PBS Documentary Based on Bard College Clemente Course Students to Air on Martin Luther King Day

“I could hit a reset on everything that was painful and traumatic to me and really go out and get the life that I deserved but never had.” So says Kafi Dixon in A Reckoning in Boston, a new PBS documentary that will premiere on Martin Luther King Day, January 17. The film follows Dixon and Carl Chandler, a fellow student in Bard’s Clemente Course in the Humanities—a free, college-accredited program for low-income adults—as they are immersed in the study of Baldwin, Monet, Plato, and many others, all while working to combat racial inequality and gentrification in their city. 

The Boston Globe called the film “an absolute must-see,” Arts Fuse named it among the 10 best documentaries of the year, and Cornel West observed that it “lays bare the transformative force of the humanities in our lives in these turbulent and troubling times.”

For 25 years in more than 30 programs across the country, the Clemente Course has helped lift people out of poverty and offered them the skills to advocate for themselves, build better futures, and contribute to the civic life of their communities. Dixon and Chandler are just two of the many remarkable students—many of whom have faced poverty, homelessness, and interrupted education—who have experienced Clemente as a site of personal growth.
Kafi Dixon is an urban and rural farmer and founder of the Common Good Co-op, Boston’s first cooperative for women and its first worker/owner urban farm co-op. Carl Chandler is a grandfather and a public speaker who continued his education at Harvard University after completing the Clemente Course.

Director James Rutenbeck worked with Dixon, Chandler, and the Clemente Course for more than five years. Dixon and Chandler’s roles evolved and they became collaborators and coproducers on the film, which has given them a voice in a national conversation about racism, social justice, and how to bring about lasting change.

In most markets, A Reckoning in Boston will air on January 17 at 10:00 pm ET on PBS stations, but local listings may vary. 

Further Reading from the Clemente Course Blog
The World Premiere of a Very Clemente Story
A “Reckoning” in the Classroom



Post Date: 01-12-2022