AL: MY BROTHER

 A documentary about the extraordinary life and activism of veteran civil rights attorney Alan McSurely, currently a close advisor to Bishop Dr. William Barber, president of the NC NAACP.

For over 50 years, McSurely, 81, has fought an unrelenting battle against racism and poverty, and for equal rights for African-Americans and other citizens of color. He has always believed that blacks and whites could, and should work together for a better America. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. even invited Al to take part in the planning retreat for the 1968 Poor People’s campaign.

It can honestly be said that Al has lived virtually three lifetimes – first as a young white proponent of Black Power and member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the late 1960s, who, along with his then wife Margaret Herring, was targeted by the state and federal governments, had his belongings illegally confiscated; and was thrown in jail falsely charged with sedition against the state of Kentucky.

Then McSurely had his Fourth Amendment rights violated when a US Senate sub-committee investigating urban unrest, unlawfully secured copies of McSurely’s writings, and charged him and his wife with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate.

They were convicted and sentenced to federal prison, forcing the couple to fight in court for their rights as private American citizens not to be harassed by their government.

The McSurelys sued and won over a 17-year period. Al took part of his court award, and, deeply inspired by the representation of stellar civil rights attorneys like William Kunstler, attended law school, and became an outstanding civil rights attorney in his own right.

That’s where McSurely’s second lifetime of activism began, but this time representing the very people he swore he would always fight for.

As a civil rights attorney based out of Chapel Hill, NC, Al McSurely quickly developed a strong reputation fighting for the oppressed and disenfranchised. He fought for the poor, black housekeepers of UNC at Chapel Hill, who were working long hours for slave wages. Al also represented UNC Officer Keith Edwards, a black female police officer who had to battle racial discrimination in the workplace.

            In both landmark cases, attorney Al McSurely won, striking important blows against institutional racism and injustice.

            Soon, McSurely’s civil rights work would point him towards the third leg of his outstanding activism, and that was working with and advising the dynamic president of the NC NAACP, Rev. Dr. William Barber.

            Together with Dr. Barber, Al helped to rebuild the North Carolina state conference of the nation’s oldest and boldest civil rights organization into a world-renowned social justice coalition for equitable and meaningful public policy, that brought people from extremely diverse backgrounds and interests together to march and rally for affordable health care, equal education, fair wages, civil rights for LGBTQ citizens, an end to police abuse, voting rights, addressing poverty, in addition to an unceasing list of other issues.

            Dr. Barber credits Al McSurely with being the inspiration behind the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HK on J) March and Rally, which has drawn upwards of 80,000 people to the streets of North Carolina’s Capital City, Raleigh. And from that evolved Moral Mondays, where tens of thousands of demonstrators lobby the North Carolina General Assembly weekly while state lawmakers are in session to stop passage of repressive laws.

            McSurely was instrumental in the infamous Wilmington Ten case, working with both Dr. Barber and attorney Irving Joyner to help secure pardons of innocence for ten 1970s activists who had been wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit 40 years earlier.

            McSurely also worked very closely with the legal team of the NC NAACP in filing suit against the state of North Carolina to have its 2013 voter ID laws, and racially gerrymandered voting districts, overturned by the US Supreme Court.

            The life and work of attorney Al McSurely is meaningful and real. His contributions to the cause of justice and racial healing are monumental. And the fact that at age 81, he is still at it, still in the fight for what he truly believes in during the age of authoritarian President Donald Trump, is inspirational.

            In the aftermath of the tragedy in Charlottesville, the nation is finally catching up to where Al McSurely has been for over 50 years, devoting itself to battling the scourge of racial injustice and bigotry. But tracing and documenting the history and commitment of social justice trailblazers like Al McSurely is important for today’s movement to continue, to show young people that what they feel burning in their hearts – a yearning for a world where the color of one’s skin; their gender or sexual orientation; their religion or economic station in life, should not matter more than what kind of human being they are, or are aspiring to be.

            The film, Al: My Brother, addresses all of that, and more, through the eyes and heart of a dynamic civil rights warrior, and those he’s worked with.

            The documentary is tentatively slated to run 95 minutes, and will incorporate current interviews (Al McSurely and Margaret Herring have already done on-camera interviews), vintage news footage and archival photographs, research, and original music.

            The projected budget for the film is $60,000.

            Al: My Brother is scheduled to make its world premiere at the 2018 NC NAACP State Convention, location TBA. The production is extremely grateful to have already secured the support of Bishop Dr. Barber and the NCNAACP Executive Committee for approving the premiere.

            The producer/writer/director of the film is Cash Michaels, an award-winning journalist with CashWorks HD Productions, which has produced the 2010 documentary Obama in NC: The Path to History, and the National Newspaper Publishers Assovciation coproduction of 2014’s Pardons of Innocence: The Wilmington Ten,” in addition to a host of other films and projects seen on college campuses and theaters across the country.

            Michaels, who also writes for four North Carolina African-American newspapers, is also co-producer on the upcoming documentary, Origin of the Dream, the story of the intellectual and social justice relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and poet Langston Hughes during the height of the 1960’s civil rights movement. That project costars actor Danny Glover, the late Julian Bond, and Dr. King advisor an close friend, Ambassador Andrew Young, among others.

            We hope that this brief overview of the production of our film gives you some understanding of what we aim to accomplish in the telling of attorney Al McSurely’s inspiring story.

            We humbling thank you for your support, and look forward to completing this film in the progressive spirit of the current social justice movement that is sweeping this nation.

            Thank you.

            Cash Michaels

            producer/writer/director