A former Virginia congressman is working with a documentary filmmaker to spotlight displacement of minority populations across the globe.
Former Republican Congressman Tom Garrett has a new lease on life and a new project. After struggling with alcoholism, Garrett is now sober and he's putting together a documentary series to spotlight displacement of minority communities across the globe. And he says don't expect him to focus exclusively on persecution of Christians.
"I will not do a series that does exclusively Christian persecution. I won't because it will fail," explains Garrett. "We need to do what my Bible says we should do and care about all people."
He's already been to Iraq and Syria, and he has hours of footage of young women fighters who are taking up arms against Isis.
"They're really stories that just have not been told," says documentary filmmaker Matt Whitworth, who's working with Garrett on crafting the series.
"I didn't even realize the severity of religious persecution around the world; just how pervasive of a problem this is," Whitworth says.
So far, the project has a trailer on YouTube. But Garrett’s also hoping to crowdfund the cost of the series.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.