festival. these are documentaries. they have showcased more than 100 films from nine countries. dozens have gone on to be nominated for emmys and oscars, including the 2020 winner. we have some of the best films we've ever been privileged to showcase. they tackle some of the biggest issues from the last 18 months, from race to the teaching of history. first up is the facility, directed by seth reid wesler. then you'll see "meltdown in dixie" and "golden age karate". we hope you enjoy. ♪ ♪ >> my name is nilson. i'm originally from honduras. my father is a citizen. my wife is a citizen. my son has been born here. my mom is a legal resident. i've been here for 20 years. so what is the point of i.c.e. having me here for? [ speaking in foreign language ] >> covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. >> the country of 60 million people is now effectively a red zone. >> covid-19 is sweeping through the country's jails. they have proven to be a breeding ground for contagion. >> how's everybody doing? how are you thinking about what's happening out here? this coronavirus thing? >> everybody is here under a lot of stress. we see what's happening outside and how fast it's been moving. once it gets in here, we're all in complete risk. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> the guards, they only ware their face masks on monday, and now they don't even have them on at all. >> which is the social distance, six feet, we're 32 people in here, there's no way we're going to practice that. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> i got three problems, which is high cholesterol, high blood pressure and die pete ease. this is the medicines i have to take. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> i am concerned, because, at this point, my health is at risk. it's not easy to be here right now. they are failing us. alpha is the place where -- if they are trying to use force to take us out of here, there is going to be a big issue. we all did. you think we all fit in the hole? they can't put us all in the hole. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> i'm really scared i'm going to die. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> the woman that communicated with us. they sent us a note through the laundry bag. they send a letter saying that they are going to go on strike. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> we started this friday but are refusing dinner and refuse to work for this facility until i.c.e. free us. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> nilson, how are you feeling about this? i mean, like, it's reached this point, but also you don't know what they're going to do? >> i try to be strong, to hold on. it's really hard. there is so much going on outside. they're forgetting about us. >> can you just keep it running? >> there is nobody infected in this facility. okay, let me tell you something. my name is nilson, i put a lawsuit, okay? >> okay. both of the words were m the report that they have tested three people and one case possible. >> the people responsible are nowhere to be found. they're all sitting at home somewhere, bashing orders, telling people like me what to say to you. it's a -- ed up situation. it really is. the facility is going to continue addressing issues. what that entails, i have no idea, okay? >> hello. >> hi, it's seth. what's going on with your husband at this point? >> they retaliated against all the people that are participating in the hunger strike, and so now he's in isolation. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> hey, have you heard from nilson? >> today he's still in the hole. i'm not sure. i'm so worried. because he got a health condition. he's diabetic. >> one of the i.c.e. ladies said they're going to get a permit from the judge to force-feed us. ♪ ♪ >> hello. >> nilson. >> is calling you from -- >> hi, nilson, how are you? >> i'm, i'm okay. you know. i haven't eaten for five days today, nothing. we haven't drink any water also, take any of my medicines. when i get up, you know, i get dizzy. honestly, i'm feeling weak. this is very unhumanitarian. i mean, we haven't committed no crime. we are not hurting nobody. we didn't behave aggressively in any way whatsoever. so it's really hard to understand why they're treating us this way. [ speaking in foreign language ] ♪ ♪ when the chapstick goes on. it's on. get yours on at chapstick.com dad are you sure you're up to host? yeah! we want to keep it the way it always was, right? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's your grandma. she was the best at the holidays. 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[ speaking in foreign language ] >> any soen. i spoke to him the day before get on the phone. and the first time in six years, he said something to me that he had never said before. he said daddy, can we speak in english, please? speaking spanish, it was our thing, you know. this was a bond that we had together. i just feel like i am losing that bond, you know? i just want to be able to with be him. >> america has been and still is the greatest country in the world. we are the shining city on the hill. now it's up to us to protect what the rest of the world envies, economic opportunity for everybody. individual liberty for our children and our grandchildren. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> we heard about it on the news, spanish tv. somebody who was detained by i.c.e. in the facility of stewart passed away. it was chocking, you know, because we know there are people sick. but we all hope that nobody dies, know what i mean? >> we're asking as a threshold matter for these 11 petitioners to be released. i've already ruled on that, and i haven't heard anything terribly persuasive to change my mind on that. ♪ ♪ >> a whistle-blower, a nurse working at a georgia immigrations and customs facility, i.c.e. facility leveling ghastly allegations. >> we didn't have anything to sanitize with. we didn't have the proper ppe. the first case of covid in the facility, it was covid is not here in the facility. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> women in that facility, migrant women, says a doctor was performing procedures for which no medical indication existed. >> if they were going to do a surgery, i said nobody informed me i'm going to do a surgery. all of a sudden i get up. that's when i know they went through my bellybutton. i've got three big holes. they never explained anything to me, and i never agreed. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> that's outside irwin? when did that happen? >> now. >> they're saying abolish i.c.e.? >> we're just leaving this irwin county detention center. there was one woman in particular. she described the experience here astor tour. >> what's going on? i see your shirt. >> we got to do something, man. there's too much going on outside. even though there's nothing we can do, but we feel like we are part of it. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> can't take a picture. put the camera down. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> free them all! free them all! >> i can tell you that i am sure people on the inside are feeling what we're doing over here on the outside. they told me, you need to leave this country, because you are a threat to the community. who were they talking about? my wife, a person who was born here? somebody who was suffering because i wasn't next to her? were they talking about my son? united states citizen? were they protecting my sisters? my mom? who were they protecting? that's what i wonder when they say. ♪ ♪ to support a strong immune system your body needs a routine. centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc* season after season. ace your immune support with centrum. now with a new look! do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it is absorbed to give you the benefits of life saving aspirin... to help prevent another heart attack or stroke. heart protection with your stomach in mind. try new liquid-filled vazalore. aspirin made amazing! (vo) for fourteen years, subaru and our retailers have been sharing the love with those who need it most. try new liquid-filled vazalore. now subaru is the largest automotive donor to make-a-wish and meals on wheels. and the largest corporate donor to the aspca and national park foundation. get a new subaru during the share the love event and subaru will donate two hundred and fifty dollars to charity. hi susan! honey? yeah? i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love... plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? now get powerful relief with robitussin elderberry. wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin. at new chapter. its innovation organic ingredients and fermentation. fermentation? yes, formulated to help your body really truly absorb the natural goodness. new chapter. wellness well done. seth, what was interesting about this film is also how you got your access. in many places during the film you made it clear you had to pay for your access, but explain how you met nilson, how you met andrea, how you got that access. >> sure, so at the beginning of the pandemic my plan for reporting were sort of upended. and i had to figure out how i was going to continue as a print reporter to develop new stories, to cover the pandemic on the beats that i already work on. and so i began making a series of calls through a video app that's installed inside of a set of i.c.e. detention centers that allow people on the inside to call people on the outside to have short conversations, 15 minutes at a time using these pay-per call apps. they are really made for relatives. they're pretty expensive. but as a reporter, i decided it was worth it to pay for minute to get this access to try to figure out what was happening inside i.c.e. detention centers as the pandemic was really turning the world upside down. >> and the facility, did they try to fight you when they realized what you were doing? when did they know that basically somebody was doing some detainees were participating in a journalistic exercise? >> so lots of journalists were using these, it allowed us as reporters to gain a level of ark access that's very very, very difficult. it made it possible for me to get inside an i.c.e. facility that i probably never would have been able to get into otherwise. the detention center at one point, and i wrote about this in the "new york times" magazine story that i published last year, did sever my access to the video app. and some of the people inside lost access to the tablets that they used to have these conversations. i was able to sign back up and sign back in and continue have these conversations and collecting footage that ultimately resulted in the documentary of the facility. >> but it allowed you in some ways to at least briefly take us into the facility which i think made yours stand out. let's take nilson. he doesn't know why he was held as long as he was held and is not quite sure how he was released, at least as far as the film is concerned. can you fill in some of the blanks? >> i.c.e. detention, it's civil detention. it's not prison. it's not meant as punishment as a legal matter. it's a thing that exists to face non-citizens facing the threat of deportation, ostensibly so they don't abscond, so they show up in court. it's at the discretion of i.c.e. so nearly everyone detained in i.c.e. detention could be released at any point at the discretion of immigration and customs enforcement. and policy shifts from administration to administration about who's released and who's let to stay home with their families. nilson and and andrea had no idea. nilson had been pulled over for a driving violation and was locked up in i.c.e. detention after an arrest following the driving violation. andrea had come to los angeles from colombia by plane with a tourist visa. >> right. >> intended to enter the country, but when officials at the airport asked her if she feared returning to her country she was detained and treated as an arriving asylum seeker. under the trump administration, arriving asylum seekers were sum summarily detained. >> they are both here. they weren't sent away out of country. >> that's right. >> they were held for months. and then let, let, allowed to stay, period. >> that's right. andrea's in court, proceeding through her asylum case. nilson is waiting for a green card. he's married to a u.s. citizen. he has very clear claims to be able to stay here. he probably never was going to be deported, actually. he was probably going to win his case, but because i.c.e. had the discretion to hold him they had a sort of policy, as a policy matter, were holding anybody that they could, so he stayed in detention for close to a year actually while he was fighting his case. and through this film, "the facility", i really try to bring people inside. because for most of the pandemic, for the beginning of the pandemic, the early months of the pandemic. >> right. >> i sort of attached myself to this computer screen in order to have these conversations with people, and to observe what life was like inside of an i.c.e. facility that's really built with the intention to separate people from the outside world. >> right, and it's certainly not intended for months, maybe a day or two. these are topics that the public tries to look away from sometimes, and shouldn't look away. this is all part of our system. all part of our system and if we don't like it we should do something about it, and sometimes you've got to see something that's a bit uncomfortable in order to make change. >> seth, congratulations. appreciate you participating in our film festival. >> thanks. articipating in our film festival. >> thanks. if you're 55 and up, t- mobile has plans built just for you. whether you need a single line or lines for family members, you'll get great value on america's most reliable 5g network. like 2 lines of unlimited for just $27.50 a line. only at t-mobile. dad are you sure you're up to host? 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>> what kind of ice cream, honey, did you want? enjoy, baby. >> thank you. >> but, if i could rewind this whole situation, i would never have come to south carolina in the first place. made a little ice cream shop to sell ice cream cones in the middle of a park, and here i am in the middle of this crap. >> battle over a confederate flag in orangeburg. >> the flag flies atop this sign. >> but the flag is not owned by this ice cream parlor. >> the sons of confederate veterans own the tiny piece of property where the flag stands. >> that flag is not mine. it's a piece of property that the confederate veterans own. >> initially, daris accepted the flag, but that changed in the aftermath of the church shooting in charleston. >> nine people have been killed inside an african-american church. >> dylan roof. >> a photo of him posing with a confederate flag. >> after the charleston shooting, the confederate veterans came down with a flag that was three times as large as the one they ever had on there. people screaming at me, calling me a racist. i said something's got to happen. >> after nearly 20 years of flying, the confederate battle flag is being removed from remo orangeburg business. >> told not take it down. >> that flag is coming down. >> no, it isn't. >> we have what we wanted on our property. why should we compromise? >> i would have never said five, ten years ago that that was the most racist thing in the world. standing here, i feel these people's hearts. >> we're going let a judge decide that. >> fine. >> are you still going to try to take it down? >> absolutely. there will be no stopping me at this point. ♪♪ >> we came down here because of the fishing and the nice people we'd met. and then my wife debbie and i got bored, and this little restaurant looked like a good opportunity. it belonged to maurice's barbecue shop and it was in need of repair. i wasn't worried about the rebel flag. i never deemed that as racist. i mean, it was history to me, and, you know, it was cool because it was like a rebel flag. that meant to us in maryland that you were against the grain, you know, you were a bad ass. when i lived in maryland i was a race car driver. we had a rebel flag not on the car, but we had a flag pole by the race car. and especially when we go up north, because we were the guys from down south, the guys to beat. >> i was cleaning out my closets, found it in the closet. i would wear this in public anywhere i went without a problem. when it became what it is today, my wife said that there was no place for that on a race team. i'm not a racist by any mean or a hater. the closet was probably the best place for it. >> my name is buzz braxton, and i'm lieutenant commander at rebels bridge sons of confederate veteran camp 842. this is general robert e. lee. probably the greatest man that ever walked the face of this earth. a lot of people don't understand the sons of confederate veterans. the confederate battle flag is the soldiers' flag, our ancestors. that's why we so proud of it. to you sons of confederate veterans, it is your duty to see that the true history of the south is presented to future generations. and that's what we try to do. and it's a tough job. here is a picture of maurice. we were down right where the flag pole is, selling confederate stuff. >> i'm maurice bessinger, chairman of the board of pinkie park enterprise incorporated. the south shall rise again. >> 236. >> mr. maurice was a member of this camp. he owned and operated nine barbecue restaurants in south carolina. and one in orangeburg. >> after almost four decades and a bit der bait, south carolina removed the confederate flag from the state house. >> after 38 years, the flag began its descent down the flag pole. >> july 1st, 2000, the flag was taken off the dome in columbia. >> how the flag got here on the bean pole, to protest the taking down of our heritage flag. >> it went up in orangeburg that same day. >> mr. maurice called me one day and asked me if we would like to are the little piece of property where the flag is. that was one last thing he needed to worry about. i after the incident in chaz, the whole emphasis changed to the flag. i said if the flag is going to be under attack, the bigger the better. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's your grandma. she was the best at the holidays. i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in a year. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. 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it's not. the sons of confederate veterans want to use that piece of property to keep maurice bessinger's hateful legacy living on in to perpetuity. >> in orangeburg, a battle to remove a confederate flag that flies next to an ice cream shop continues tonight. >> they took their concerns to the city with the hopes of where the zoning where the flag sits could be challenged. >> in a public way and just clear it, clear the record, right? >> i was contacted by camp 842. the issues that were being presented were at the very foundation of what our american constitution is made up of. and the constitution is very important to me, being an attorney and being an american. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. we will now call the board of zoning and appeals meeting to order. >> this particular area was zoned b-1 general commercial. the moment that maurice bessinger subdivided that piece of property into two separate parcels, each parcel was then required to comply with you all's zoning ordinance. this property is intended to be used, and it has been used for well over ten years as a historical marker. zero commercial use. and i would ask that you find that this piece of property, flag included, does violate the city of orangeburg's zoning ordinances. >> i can't keep up with that. >> with all due respect, that was a beautiful argument that was made, but this is not the forum to handle a piece of property that has been deeded to a private entity with no problems. there are being some raised, but uniquely, they're being raised schematically all across the united states of america. this is first amendment speech. it would behoove the leadership of this group to not overturn a well-founded decision by the zoning that falls in accordance with the law. thank you. >> thank you. >> i'm david upton, zoning administrator. the current use is flying the confederate flag and maintaining a monument. the city of orangeburg does not regulate the location of flags or the display of flags listen to by zoning or any other regulation. therefore the property is in compliance. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all in favor of upholding the motion of zoning administrator, let it be known by showing of your right hand. any oppose? so the zoning board has agreed upon the decision that the zoning administrator may find. this meeting is adjourned. >> we lost for an issue that is this contentious. i would be hesitant to rule against the sons of the confederate veterans. >> pass the word. >> i already have. i already have. >> i love you, brother. >> love you too, man. >> they went to the path of least resistance. >> i think they got it wrong, personally. but we deal with it. >> a confederate flag flying beside a south carolina ice cream parlor is igniting new concerns. this creamery received this racially charged letter. >> his business has been vandalized multiple times. his employees have been harassed and a riot nearly started outside his shop. >> keep that flag flying. >> this peg is where their property line is, and that peg there, when you stand out here for a moment, they're hollering "take it down" or "leave it alone" or, down, f-u. >> my wife thinks they're going burn our house down and she is up all night looking out the window. it's aggravating to me she is going through all this suffering. >> so i guess you know in this big old world it's not perfect these days, is it? >> no, ma'am. >> but miss debbie tells you that jesus, what? >> loves you. >> like so much. >> i was in the doctor's office one day, and the lady said to me, i heard you people beat up black people. that's the kind of rumors that went around. she had some of her grandchildren with her. i said you bring those babies to my bible study on wednesday night, and you're going to know what we're about. >> you need to have what? faith. >> it's so stressful, and it's so sad because i want -- i want to please everybody. i want to love everybody. and sometimes i often wonder, god, why did you bring me to this place? why did you bring me to this town in why? >> confederate flag, reference, and undying devotion to the cause to which it stafnltds. >> stands. >> thank you. you may all be seated. for those who have heard or not know we did have a wonderful victory in orangeburg. our flag will continue to fly. i hope it will continue to fly forever. >> you can't pay a lot of attention to what you. >> the news media. don't read any modern books because they're -- they're extremely slanted. but if you read the original accounts, you'll find the real reasons that both sides followed. ♪ i wish i was in the land cotton, old times there are not forgotten, look away, look away, look away dixieland ♪ >> second coming of the klan, use the battle flag. and then some groups now carry a swastika and a battle flag. it got misappropriated. but that does not mean that it was an honorable and those men from 1861 to 1865 carried it. >> this heritage, this symbol of the south is part of dixie. >> segregation has been over for a while. something like that to still be appearing in a small town like, this it's still creating division. >> why take it down? the blacks ought to be proud of that flag that followed under, just like the whites. >> it needs to come down, along with all these other statues and symbols of supremacy. they need to come down. >> good morning. may i help you? good. how you? right. uh-huh. >> i can remember maurice barbecue. they portrayed an image of prejudice and making racial slurs towards us. i wouldn't dare go in there. when it changed to the creamery, we were glad, because we want a positive image there. the owner told us that he was trying to get the flag down. we all decided to bring it down, but he didn't have the proper paperwork. there is nothing we can do. we got to step outside of our scope of authority. >> i think that most people in orangeburg want to move forward. not everybody is willing to ruffle some feathers to try to make it happen. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. 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eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which is now more important than ever. ♪♪ because the way we care... is anything but ordinary. only eggland's best. ♪♪ today we are actually going to appeal the decision. and appeals go straight to circuit court. it removes that political element that is realistically there on the local level. >> the world is very much changing around me and everybody else. it's just you see a lot that you don't really be comfortable with. try not to use the n-word, but if there is somebody out there just doing everything wrong in their behavior, their conduct, i might say that word. conditioned i can't say that i would apologize for it. >> the day i filed the zoning challenge, that next morning, my daughters are working, and i go look out my door, and there is a pickup truck pulling in my driveway in the back. did somebody come to the wrong house at night? i don't know. but when you pair that with what was going on, it makes you a little nervous. >> that's my babies. i've had conversations with people. they see the fight that we're in with the sons of confederate veterans over the zoning. and they literally are like wait, isn't orangeburg like 60 to 70% black? why is bringing down that flag even a topic of discussion? it should have been down. and you just have to let them know that white supremacy has its roots everywhere. orangeburg is no different. orangeburg is home to the orangeburg massacre, one of the worst things that's ever happened in terms of civil rights in south carolina. students were protesting for the integration of the local bowling alley. fearing violence, the governor sent in the south carolina highway patrol. one night, the parole broke out in gunfire, killing three students and injuring 28 others. it was 50 years ago, but that's not something in town have forgotten. >> it's kind of like the shadows of a darker ra are constantly on you. and i think some people just don't want to think about the confederacy or think about what it means or what it meant. you would have this expectation that when you do have black leaders in a city, that on issues like this, they will be very bold. they will be very outspoken. and a lot of times they aren't. not everybody in government or in politics is comfortable with what comes with bucking a system that's been in place for 400 years. as long as there are confederate monuments everywhere, white supremacy will always be here. >> i just don't know what to do. >> the community, the city council, the city administrator, none of them are helping to get this thing going. i think they've got someone telling them make sure it don't come down. but i don't know if i'll ever get to the bottom of it. >> it sucks. >> the controversy over a confederate flag continues tonight. >> justin and i have tried to exhaust all reasonable avenues, and it's just not working. >> tommy derris is now threatening to remove the flag and confederate marker himself. >> maurice bessinger planned it just so he could shove that flag up everybody's in the city of orangeburg for a eternity. >> what if i donate this whole property to the sons of confederacy and they put flags and swastikas or whatever. is the city going to be okay with that? no. so they better get their asses on board. i'm just getting it ready for pickup. the sons of confederate. i donated it to them. >> no days go by without something happening. >> okay. since we were here last, you can see where he's been digging around the monument. hee is undoubtedly trying to cause so much chaos that somebody will overreact. i just don't understand. i just don't understand. >> i want people to know that our ancestors were good people. most of them didn't have slaves. i've told people all along that was the best thing that ever happened to folks that came over. they would not be driving bmws today had their ancestors remained in africa because they would have been eaten by other tribes or eaten by lions and tigers. i know that ain't politically correct to say, but it's true. >> my father had a grocery store in washington, d.c. in 1968. i was about 12. my father was working his store, and they were expecting a riot. about 10:00 that night, we get a phone call the store burned to the ground. i'll never forget this. my father stood in front of the store and cried. my father was huge man. and in the meantime, i saw black people lining up over here. dad, these guys, all these people are lining up. and he was i know them people. the first one walked up to my dad and said i owe you money, and i'd like to pay you. my father said, i have no idea how much you owe me. it all burned in the store. and she said i think it's $12 and some cents. she paid him. within minutes, a line grew and the people paid. my dad money. and we left. and my father never had a racist bone in his body. i want people to know that i'm not no racist bastard standing there holding that flag. fries or salad? 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(sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ dad are you sure you're up to host? yeah! we want to keep it the way it always was, right? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ that's your grandma. she was the best at the holidays. ♪ ♪ when the chapstick goes on. it's on. get yours on at chapstick.com this morning, new details over a dispute over the confederate flag flying near an orangeburg restaurant is unfolding before a circuit court judge. >> we are continuing here at an appellate hearing today. i'm standing by martin luther king jr. quote wish where there is injustice anywhere, there is injustice everywhere. i feel that too in my heart. there is a real assault on our histories, traditions and especially on the confederacy. >> tommy daras versus the city of orangeburg. >> when i ride by there and i see that flag, i think about the fact that as a kid, i used to ride by there and be afraid. >> this is not a challenge to just a flag on a flag pole. we are challenging the underlying use of the property. >> and now as a man, i get to ride by there and think i could play a role to make it go away. that's a pretty dope dream. >> the judge is going to review. >> the argument that was made today, she is going to look at the record that's up on appeal, and then she is going to reach her decision. we're going to have to wait. >> sometimes i wonder whether maurice up there in that bed chuckling. in hell now, doing all right. >> the sons of confederate veterans have staunch feelings about the fact that some of their ancestors fought in the civil war for the confederacy. but if you were to give half of those members the original documents of south carolina seceding from the union, most of them probably either haven't read it, refuse to read it because they know what it says, or will read it and say yeah, but that's not why my ancestor fought. >> i'm -- i'm not going say that slavery will not in any way, shape or form involved in the decisions around cessation. succession. but those men did not leave their family and their home and their warm bed to go to fight so somebody could own a slave. declaration of the immediate causes induced in the succession of south carolina from the federal union. a geographical line has been drawn across the union, and all the states north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of president of the united states whose opinions have purposes that are hostile to slavery. the slave-holding states will no longer have the power of self-government, and the federal government will have to become the -- if you want to come at me and say that its sole purpose was slavery, so be it if that's your desire. but if we agree to disagree, that will be all right, you know. because i admit it. slavery will play a part in it. slavery was a factor, but there was other things involved. if you stand for an institution that supported slavery, and you don't denounce that and you choose to ignore it, i think that implicitly means that somewhere in you, you are okay with it. >> new developments tonight. a circuit court judge agrees that the confederate flag in front of the edisto creamily does not violate the city of orangeburg's zoning ordinance. the owner of the edisto creamery now says because it affects his business, he closed that shop and is now selling it. >> here is my closed down little store. it is all gone. it's not comfortable to be here. >> i think that people couldn't differentiate between this property being someone else and this problem being the creamery. >> i think it's sad, because nothing that plants there is going to be successful as long as that is not solved. >> i do feel like i've been pushed out. but we knew exactly what happened when they put that bigger flag up when the people were killed in charleston. we knew exactly what was going on. and that wasn't our heart. >> now it's closed and it's over, i'm very relieved. at the end of the day, getting my family away from here and moving back to familiar people and places is just a plus-plus. >> shop closed. >> shop closed. >> the shop is closed. >> our success in orangeburg has inspired other people to stand up. >> everybody else is taking them down, and we're putting them up. >> yep. >> today raising the first confederate battle flag on i-95 in south carolina. [ applause ] >> when a liberal, also known as a libtard comes down and it offends them to see a battle flag, that's what we want. because they don't have anything to do with our hedges. they can have their hedges. we want to keep ours. >> do you worry there will be a day when the confederate flag does not fly in orangeburg? >> yeah. how can you help not to worry about it? i don't dwell on it. but there are times when i can foresee and i worry about that there may not be a confederate flag flying in the city of orangeburg or the majority of the united states. >> police! >> no justice, no peace. >> no justice, no peace! >> no justice. >> no peace! >> anger, frustration pouring into the streets of america. >> say his name. >> george floyd! >> huge numbers of people coming up in every single state in the country, standing together to say this is not acceptable anymore. black lives matter. >> black lives matter! black lives matter! black lives matter! >> african american ahmaud arbery is seen running. >> no justice! >> no peace! >> no justice -- >> no peace! >> george floyd repeatedly cried "my neck hurts and i can't breathe". >> i can't breathe! >> breonna taylor shot eight times and killed by police. >> hands up -- >> don't shoot! >> here in south carolina and all across the nation, community members have been challenging where local and state governments to take down confederate statues. >> what do we want? >> when do we want it? >> now. >> what do we want? >> today at noon, city council members in orangeburg will vote on a resolution to remove a confederate statue. >> the protest outside city hall. members want the 127-year-old confederate statue from courthouse square removed. >> when people say it's our heritage, it's not my heritage. when i think of confederate anything, i'm in fear. >> it's been one of those things where you can't talk about it and you don't see anything about it. but we're now in a time where we have the voice. we are here today because of course the mayor and city council are meeting on the resolution in regards to the statue. >> we just hope that the city will remove the statue from downtown square along with renaming it. >> we live in this community. >> where do you live? >> i live in orangeburg. >> those symbols are a part of the symbol of oppression against my people. >> our first goal is to remove the racist statue and racist street names in orangeburg. and then of course the confederate flag at the creamery. we've called the mayor's office. we've called the city council members. >> i'm excited to see what's going on in orangeburg. we're seeing people who want change, and they're not asking for change. they're demanding it. as we continue, we got to do a much better job collectively of being willing to fight the fight when it ain't the popular thing to do. and if we can keep doing that, keep pushing for change, and we can keep standing up to people who stand behind institutions of bigotry and hate and slavery under the guise of heritage, we will get there. and i look forward to the day when i jump in my car and come into orangeburg, that confederate flag is no longer flying there. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ your eyes. beautiful on the outside, but if you have diabetes, there can be some not-so-pretty stuff going on inside. it's true, with diabetic retinopathy, excess sugar can damage blood vessels, causing vision loss or even blindness. so remember this: now is the time to get your eyes checked. eye care is important to your long-term diabetes management. see a path forward with actions and treatments that may help your eyes— and protect against vision loss. visit noweyesee.com and take control of your sight. gordan ramsey and p this is a cold call! loss. nfl teams are turning to cold with tide. will you? that will never work! if it works on nfl jerseys it'll work for you. and it's cold. so you will turn to cold? fine! that guy needs to chill out! doesn't your family deserve the best? eggland's best eggs. classic, cage free, and organic. more delicious, farm-fresh taste. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪ this is elodia. she's a recording artist. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. welcome back. you just watched "meltdown in dixie." joining me now is the director of the film, emily harold. emily, tremendous film. and not the happiest of endings here. let's start from right there. any updates since you made the film on that flag? >> unfortunately, no. the flag is still there. the monument in town is still there. and no one has purchased the property. so tommy is still look for a buyer. >> so tell me how you decided to do this. you're from the -- you're from the area, and i think that probably gave you a little bit more credibility to get people to talk. how important was that? >> i think it made all the difference. being from orangeburg, i just knew the landscape of the town. and there was so much more credibility that i had reaching out the everyone involved. they were much more willing to speak with me. and, you know, i also really care about the issue because this is my hometown. and i really cared about how the town and the people in it were portrayed. >> i love how much you didn't feel the need to include a narrater. correct me if i'm wrong, we only hear your voice once the entire documentary towards the end there, correct? >> that's right. i feel like the power of documentary is you can take people into different communities and just introduce them to people where they're at. and so i didn't feel like there was a need to editorialize because i think audiences can draw their own conclusions from seeing things how they are. >> how did you get the trust of the sons of the confederacy? look, it did help you were from there. but not every journalist could have gotten that sit-down. not every journalist could have handed him the original succession papers and gotten him to read it. >> right. i was very nervous when we filmed that, to be honest. and ultimately, i had no idea if, you know, buzz and the sons of confederate veterans were going to want to participate. but i just felt like when i was starting the project, i had to reach out and find out. and so sent off some facebook messages and really had had no idea if i would hear back, and a couple of days later i got a phone call. and buzz was very cautious, and i was very cautious. but over the course of filming, it was a three-year process. and i was really up-front about what i was trying to do, up-front that i was filming with tommy and ice cream shop. i think buzz just felt like he wanted -- he knew i was going make the film, and he wanted to -- he would rather be able to present himself, himself, than have me draw my own conclusions. >> has he seen your finished product? has everybody seen your finished product, who was involved? >> yes, everybody has seen it. >> can i confess to having a few ideas that i'm curious as to why the shop owners didn't try this? idea number one is did they think about putting up six surrounding flag poles, giant american flags to basically make it impossible for you to see the confederate flag? >> yeah. tommy actually really wanted to do that. and that was part of why he was starting to dig up the monument, because he wanted to build something around it. but then he doesn't own that land. it's not his land. so there was very quickly a stop work order from the city. and i think he just ultimately felt like he was going at every issue and wasn't succeeding. and eventually just decided i don't want to be here anymore. and closed the ice cream shop and left town. >> did he think about filing a civil lawsuit against the sons of the confederacy? and essentially because he could make a claim that their mere presence, the flag's presence hurt hiss business and therefore they were actively hurting his business and they should be financially liable. as he thought about pursuing that? did he? >> i mean, maybe you're going give him the idea when he sees this. but i think ultimately he bought the property with the flag there. so they probably could have. could back and said you knew 24 was here. you purchased the restaurant any way. but ultimately, i do think -- this was really straining for tommy and his family, and i think ultimately they just -- they're exhausted from this fight and really just want to rebuild and move on. as best they can. >> the final idea, selling it to some activists to create a civil rights museum on hate. >> and there has been talk of that in the town. there are people that are interested in doing that. it's about figuring out how to make it happen and who has the money to be able to support something like that. orangeburg is, you know, really has an activist history at heart, and i was really excited at the end of the film we are able to touch on that with this new group of younger residents that want to see change. but we'll see. that would be great. i think everyone would be excited and that could be a really good option. >> final question. what do you hope to do next after what i think is a tremendous success in telling this story? >> well, i'm actually working on another south carolina film. i filmed with the jaime harrison for senate campaign last year. so i'm working on making that. >> well, that will be very interesting. emily harold, the film again "meltdown in dixie." just a wonderful portrayal i think of the debate on a local level. thanks very much. >> thank you. >> all right, folks. up next is golden age karate. you're watching the "meet the press" film festival on msnbc. >> when i'm in a match, time slows down. imagine thinking five, ten moves ahead like how slanted his shoulders are, what way is his elbow facing right now, and i just put all those together and time it perfectly. >> when i first started marshall arts, i was 6 years old. the first time i went into the dojo, i did like a little straight-up high kick, and the instructor was yep, this is definitely for you. >> he was already jumping off of everything that he could jump off of. so it was not really that big of a surprise that he fell into martial arts. >> from 6 to about 9 years old, i went to a lot of tournaments, and i won all of them. >> we had to sit down with him and tell him jeffrey, you're not batman. when people are being pushed around in school, because we'll lose our home if you break somebody's nose, okay? and he is okay. and then i get a call from the principal. jeffrey's in the office. he's rescuing somebody again. and then we had to tell kids' parents please tell your children not to call on jeffrey. he's not a super hero. he is in the third grade. >> when i was 10 years old, i was inducted into the martial arts hall of fame. >> he was growing really, really fast. heavy was doing really well in martial arts. then when he started getting close to getting his black belt, he was mom, i'm going teach other people. well, who do you want to teach? >> my grandma, she lives by herself. and every week they could, i would be over there. >> he would probably live there if we let him. every weekend, can i go to over to grammy's? can i go over to grammy's? and we find out later she is making him grilled cheese. she's got the fruit snacks. we're oh, that's why you're always at grammy's. >> i was oh, since my grandma feels like she is very lonely, maybe others feel that way too. where could i go? oh, the nursing home. so i started working with seniors because i felt like they weren't getting a lot of love and attention. my first class, i look it easy with them. didn't expect them to do as well as they did, honestly. one of my students, she was doing push-ups like going all the way down and coming up. i was if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? she said oh, i'm 95 years old, sweetie. huh? we're doing stretching and exercises, get their arms working and get their stomachs working. we do the sit-ups. it's just giving them the physical strengths that they need. also, it gives my students confidence to step out the house. >> one of his students said i have dementia, but i write my karate class on my door. i think that's such a big deal to keep not only their body active, but their minds active. >> one of my students, she had diabetes. and she was taking medication like four times a day. that was before she started. and then after she said now i'm only on one pill, because my doctor said i should keep doing this karate class. and she also walks like seven miles a day. she said it's motivated her to do better. >> and then their favorite part of class typically is at the end of class, he lets them beat him up. and some of them that are really vocal and are excited it's my turn. can i kick him? and i'm like sure. >> don't hurt him. >> my b-pa came down and took karate classes. he is amazing as a student. he listens very well. his smile is huge when he is doing it. i've never seen him smile so much. we posted pictures of him too. and he was like i look like a big tank. yes you do, big pa. yes, you do. and our karate dojo, the most important value is to respect your elders. i think it's a great thing because you're never too old or never too young to learn something new. >> we need more kind humans. and when i see those seniors run up to him, that lets you know that okay, i did something right. >> my favorite thing about teaching the seniors is just the excitement that thaw get when they start class. there is like hurry up, hurry up, i'm ready, i'm ready, i'm ready. >> they're so hyped in this amazing to know that i'm impacting their lives like that. the transformation is just like -- you see them grow in ways you wouldn't expect. it just makes me feel good, just making other people feel better makes me feel 30 times better. >> that's it for this year's special presentation of the "meet the press" film festival. we'll be back next year with more of the best in class documentary shorts. thanks for watching. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. dad are you sure you're up to host? 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