understanding of racism and America's role in the world."  

 

 

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