Be a Joan: Discussion with Loki Mulholland

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Interview with Emmy-winning filmmaker, author, and activist Loki Mulholland, son of civil rights activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, discussing his films (including The Uncomfortable Truth) and books She Stood for Freedom and Get Back to the Counter. Loki explains his unusual name and how his mother named her sons after people who overcame adversity, then describes how he learned key details of his mother’s activism largely through photos, textbooks, and later anniversaries rather than family storytelling. He reflects on his mother’s fraught relationship with her segregationist mother and argues people must engage family and communities to end racism, using empathy and “intellectual nonviolence” to challenge beliefs. Loki describes how Joan carried activism into daily life and education without centering herself.

Links:

Get Back to the Counter

She Stood for Freedom

The Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation

The Uncomfortable Truth

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