content from the NYU DC Dialogues Newsletter
NYU Washington, DC and the Bertelsmann Foundation will co-host this evening's screening and discussion of, Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC as part of the DC Dialogues Chocolate City series. Featured speakers as part of the post-screening panel include Msia Kibona Clark, PhD, (moderator) Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Africana Studies, Howard University, Kendall Ellis, Musician, Artist, Entrepreneur, Willow Lung-Amam, PhD, Associate Professor, Urban Studies and Planning; Director, Community Development, National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, University of Maryland, Tiffany Marquise Jones, PhD, Harper College.and Ron Moten, Community Organizer, Co-Founder, Don't Mute DC.
For decades, Washington, DC has been a beacon for Black culture and community. Now, however, a wave of economic and cultural gentrification occurring at breakneck speed threatens to erase this history. Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC, a documentary film by Samuel George of the Bertelsmann Foundation, dives into this rich and colorful tapestry and the forces behind the gentrification that stand to mute it. The film interweaves scenes of protest as displaced communities take to the streets to rally around the city’s beloved Go-Go music.
Featuring interviews with legends of Go-Go such as Big Tony, Sugar Bear, and Anwan “Big G” Clover, as well as business leaders such as Richard “Dickie” Shannon of Horace and Dickie’s and Virginia Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl, the film offers an historical overview of the cultural and economic forces that made Washington, DC “Chocolate City”. But as protesters for racial justice took to the District’s streets in the summer of 2020, the music took on another life. The documentary follows this movement with vérité scenes of protests and marches that often centered Go-Go bands, performing live on the back of flatbed trucks.