The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Culture Corner:
Dark Waters & Stamped

May 20, 2024

Film: Dark Waters, 2019, directed by Todd Haynes. Streaming on Netflix

This movie is based on the true story of DuPont Chemical, which manufactured Teflon. DuPont dumped its waste in West Virginia, affecting hundreds. Numerous people from the community appear in the film.

DuPont knew and hid for decades the adverse effects of this “new miracle” forever chemical. As a result of the people of this community fighting and exposing the true nature of this chemical, with the help of lawyers, they forced DuPont to take some responsibility for the damage they caused.

Book: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

This book makes available in gripping, straightforward and at times humorous writing the history of racism in the world from 1415, when Portugal “took” part of Morocco, to the dark tale of its American events. The book takes the material from Kendi’s award-winning book Stamped from the Beginning and presents it clearly for all readers, including young teens. The author says it’s not a history book, it’s about the here and now. But to understand the here and now, we have to re-visit the past. The book marvelously and energizingly presents the historical events and debates which haunt us yet today.