Within the first five minutes of “Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way,” the film’s subject talks about a specific memory of her father.
Because he worked nights in the family restaurant, he would often take his young daughter to the matinee at The Ritz Theater in Newburgh, N.Y.
Back then, Shirley Temple was a box office phenomenon. And young Geraldine’s mother would curl her hair a la Shirley Temple for these sweet father-daughter movie dates.
“Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way” will screen at The Triplex Cinema on Sunday, September 15, at 3 p.m. Even better, her daughter and the film’s director-producer Donna Zaccaro will be on hand to celebrate her pioneering mother’s legacy.
Another one of my favorite anecdotes in “Paving the Way” involves Ferraro’s recall of Halloween. Evidently, this holiday was a big deal for her and her siblings. To wit, when she dressed up as “Uncle Sam” one year, her mother was especially supportive and thoroughly non-judgmental.
Two consistent messages Gerry heard early on from her mother:
“You can be anything you want to be.”
“You can do whatever you want to do.”
The caveat was always:
“All you have to do is work hard.”
I thought about this a lot as I watched Ferraro describe her formative years. Her story reverberates in critical ways with the personal narrative Kamala Harris just shared with the nation. The main takeaway is that having someone who believes in you is priceless, the sooner the better.
In Ferraro’s case, her father died at a young age of a heart attack. Although Harris’s parents divorced, she also described her mother’s incredible influence in making her believe she could do anything and be whatever she imagined.
Needless to say, Ferraro dreamt big. No doubt she was inspired by another trailblazing New Yorker: Shirley “Unbought and Unbossed” Chisholm, whom Ferraro succeeded as secretary of the House Democratic Caucus in 1981.
But the scenes from 1984’s Democratic National Convention in San Francisco are the beating heart of “Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way,” at least as they relate to the current political moment. See for yourself—reserve your tickets for The Triplex’s special screening on September 15.
And consider that after her historic vice presidential nomination 40 years ago, Geraldine Ferraro went on to became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. (Since March 2006, this is called the UN Human Rights Council.) No doubt her background as a district attorney gave her a unique perspective.
Like Shirley Temple, who served as the U.S. ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia, as well as chief of protocol for the United States, Ferraro personified the values we hold dear.
So much has changed since Geraldine Ferraro burst onto the national stage. You know this, I know this, and Kamala Harris knows this, too. This is precisely why the country will chart a new way forward on November 5.
