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Documentary spotlights Black Brooklyn freedom-fighting institution The East
by JR Valrey, Minister of Information, SF Bay View Oakland Bureau
One of the most important documentary films screening at this year’s Oakland International Film Festival is a film called “The Sun Rises in the East” (2022), which is about The East, the Black Power organization that existed in Brooklyn in the ‘70s that created the Uhuru Sasa Shule (Freedom Now School) and the International African Arts Festival, among other major political and cultural milestones.
Similar to the effect that the Black Panther Party had on the foundational culture of the Bay Area – and northern Cali’s Black mecca, Oakland, in particular – The East played a role in the culture of Brooklyn, a borough of NYC and a Black mecca for culture, politics, Black cinema and hip-hop and more to this day.
Filmmakers Tayo and Cynthia Gordy Giwa did a great job at bringing the revolutionary community work of The East to the silver screen, and you could check out their documentary, “The Sun Rises in the East,” on Sept. 18 for free at Liberation Park, 7101 Foothill Boulevard, East Oakland. Check them out in their own words as they describe what went into this monumental documentary.
JR Valrey: What inspired you, as a filmmaker, to want to make a film about the Black Brooklyn freedom-fighting institution The East?
Cynthia Gordy Giwa: The film is an extension of what we’ve been doing for the past four and a half years with Black-Owned Brooklyn, our Instagram and digital publication. Since 2018, we’ve been documenting local Black history and culture to help ensure that these contributions are understood, celebrated and ultimately preserved.
We first learned about The East in 2019 while researching a post on the International African Arts Festival, and their story always stuck with us. Particularly the fact that – for everything that The East created, and despite the role they played in the Black Power Movement nationally and globally, and despite all the ways they’ve influenced the culture of Black Brooklyn to this day, their story isn’t widely known.
Tayo Giwa: We wanted to illuminate this story – and to tell it mostly in the voices of people who actually lived it. As the demographics of our community change, its history is often erased. So it’s crucial to preserve the ethos of independence, creativity and cultural pride that was cultivated in Bed-Stuy in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Also, Black creativity is an important resource to make use of. We should be the ones telling our stories and documenting our culture. The East’s story would be presented really differently if it were filtered through the white gaze or Hollywood sensationalism. So when it came to the idea of a documentary lifting up The East and all they created, we thought, why not us?
JR Valrey: After doing your research, what impact do you think that The East had on Black revolutionary politics in New York and throughout the country?
Tayo Giwa: The East’s particular brand of Black activism – independent and intensely proud – has reverberated for generations in Central Brooklyn. Through building not only its own school but dozens more institutions and businesses, it provided an inspiring model for Black self-determination that laid the groundwork for a thriving Black business community that continues to this day. Central Brooklyn has one of the highest concentrations of Black-owned businesses in the United States, and we don’t think that’s a coincidence.
You can also see The East’s influence in the constant flashes of red, black and green: wrapped around trees, displayed in flags flying from brownstones, painted on neighborhood playgrounds and fire hydrants. Even the African-centered preschool that our daughter attends, designed to instill her with a positive self-identity, grew out of The East.
But the story of The East is meaningful beyond just our local community. With its location at the Marcus Garvey Armory (formerly the Sumner Armory), it became a central meeting point for organizations involved in the ‘70s Black Liberation Movement, including the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and the Congress of Afrikan People, as well as comrades across Africa and the Caribbean. One of our goals for the film is to help bring The East into the mainstream understanding and lexicon of this era.
JR Valrey: For those of us out west, what is the significance of the International African Arts Festival, which had its 50th birthday in 2021, to the culture of Brooklyn?
Cynthia Gordy Giwa: The International African Arts Festival (originally known as the Afrikan Street Carnival) was founded in 1971 by The East to raise funds for the organization’s independent school, called Uhuru Sasa Shule. It has become the nation’s largest and longest-running celebration of cultures across the African Diaspora.
Now in its 50th (plus) year, the IAAF is a fourth of July weekend staple providing four days of music, dance, food and art at Fort Greene’s Commodore Barry Park. With performances of soca, jazz, salsa and R&B; to dance showcases including routines from traditional West African to contemporary hip-hop; to a marketplace bustling with jewelry, clothing, sculptures, paintings and wellness products, the International African Arts Festival is rooted in Black self-determination and Black joy and is truly a celebration of us.
JR Valrey: In your opinion how has gentrification affected the culture and politics of Bed-Stuy and Brooklyn as a whole?
Tayo Giwa: Bed-Stuy’s Black population decreased by nearly 30% over 20 years. In 2000, the neighborhood was 75% Black. By 2019, it was 45.6% Black. This dynamic is playing out in cities across the country, including Philadelphia, D.C. and Oakland.
Accordingly, “The Sun Rises in The East” is also a love letter to present-day (yet rapidly changing) Bedford-Stuyvesant – not only the physical beauty of the neighborhood, but its strong sense of community, love for our culture, and Black joy that is still here and continues to nourish us on a daily basis.
JR Valrey: Why did you enter “The Sun Rises in the East” documentary into the Oakland International Film Festival? What did you want the Bay Area to see?
Tayo Giwa: There are a lot of similarities between Oakland and Brooklyn, including their proximity to neighboring urban centers, their historically large Black populations and revolutionary political activities during the ‘70s. We felt that this was a story that would resonate with folks in Oakland.
JR Valrey: How long did it take to shoot this documentary from concept to post production?
Cynthia Gordy Giwa: It took us about a year, from concept to completion of post production.
JR Valrey: What effect do you hope to have on the movie-goers that screen “The Sun Rises in the East”?
Tayo Giwa: The East really tackled white supremacy at its psychological root by thinking about things like: How do you shape Black minds? How do you shape Black aspiration and belief in self? What role can education and culture play in our liberation? They were experimenting and taking risks, and they were making mistakes as well – but they ultimately did transformative work for our community. With “The Sun Rises in The East,” we wanted to capture a history worthy of reverence and a powerful legacy that should be known far and wide.
As leaders in the present-day movement for racial justice think about ways to advance their cause, The East’s model shows how ordinary people working together can build long standing institutions and community for themselves.
JR Valrey: How has the documentary been received in Brooklyn, and outside of it?
Cynthia Gordy Giwa: There’s been a lot of energy around the film. In August, we just held two packed local screenings at Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza and Clinton Hill’s Jitu Weusi Plaza. We showed at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, where we were shortlisted for Best Documentary, and the People’s Film Festival in Harlem, where we won for Best Documentary. This month we’ll also be showing at BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta and Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Ala.
JR Valrey: When and where is your film screening at the Oakland International Film Festival?
Tayo Giwa: We’re going to be screening the film at the Oakland International Film Festival on Sept. 18 at Liberation Park at The Black Cultural Zone, 7101 Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, at the corner of 73rd Avenue and Foothill. You can see more details here: www.oiff.org/sept-18th.
JR Valrey, journalist, author, filmmaker and founder of Black New World Media, heads the SF Bay View’s Oakland Bureau and is founder of his latest project, the Ministry of Information Podcast. He can be reached at blockreportradio@gmail.com, on Facebook and on Instagram @ministryof411podcast.Visit www.BlackNewWorldMedia.com to read more.
