Clearly inspired by Chicago’s Jackson family — as in Jesse and Jesse Jr. — the play is set at a transitional moment when the family must process a problematic recent past and consider the future.
Using home video filmed over 20 years, 17 Blocks captures one black American family enduring the joy, loss, and the scourge of gun violence in the shadow of the US Capitol
Looking back after 50 years at the few pros (the real lack of jobs) and the many cons (an over-reliance throughout on allegedly debilitating cultural factors) of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's explanation for high African American poverty rates in his Report on the Black Family and Poverty.
The average black household that experienced unemployment had zero cash to fall back on. The history of our latest economic recession is full of stories of families who had to cash out their retirement accounts or savings for a child's education to make regular payments on rent and bills. But what about families that didn't even have those options?
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