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Ella Powell:

You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville. On Saturday, August 9th at 7:30 pm, Vinegar
Hill Theater is showing “The Price of Resistance: Sala Udin, An American Agitator” and
“Uprooted,” presented by the Indie Short Film Festival. Both documentaries recount
stories of black resistance from the 1960s. For Arts This Week, we spoke to Ty Cooper, a
co-producer of The Price of Resistance.

Ty Cooper:

My name is Ty Cooper. I’m associate director of the film “The Price of Resistance.” It’s a
very deep and soulful documentary, and this was like a story that kind of started in the 60s.
I met Annette banks. She was working on a film called “Freedom House Ambulance,”
which is about the first EMT service in the country, which was in Pittsburgh to serve the
black community. That’s how the EMT service started in this country. I screened it here in
Charlottesville. I sent her my film which I was working on at that same time, called
“Amanda.” It was a narrative film that I wrote, directed, and produced. She liked that. One
day, she just said, hey, this gentleman who was in “Freedom House Ambulance” named
Sala Udin, he has such an amazing story. Would you help me tell that story? Annette had
the project in mind, but nothing was done. But we continued to do research together. You
know, she did her research. I did mine. I really dived into it, because the story was so
important. What Sala did in his early 20s, he left the comfort of his home in Pittsburgh and
ran down to Mississippi in 1965. That was when the three civil rights activists were
murdered by the KKK. So not everyone was really running down there. People did—
courageous people. It’s not just about Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr, Adam Clayton
Powers, you know, it’s not just about them. It’s many of the other foot soldiers that did
amazing work. There’s a lot of stories out there that we don’t have a clue about.

Ella Powell:

What did you find most interesting while working on the documentary?

Ty Cooper:

I learned a lot about Sala, but not only just this courageous man, this change maker,
but also learned more about the FBI counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO, you know,
where they surveyed innocent people, we actually interviewed a gentleman who was a
retired FBI agent of 30 years. You heard about the use of it against you know, Martin Luther
King, Jr, Malcolm X, Black Panthers. But there were also many people who weren’t even
fighters of the cause. They may have been supporters, and they were also targeted. Salah
didn’t know that he was being targeted. That’s a key difference. When they put a plan
together where they need to neutralize you.

Ella Powell:

The FBI agent, who you all had in the documentary, he was actually working around
this time?

Ty Cooper:

Yeah. He was in Mississippi and Alabama, doing some work, you know, for the FBI
under Hoover’s administration. He was dedicated to the law. When you are committed to
your work, there’s the umbrella that he’s under, right? You got to know what’s right. There’s
a lot that we have from him that’s not even in the short that will make it into the feature. So
when you see the short, you’re going to feel full. My friend Paul Wagner, he and his wife
have a great film, the Georgia O’Keeffe film. He was like, okay, so I don’t feel like I’m
missing anything. And I was like, oh, man, you don’t even know the half.

Ella Powell:

One significant overlap that I found between “The Price of Resistance” and the
companion documentary, “Uprooted,”…

Ty Cooper:

Yup, Uprooted is coming.

Ella Powell:

… is the joint emphasis both documentaries put on the continuous displacement of
black communities with the support of federal policies, like how eminent domain allowed
Christopher Newport University overtake the Shoe Lane community, and then how the
Lower Hill District in Pittsburgh, where Udin grew up, like that was taken over by redlining.

Ty Cooper:

Exactly.

Ella Powell:

How do the price of resistance and uprooted join in an intersecting conversation,
considering that they each share stories of black resistance in 1960s America?
Ty: Great question. Let’s look at America as one big piece of fabric. You have all these
common threads, but then you have some threads that’s a little like they had to use a
different yarn. So, when it comes down to the 1960s which was like a blemish in America’s
history, when I saw her film “Uprooted,” I said, you know what? We’re covering different
information, but we’re covering the same time frame, and we’re covering information that
does overlap.

Ella Powell:

I mean, it’s even significant having the film in that location.

Ty Cooper:

Yeah, for sure.

Ella Powell:

That used to be a black neighborhood.

Ty Cooper:

Yeah, Vinegar Hill community and the Hill District. You know, being uprooted, it’s just
like twin cities. All the same policies destroys the opportunities for human beings and it
was black human beings. Experiencing that as a kid, that fueled him to fight back. It’s not
about being displaced for him. But that is the thing that was a driving factor, because it’s
part of his makeup.

Ella Powell:

What types of reactions and ongoing conversations have sparked amongst
community members and different audiences after viewing these films?

Ty Cooper:

Well, we always have a panel discussion after the films, right? We have people who cry
in the audience, tears flowing, men, women, and we had people who were just so shocked.
For me, as a black man in America, I learned from the film and my research, but nothing
was surprising. I think that the audience always have that wow factor.

Ella Powell:

I want to ask like, what would you say the significance of these films are like at this
political moment?

Ty Cooper:

These films are a reminder of what happened. We trying to give you an opportunity to
learn something that you may not have known, and then to watch what’s happening today,
because there’s certain policies that could take us right back to a certain time frame.
History can repeat itself. And some people say history is repeating itself right now. That’s
what makes this documentary really relevant. There are certain policies that were put in
place to protect a classified group of people, and now those policies are being removed
and taken down and broken apart, to the point where you have college and universities
presidents stepping down or being threatened, you know, help people get to the point
where they like, okay, you know what? We can’t let this happen. Think that we really need
to kind of get to that and make sure that we don’t allow things that’s happening today to
continue to happen. You know, protest. Just fight back the way you can fight back.

Ella Powell:

How can listeners find out more about this film?

Ty Cooper:

We are sending it to film festivals and screening it independently the way we’re doing. I
like screening independently. This is what I do. I’m a promoter. I promoted over 1700
events since 1993.
If we come to your area and screen it, then pay attention to that. But what you can do is go
to https://www.lifeviewmarketingandvisuals.com/. We have it up there. Like the screening
dates. We’re going to be probably working it for another year. We want to go to about 20
different cities throughout the country and also submit it to some film festivals. It’s not for
the programmer who’s saying, Now I only want eight-minute films now. They have to be
people who love art and understand the importance of the story.

Ella Powell:

On August 9th, “The Price of Resistance,” co-produced by Ty Cooper and Annette
Banks, is screening along with “Uprooted,” directed by Brandi Kellam followed by a panel
discussion. Vinegar Hill Theater is located at 220 West Market St. Tickets are $23 and may
be purchased through the Event Brite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-price-of
resistance-sala-udin-an-american-agitator-film-screening-tickets
1443841722459?aff=oddtdtcreator.