Discrimination in the U.S.

After more than 50 years of activity, Amnesty International does not slow down its commitment to promoting freedom and justice worldwide. It recently made headlines with reports on the human rights violations committed by Turkish authorities during the Gezi Park protests. It engages a controversial debate with Barack Obama to remind him of his promise to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. But most of all, the organization, strong of over 3 million supporters, is engaging a new strategy to increase its global relevance in the protection of human rights. The effort is led by Salil Shetty, the organization’s eighth Secretary General. A long-term activist on poverty and justice, Salil Shetty was Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign, where he played a key role in promoting global awareness on the Millennium Development Goals, and chief executive of ActionAid, which he helped transform into one of the world’s foremost international development NGOs. Son of a campaigning journalist and a feminist activist, Salil Shetty studied at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and at the London School of Economics. For Shetty, Amnesty needs to become truly international and more grassroots-oriented – especially in countries like India and Brazil as well as on the African continent. At Falling Walls, Salil Shetty presents his vision for human rights today. 2013. 20 minutes

American history is rich with stories of social change inspired by the actions of motivated individuals and organized groups. Today’s activists are no different—facing long odds against powerful and systemic special interests. In this edition of Moyers & Company, Bill Moyers talks with young but very experienced organizers George Goehl, Ai-Jen Poo, and Sarita Gupta, all involved with a nationwide citizens’ initiative called the 99% Spring, which took place the week of April 9, 2012. Organizers aimed to train 100,000 Americans to teach about income inequality in homes, places of worship, campuses, and the streets. The program concludes with a Moyers essay on what citizens can do to find out who’s paying for all those political ads running on their local television stations. Broadcast date: March 30, 2012. (56 minutes)

No one grasps the connections between social activism, electoral politics, and racial issues better than Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), perhaps the most prominent living veteran of the American civil rights movement. In 2007, he received the Robert J. Dole Leadership Prize from the University of Kansas and, in conjunction with the award, granted this in-depth interview before a live audience. Rep. Lewis discusses an epic range of topics, including his childhood in segregated Alabama; his first meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the backstage dilemma over his speech at the finale of the March on Washington; his role in the attempted march from Selma to Montgomery; the ongoing need for social activism today; and more. 2008. (58 minutes)

May 4, 1970 Kent State University. Sixty-seven shots in 13 seconds. Thirteen horrifying seconds in American history that resulted in the deaths of four students and the wounding of nine others. Some choose to forget. Others fight to keep the bitter lessons alive for new generations. Try as they may, the survivors cannot escape the questions and the accusations that fly as each anniversary comes and goes. The haunting LIFE photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio poised in anguish over the body of a slain student; the fervor of the wounded student-activist, still consumed by the need for justice 30 years later; the former Guardsman, living with a badge of shame few could imagine; the gentle perspective of the former student permanently paralyzed by an M-1 rifle; the sociology professor who witnessed the madness and now teaches its lessons to new generations at Kent State. The survivors have scattered but they will forever share a bitter bond. Kent State is a portrait of the pain shared by an entire nation. After 30 years, the bloodstains are not forgotten. 2001. 48 minutes