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Arts & Entertainment

'Man on Fire' portrays one man's fatal stand against racism in small-town Texas

The film airs Jan. 28 on local PBS station KERA-TV (Channel 13).

Three years ago, an Allen minister drove to a parking lot in a small Texas town and set himself on fire.

The Rev. Charles Moore left behind a letter saying he chose to self-immolate to protest the racism that he witnessed or heard of in Grand Saline, the East Texas town where he grew up and died.

In the new documentary Man on Fire, producer and former Grand Saline resident James Chase Sanchez weaves together the stories of Moore and Grand Saline, a predominantly white town with a history shaded by racist incidents and threats against black people. The film airs Jan. 28 on local PBS station KERA-TV (Channel 13).

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Director and producer Joel Fendelman (left) and producer James Chase Sanchez of the PBS...
Director and producer Joel Fendelman (left) and producer James Chase Sanchez of the PBS Independent Lens documentary Man on Fire about the Rev. Charles Moore.(PBS)
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Sanchez, 31, an assistant professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, recently spoke about the film and what he learned from returning to his hometown. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

What was your experience like growing up in Grand Saline?

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I moved to Grand Saline in seventh grade and graduated high school there. Throughout high school, I had racist nicknames like "Beaner," "Wetback," "Sancho." One of the football team's slogans during the early years of high school was 'We're all right because we're all white.' I remember coaches saying that black students have extra muscles in their legs and that's why they're better at football.

There were a lot of racist things going on, but when you're in the community, you don't really see it as racist. You don't see it as a problem since there are no black people living there.

Guy Moore, son of the Rev. Charles Moore, holds a photo of his father in the PBS Independent...
Guy Moore, son of the Rev. Charles Moore, holds a photo of his father in the PBS Independent Lens documentary Man on Fire. about his father's death(PBS)
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What convinced you that Moore's life and death would be a strong subject for a documentary?

I've studied a lot of the history of self-immolation, and I quickly realized in doing this work for my dissertation that one of the biggest differences between cultures is that in Eastern society, in places like Tunisia, India, Tibet, when someone lights themselves on fire, it is immediately seen as an act of protest. However, historically, when this happens in America, we're more likely to say, “That person was crazy” or “They were obviously mentally ill.” And we are more likely to dismiss it and not really investigate why someone lit themselves on fire.

Charles Moore seemed to absorb all of the pain and injustice around him. He seemed unable to compartmentalize the problems of the world, as many of us do. What lessons do you feel like you learned from exploring that character trait?

The immediate question Joel [Fendelman, director and producer] and I both asked is: “Was there anything around us that could ever make us light ourselves on fire — literally or in a metaphorical sense?” I always feel like I am so passionate when it comes to certain causes like race and the environment, but I never see myself as that passionate. I think the story of Charles makes us ask ourselves, “What do we care about? And what are we willing to sacrifice, somewhat literally and somewhat metaphorically, to achieve what we want to achieve?”

Grand Saline is a tiny Texas town. Why did you think it was big enough to carry a whole documentary and tell a larger story that has universal aspects to it?

We have screened this film at seven or eight different universities and colleges around the country and at film festivals, and it seems like after each one, someone will come up to us and will say, “Have you ever heard of so-and-so Indiana? Have you ever heard of so-and-so Minnesota?” and will tell us about their home community or a community near them that had similar stories — that were “sundown towns” [places with discriminatory local laws, posted signs or other kinds of intimidation to exclude minorities] or were known for racist misdeeds.

When you allow the people of Grand Saline to just speak for themselves and share their own thoughts on race and their community and Charles Moore, you see them presenting ideas in a way that a lot of people see paralleling how people talk about race in their own hometowns. That's the power of the film. There are so many Grand Salines around the country, and people have to begin having these conversations if anything is ever going to change. The problem exists in not talking about it.

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Details

Man on Fire airs at 10 p.m. Jan. 28 on Independent Lens, KERA-TV (Channel 13). 54 mins.