Film that explores racial reconciliation airing on SCETV

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A documentary that asks whether black and white South Carolinians can face the state’s racially discriminatory past and lead the nation to reconciliation debuts on South Carolina Educational Television this week.

The one-hour film “A Seat at the Table” airs Monday at 7 p.m.

Eighteen months in the making, it was nearly finished when nine black parishioners were slain in June at “Mother Emanuel” AME Church in Charleston. The film incorporated the tragedy and subsequent removal of the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. Its creators say the developments gave the project a new urgency.

Also featured prominently in the film is the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, based at the University of Mississippi. Efforts are under way to replicate its “welcome table” concept at the University of South Carolina.