TOM BRADLEY'S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Short Synopsis

Thirty-five years before Barack Obama's election as President, the question of race and the possibility of crossing racial boundaries was put to the test in a remarkable, yet overlooked, story in American politics: Tom Bradley's historic election as Mayor of Los Angeles, the first African American mayor of a major city without a black majority. This documentary is the story of the complexity of racial politics and the challenges of coalitions in a changing America.

Description/Treatment

Thirty-five years before Barack Obama's election as President, the question of race and the possibility of crossing racial boundaries were put to the test in a remarkable, yet overlooked, story in American politics: Tom Bradley's election as Mayor of Los Angeles. He was an extraordinary politician and change maker who transformed Los Angeles and set the foundation for inter-racial coalitions, which in later years, encouraged the elections of many minority candidates throughout the nation.

In the last year, the name “Tom Bradley” appeared in countless news stories and opinion pieces about the Obama campaign – not because of anything Tom Bradley did, but because of the “Bradley effect” in which many people feared he lost the 1982 campaign for governor because undecided voters said they intended to vote for him but did not because of his race.  His incredible story, once forgotten, has now been distorted.

Tom Bradley made history in 1973 when he was elected Mayor of Los Angeles and became the first African American Mayor of a major U.S. city with a majority white population. Tom Bradley, the son of a sharecropper and grandson of slaves, drew on an extraordinary personal history to position himself as a candidate to unite not only blacks and whites but also a divided city. His victory came at a time when people had given up hope for coalitions between black and white voters, and when he won, it opened up a new future for race relations in California and throughout the nation.  

Mayor Bradley held office for an unprecedented twenty years, and transformed Los Angeles from a conservative, provincial urban center into one of the most diversified and important cities in the world. He reformed City Hall, made sure jobs were available for minorities and women in construction and business, and influenced two generations of policy makers and leaders.  He transformed downtown Los Angeles into a financial powerhouse, expanded the international airport and harbor, and made Los Angeles one of the greatest international cities on the Pacific Rim.

In 1982, he ran for Governor of California, and lost by the smallest of margins. If he had won, Tom Bradley would have been the nation’s first African-American governor.

But Tom Bradley also presided over an economy that grew increasingly polarized between the rich and the poor – the term "widening divide" was coined in the late 1980's by UCLA scholars observing the metastasizing of poverty throughout great swaths of the city.

Ironically, a massive wave of riots in 1992, triggered by the acquittal of the police officers involved in beating Rodney King, and centered in the poorest and most neglected neighborhoods of the city, brought Bradley's political career to an end.

Now, thirty five years later, and with a renewal of interest in how race factors into politics in America, it is time to look more closely at Bradley's life and career and specifically to consider how Bradley's ability to transcend race in winning elections may, in turn, have challenged his ability to change the very issues that most affected the black community: poverty, unemployment, policy brutality, education, and the loss of basic neighborhood amenities like banks and supermarkets – the underlying causes of the 1992 civil unrest that ended his career and brought to power a white, Republican mayor whose campaign slogan was, "tough enough to turn Los Angeles around."  

Tom Bradley’s story is an enduring reminder of the complexity of race, politics and economics in the trajectory of change. It is a story which must be told.


THE FILM AND NEW MEDIA PROJECTS:

We are proposing to produce a documentary project as part of a multi-tiered project with multiple venues. They are the following:


1. TOM BRADLEY’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM:  A 75-90-minute high definition feature documentary designed for television broadcast (PBS) and theatrical release.

2. EDUCATIONAL VIDEO: A 30-minute educational documentary and study guide for inclusion in the middle and high school curriculums for Los Angeles and California.

3. INTERACTIVE WEBSITE:  A multi-layered, interactive website designed to create a two-way conversation with users. The website will be in operation during the production of the film and will engage people to share their stories about Tom Bradley, and will map the breadth of his influence.  We intend to create story stations at libraries, city council offices and community organizations where people can share their Tom Bradley stories. As part of this project, we would like to offer summer job and work force training to high school and college students which will provide an incredible opportunity to learn video and research skills working on a film project and website about Tom Bradley.

4. TOM BRADLEY FILMED ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: A filmed oral history collection consisting of one hundred hours of substantive and in-depth filmed interviews in high quality, high definition video which will become the foundation of the feature documentary and educational video, and form the basis of the TOM BRADLEY FILMED ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION. This will be a permanent archive of the stories, memories and recollections of the important events, personalities and accomplishments of Tom Bradley.  The TOM BRADLEY FILMED ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION will reside on our film’s interactive website, at the L.A. Public Library, and on location at an interactive, searchable kiosk.


WHY IS THIS FILM IMPORTANT?

Nearly forty years after Tom Bradley faced his first campaign for mayor in an election defined by racial politics, we exist in a world where race is still a decisive factor. His subsequent victory and accomplishments opened the doors to a new generation of African American politicians who challenged the status quo. His influence continues to resonate in Los Angeles and cities across the nation, which embrace the hope of opportunity, equality and diversity. Not surprisingly, Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles’ first Latino Mayor in more than a hundred years, considers himself to be the heir of Tom Bradley.  

The campaigns of Tom Bradley are returning to the center stage in dialogues about politics and race. During Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, there was a resurgence of interest about Tom Bradley, the man who broke racial barriers, but has not yet received the national recognition for his important role in the history of our nation. Bradley is a very important African American trailblazer whose path to power reveals significant stories about the importance of coalitions between African Americans, the Jewish community, liberal whites, Latinos and Asian-Americans; the centrality of the black church and the impact of the Civil Rights movement.  Through Bradley’s ascent to power, viewers will have the opportunity to understand the strategies that create breakthroughs in political power and minority leadership.  This film will help us understand how change occurs and is sustained, and both the potency and limitations of coalitions.

The second reason to tell this story now is that we are running out of time.  Many of the staff and colleagues who worked with Bradley are in their seventies and eighties. At the end of 2008, Ethel Bradley, Tom Bradley’s widow died, and two of the principal advisors to Tom Bradley also passed away.  If we want to tell a story with all of the nuance and details from the people who were there, we need to begin immediately while their memories are still strong.  If we do not begin now, chances are that critical parts of Tom Bradley’s story will be lost to history forever.

And perhaps the most important reason we want to produce TOM BRADLEY’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM is to inspire and educate the next generation of young people and leaders to realize their dreams of hope, opportunity and equality. We wish to teach children to understand a complex, multi-faceted man who was not always perfect and made mistakes, yet transformed and shaped a city in the face of bigotry and prejudice, and in the process, realized his American dream.

TOM BRADLEY’S IMPOSSIBLE DREAM will be the very first documentary on the life and legacy of this extraordinary man.  It is more biography of an incredible man; it is the story of the challenges which face our cities and nation, the paradox of race, and the complexities of coalitions. It will be an extraordinary documentary in an extraordinary time in our nation’s history.