2015 is the 50^th anniversary of Metro Justice; we plan on celebrating this by continuing with our duty of educating our region about social justice how we all can be a part of the progressive movement towards social justice. To do this, we plan to hold multiple events aimed at educating and incorporating the next social justice leaders in our community. The first event will take place in August with a 5-week film series.

Metro Justice will screen a documentary on different topics that highlights our involvement in social justice including; race, women’s equality, clean money in politics, poverty and the fight for $15/hour and a living wage, and the unfortunate pipeline of schools to prison.

Each screening will end with a discussion with expert speakers in the respective topic. Films will be shown each Sunday at 3pm at The Little Theatre at 240 East Ave. Admission is free and open to the public.

We invite those interested in learning more about these topics, to come with questions and take an active step in better understanding the issues that obstructs social justice and how they can be a part of the solution.

The films will include:

Miss Representation, August 2, 3pm

The documentary harnesses a wealth of clips, interviews, and statistics to show that women are being depicted on TV and online as poorly as ever, with dangerous potential side effects for girls sitting on the other side of the screen. Among the film's shocking stats is the claim that 65 percent of women suffer from disordered eating behavior, and many times as a result of comparing their own looks to those of airbrushed models. The problem lies behind the camera, as well: While the average teenage girl consumes upwards of 10 hours of media a day, women hold just 5 percent of clout positions in the industry.

White Like Me, August 9, 3pm

White Like Me, based on the work of acclaimed anti-racist educator and author Tim Wise, explores race and racism in the US through the lens of whiteness and white privilege. In a stunning reassessment of the American ideal of meritocracy and claims that we've entered a post-racial society, Wise offers a fascinating look back at the race-based white entitlement programs that built the American middle class, and argues that our failure as a society to come to terms with this legacy of white privilege continues to perpetuate racial inequality and race-driven political resentments today. For years, Tim Wise's bestselling books and spellbinding lectures have challenged some of our most basic assumptions about race in America. White Like Me is the first film to bring the full range of his work to the screen -- to show how white privilege continues to shape individual attitudes, electoral politics, and government policy in ways too many white people never stop to think about.

Pay 2 Play, August 16, 3pm

PAY 2 PLAY follows filmmaker John Ennis' quest to find a way out from under the Pay 2 Play System, where Politicians reward their donors with even larger sums from the public treasury -- through contracts, tax cuts, and deregulation. Along the way, he journeys through high drama on the Ohio campaign trail, uncovers the secret history of the game Monopoly, and explores the underworld of L.A. street art on a humorous odyssey that reveals how much of a difference one person can make. PAY 2 PLAY: Democracy's High Stakes is the layman's guidebook to taking back our democracy.

Hard Earned, August 23, 3pm

Hard Earned, a six-part documentary series for Al Jazeera America, puts aside economic debates and follows five families around the country to find out what it takes to get by on eight, ten or even 15 dollars an hour. The series turns an intimate lens on this group of 21st century American dreamers. They fight against all odds to thrive, when it takes everything they have to simply survive.