As a writer/speaker/filmmaker/activist, Molly Secours has been called an "uncompromising fighter for racial equity and social justice".
Since 1995, Ms. Secours' writings have been published by over 50 mainstream and internet magazines and newspapers. She has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows to discuss issues of racism, white privilege and reparations for slavery. See Ms. Secours website, mollysecours.com for information on appearances, writings, films and much more.
In 1998 Ms. Secours was invited to serve as an Advisory Board Member at Fisk University's Race Relations Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2000, she presented an intervention to the United Nations in Santiago, Chile, proposing that the U.S. "repudiate the official histories and language(s) that maintain the hegemonic and unearned privileges accorded to those who are identified as "white". During the Summer of 2001, Secours attended the United Nations Prep-com in Geneva, Switzerland, and, as a journalist, covered the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa (August 2001).
During 2000-2001, Ms. Secours wrote a bi-weekly column for the daily Nashville City Paper until she was informed the paper was "taking a hard right turn in order to attract financing" and voices of the left were no longer needed. Since then, Secours has become a contributing writer for z-net magazine and many other progressive publications and has written and produced videos for Death Penalty Institute and Free Speech TV.
Secours is a contributing writer in a book published by Harper Collins (Jan. 2003) titled Should America Pay? Her chapter, entitled "Riding the Reparations Bandwagon," addresses issues of white privilege and reparations for the African Slave Trade. She has also co-created a workshop entitled "Straight Talk About Race-a dialog in black in white" which she co-facilitates with Dr. Raymond Winbush, the Director of Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore MD.
In Spring 2001, Secours testified before the Tennessee Judiciary Committee in support of a reparations study bill. In Fall 2001, The Scene, Nashville's alternative weekly, identified Secours as one of "Nashville's most influential public intellectuals". As a strong presence in the community, Secours has used her skills as a writer and orator to challenge state and local officials (as well as members of the community) to carefully consider the state's position on the death penalty and the racial disparities of the criminal justice system.
In a previous life, Secours worked in theater, film and television and recently founded a program called Youth Voice Through Video (Y.V.T.V.) wherein she teaches video-making to juvenile offenders and incarcerated youth in a Nashville prison. She has written, produced and edited documentary videos related to social justice issues and is working on several documentary film projects for her company, One Woman Show Productions.
