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Celebrating The Activism And Life Of Al McSurely

A photo for the new film 'Al: My Brother,' written, produced, and directed by Cash Michaels.
A photo for the new film 'Al: My Brother,' written, produced, and directed by Cash Michaels.
A photo for the new film 'Al: My Brother,' written, produced, and directed by Cash Michaels.
Credit Courtesy of Cash Michaels
A photo for the new film 'Al: My Brother,' written, produced, and directed by Cash Michaels.

Al McSurely is a white man who has been fighting white supremacy for almost 60 years. McSurely’s activism began in the early 1960s with groups like the Congress of Racial Equity and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He worked alongside civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael, and eventually became an attorney who fought on behalf of victims of racial discrimination.

In 2005 he started working with Rev. William Barber and helped to create the Moral Monday Movement. His long legacy of social justice activism is honored in the new film “Al: My Brother.” Host Frank Stasio talks to filmmaker Cash Michaels about documenting the life and legacy of McSurely. Michaels is a journalist who wrote, directed and produced “Al: My Brother.” The film will be screened at the 75th Annual NC NAACP State Convention at the Raleigh Convention Center on Friday, Dec. 7.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.