A Killing In Choctaw lands on TV and in the classroom

By Kal Frederick
Bay Area News Wire Service
10/17/2005

A Killing In Choctaw" is a one-man play, written and performed by Carl Ray. The play is about his life growing up in Alabama. In 1962, Carl's Father was murdered because Carl responded to questions from a white man by saying "yes" and "no" instead of "yes sir" and "no sir."

Carl's story soon will be studied by 11th graders in one of the nation's largest school systems. A version of the play that includes a question-and-answer session with students will be introduced into the Los Angeles Unified School District as part of the high school curriculum on race.

Brian Hefferon, a producer at KLCS television in Los Angeles, learned of Ray from a review of a documentary film about his life in the New York Times. The film, "A Killing In Choctaw, the Power of Forgiveness," premiered in San Jose.

Heffron called Ray and asked if he was interested in taping his play for educational television programming.

"It kind of took me by surprise," Ray said of the request. "It's great that my life story is going to be the focal point of the civil rights study. My Father still lives and will be remember in American history. I'm proud of that. But it's not just my story. It's an African American story. Incidents like this happen to thousands of African American families.

For the segment filmed in Los Angeles earlier this summer, about 50 students from two schools were selected to become audience members. The group first attended a seminar about Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent figures in the civil rights struggle.

A week later, they were bused to the television studio to watch Ray perform the play. The teens sat in low-slung chairs and on couches, watching Ray relive some of the most painful parts of his life.

The KLCS viewers will be able to view the documentary film and play in October. The documentary film will air on October 25 and the play airs on October 26 & 30, 2005.

The documentary film was used as part of a civil rights course at the University of Alabama Birmingham this summer. The course, "The Historical Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement Through the Lens of Education," also included discussions with former civil rights activists (including Ray), scholars and field trips to historic sites across the Southeast to examine the civil rights movement and its lasting impact on public education. The course was offered by the UAB schools of Education and Arts & Humanities.

This past summer, he began working with school leaders in Birmingham to create a mentoring program that includes tours of the Civil Rights Institute and college campuses for students in Alabama's largest city. "It seems like this thing is growing up and taking on a life of its own," Ray said. "It's bigger than me." Ray continues performing his play and premiering his documentary film at theaters, colleges and churches through America.

© www.carlraye.com 2005