Feb. 19, 2016
Community
the Racquette
5
DIAC Shows Films on Racial Inequality Dr. Jennifer Mitchell Contributing Writer
What is the real impact of race and racism today? How can we really talk about our dramatically different everyday experiences of racial identity? What do we need to know if we want to interact and work well together in multiracial groups? DIAC and Campus Life are sharing two enlightening films with the campus on these topics. “White Like Me: Race, Racism & White Privilege” explains racial inequality through film clips, experts and interviews with students. The second film, “If These Halls Could Talk,” offers a close-up view of a group of college students in an intense conversation about race and inclusion on campuses. These films are excellent conversation-starters, and DIAC is willing to schedule screenings and discussions for departments, clubs, offices, etc. “White Like Me: Race, Racism & White Privilege” This is an informative film showing the history of racial inequality through one man’s personal story. The film US shows “how White privilege continues to shape individual attitudes, politics, and policy — in ways too many
White people never stop to think about.” “Are you white?” said Slate writer Aisha Harris. “Then you should probably watch this.” DIAC has shown this film three times on campus over the past year. Thanks to SUNY Potsdam’s Office of Campus Life, anyone can stream the film from a campus computer by going to http://potsdam.kanopystreaming.com/. Sophomore International Studies major Julia Zakaryan shared her thoughts about watching “White Like Me.” “I remember my first time watching ‘White Like Me’ a year ago. I had an inkling that watching the movie would help me learn more about what the ‘big issue’ was on campus. I sat there for an hour and was bombarded by facts, graphs, statistics, interview clips from experts in the field of racial equality, student interviews, people’s personal accounts, news clips and scientific research results. I sat there and absorbed what I heard and learned.” “I felt like I’ve skimmed the surface of these topics and research studies already, either through class, reading a book or article, or on the internet. But watching this movie helped me really see everything together at once. It helped me understand the problem,
gain words to talk about it and accept my role as a white person, even though I’m a first-generation immigrant to the U.S. The film also comes with a solution, which is to understand the beginnings of today’s problem and to use my privilege as a white woman to help change it by listening and assisting when needed.” “If These Halls Could Talk “ In this film, eleven college students spend a weekend discussing race and ethnicity, and the experience of living with our different identities. DIAC will screen this film in full on Wed., Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Kellas 103. Then we’ll show selected clips on Wed., March 23 at 7 p.m. in Kellas 103. This film is an excellent conversation-starter, and DIAC is willing to schedule screenings and discussions for departments, clubs, offices, etc. According to the film’s website, “eleven college students discuss what it is like on campuses across the country today. The students share the frustration and anguish of trying to be understood and acknowledged on campus where the faculty and students are predominantly white. Their stories are starkly emotional and raw, filled with incredible tenderness, courage, and pain. The issues that they challenge us to look at are
equally provocative, begging to be heard and confronted.” This is a 90-minute film, but it comes with topical clips as well. I asked Julia Zakaryan how she felt as a SUNY Potsdam student watching this film. “If These Halls Could Talk stressed even more to me the importance of listening to others. It reminded me that there are so many perspectives to one issue. There are white people, black people, Muslim people, poor white people, gay men, and Asian women who have their own unique voice to daily experiences that we all share. A simple ‘How are you?’ to one person means something different on many levels to another person because we all carry our separate burdens daily. The most we can do to validate a person and their experience is to see them as who they are, their race, their religion, their sexuality, however they define themselves, and to sympathize with them to help relieve their burden. With the opportunity of understanding there also comes the opportunity for change, learning how to assist a person in their struggle is a way to tell a person you care for them and want to see a change in the life situation they and many like them face daily.” “Keeping an open mind and allow other’s opinions to affect you is important to be able to
do. After watching this film, you may begin to check yourself more after learning a little more about these issues. You may begin to echo voices of those oppressed that have spoken up in their own defense. You may change a routine, a habit, or way of life you’ve developed. You will become more open to others, you will begin to understand the social and political motivations to things that seemed so simple before and, through your opinion and actions, a part of a greater psychological shift.” “If These Halls Could Talk” is a moving and enlightening film made by Lee Mun Wah, a facilitator and filmmaker who has “revolutionized the field of diversity through [his] internationally acclaimed documentary films and seminars.” His goal in his films is to show “intelligent, emotional, and dramatic confrontations [which] reveal the pain and scars that racism has caused them. What emerges is a deeper sense of understanding and trust. This is the dialogue most of fear, but hope will happen sometime in our lifetime.” Lee Mun Wah’s skilled facilitation of the dialogue helps us all to appreciate the deep differences in our experiences of and emotions about racism. In previous screenings, we’ve seen that the film definitely stimulates open, honest conversation in the audience.