Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Life Story of Rita Bo Brown


Support our Kickstarter campaign online here
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1152227320/the-gentleman-bank-robber-the-life-story-of-rita-b

Campaign ends August 2.*

*The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Life Story of Rita Bo Brown* will be a
short documentary film that tells the story of Bo Brown, a white
working-class Butch from rural Oregon and a member of the revolutionary George
Jackson Brigade <http://www.gjbip.org/>. The film is collaboration among
three friends and supporters of Bo who live in Portland, Oregon: Lydia
Bartholow, Erin McNamara, and Julie
Perini<http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6gertMOxX1rzrn6to1_1280.jpg>.


The people who make social movements happen and change the course of
history do not always have time to document their activities for the
benefit of future generations. Bo's life stories are too important to
leave untold: she participated in struggles for queer liberation in the
1960s and 1970s; she is a former social prisoner now organizing to support
other people in prison through her work at the Prison Activist Resource
Center in Oakland, California; and she was a member of the George Jackson
Brigade, a militant, revolutionary, prison abolitionist group based in
Seattle, Washington in the 1970s. As a member of the George Jackson
Brigade, Bo became known as “The Gentleman Bank Robber” for combining her
butch style of dress with a polite way of demanding funds from bank
tellers, one of the ways the Brigade funded its militant activities to
protest military aggression, injustice, and exploitation in the United
States and around the world. There is so much we can learn from people like
Bo: let's start learning now.

We are looking to fund our trip to Oakland this summer to interview Bo and
document her life, and to create a DVD to distribute the documentary.
Please join us in making this important project happen by donating to our
Kickstarter campaign online
here<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1152227320/the-gentleman-bank-robber-the-life-story-of-rita-b>
. This may become part of a larger project about Bo and the George Jackson
Brigade, in which case we’ll look forward to your participation again. Due
to current health issues, Bo asks that questions about and support for the
project be directed to one of us working on the project - Lydia Bartholow,
Erin McNamara, and Julie Perini. You can reach us at the general email
address for the project, gentlemanbankrobber@gmail.com. Find out more
about the project at http://gentlemanbankrobber.tumblr.com/.

*All of your support counts and every contribution comes with a rad reward
like a copy of the DVD, a screenprinted T-shirt, books about the George
Jackson Brigade, and more. Thank you in advance!*

No comments:

Post a Comment