Second Class Citizen

Second Class Citizen is a 501c non-profit organization that strives to create equal rights for non-custodial parents wrongfully robbed of their parental rights and duties.

In the winter of 2008, Terrence Popp (SCC Operator 1) met with me at a coffee shop in Royal Oak to discuss the possibility of me crafting a vision for a story he had experienced first hand, and felt desperately needed to be told: The story of what drives thousands of veterans to commit suicide every year in the United States.

To say that such a subject is "loaded" is a vast understatement; it's a topic the military themselves would like to pretend didn't exist. In fact, the military high command does not even keep accurate records of the suicide rates currently plaguing their returning veterans. The only reliable and comprehensive statistic was performed by CBS in 2005: The number of suicides from that year alone dwarfs the entire casualty count from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars over the last seven years.

I tackled the subject with enthusiasm, but with a grave understanding that the film would spark controversy and discussion well beyond the bounds of anything I could anticipate. The first of what would become a series of films, Purple Heart's Final Beat, has to date been seen by more than 23,000 people in as many as 13 countries, has won the Mitten Movie Project Film Festival's award for Best Short Film of 2010, and been screened at three other Michigan-based festivals.

As Operator 21 of Second Class Citizen, my contribution to the organization will be to keep directing the films that will hopefully change the system as we know it, and turn it into something better and fair.

Please follow the links below to see the films of Second Class Citizen, and feel free to visit their website to learn how you can join the fight and get involved.

Purple Heart's Final Beat - Winner of the 2010 Mitten Movie Project
What We Stand For
Wordplay
A March of Images
Behind the Fence
Phantom Holiday
Living Monuments
A Message to Tiger Woods (the audio on this one is quite atrocious)
Welcome Home Hero