“Crossing the Divide” Documentary

A film crew captured this story from the 2017 Climate Justice Unity March.

A reactionary Iowa farmer has a change of heart when climate activists march into his tiny town.

Disrespect is poisoning American society, jeopardizing informed debate and destabilizing democracy. This is a story about how two groups on either side of the political divide get caught up in a firestorm of disrespect, sparked by a Confederate flag and an attack video funded by a pipeline company. Then, almost miraculously, they find common ground. Their unlikely alliance shows how hard it is to change entrenched beliefs yet how important it is to try.

Run time: 15:29

Ralph King is producer and co-director of the PBS documentary Extreme By Design, about Stanford University students who make low-cost products for the developing world. The film premiered on primetime nationally in December 2013. King worked as a print journalist for 25 years and was twice nominated by Wall Street Journal editors for the Pulitzer Prize.