panel

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I was invited by one of the producers to see a new short documentary, Marriage Equality, at Harlem Stage. The doc was a compelling piece on the role that Byron Rushing and other African-American activists played in winning marriage equality in Massachusetts, although it felt a bit cut short at 15 minutes. The panel discussion was even more interesting. That is Jonathan Capehart moderating on the far left. The gentlemen directly right of him was in the doc and gave a moving statement. The man next to him is a pentecostal minister and is actually against gay marriage. It's very rare that you have an opposing view like that at this sort of event, he was actually gracious and humorous in his opposition and gave some insight on what it might take to engage the 23 million African-Americans who belong to the black church in American and would probably have similar views to his. The man second from the right is Russell Simons, a hip-hop music mogul. People in the audience were extremely impressed with his presence - the power of celebrity. The next morning I happened to catch a podcast with the director on Talk of the Nation, he had an amazing publicist!