Documentary on Hate Crimes After 9/11

Dean Harold Koh thinks this is an important film:

Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath
A film by Sharat Raju and Valarie Kaur

WHEN: Wednesday, September 17th,     7:00 to 9:30 pm
WHERE:  Irvington High School, 41800 Blacow Rd., Fremont, CA 94538

The film is the first feature-length independent documentary about hate violence in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Filmmaker Valarie Kaur documented stories in the Sikh, Muslim, and Arab American communities. Over the next five years, Kaur’s journey unfolded into a larger exploration of “who counts as American.” In 2005, Sharat Raju and his film crew joined Valarie as she retraced her steps across the country, revisiting her original interviewees and other scholars, lawyers, and legislators about race, religion, and security in post-9/11 America.

Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh has written, “It [Divided We Fall] is an illuminating meditation on what it has meant to one ‘one of us’ since September 11th.” The film has opened spaces for deep dialogue and storytelling in more than 60 cities and 100 universities and schools. Harvard Professor Diana Eck, Director of The Pluralism Project, describes the film as a starting point for a “new dialogue on race and religion that is central to America’s future.”
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The September 17th screening is free and open to the public. It will include a showing of the film  and comments by Dr. Jaideep Singh, Co-founder, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Assistant Professor in Department of Ethnic Studies, CSUEB, Ranjit Singh Sabharwal Chair in Sikh and Punjabi Studies;
Neha Singh, Western Region Director, Sikh Coalition, Fremont; and Ameena Jandali, Sr. Content Development Manager and Founding Member, Islamic Networks Group, San Jose. A Question/Answer Period with panelists will end the program.

Facing History and Ourselves is an international educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage teachers and students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development and lessons of the Holocaust and other examples of collective violence, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.

FREE EVENT – OPEN TO THE PUBLIC- BUT PLEASE RSVP by email: Karen_weinstein@facing.org    or by phone:  510 786-2500 x221.

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