[Oe List ...] Recommended film

[Elizabeth Caperton]

Dear Colleagues,

Please, if you choose to watch this film, I'd appreciate it if you would first read the attached links:

http://www.t-g.com/blogs/brianmosely/entry/41599/

http://www.t-g.com/story/1729821.html

so you may understand the editing and bias behind the film.  The reporter that is featured in the film shares what was edited out and how he and the town were misrepresented to support a point of view that was decided well before arriving in Shelbyville.

Having grown up in Shelbyville and traveling back there monthly to visit my mother these last 11 years has kept me reasonably connected to the town and I must object to much of how the town was portrayed.

Beverly, described as a church caterer, is given a lead role in the film and depicted as a representative spokesperson for the entire African American community of Shelbyville.  Her vague generalizations do not conform to the facts as I know them.  The filmmaker made no attempt to substantiate the charges Beverly made.  The rumored FBI concern about a terrorist attack is attributed to “the buzz".  Her nonspecific references to the prevalence of lynchings in Shelbyville ignores the fact that the last documented lynching in Shelbyville was in 1912. In 1934 there was a race riot during the course of which the courthouse was burned.  Two white rioters were killed by law enforcement during their attempts to seize an African-American prisoner. There were no riots since and integration was comparatively smooth as opposed to many other places.  I'm not naive enough to say there weren't rough spots I'm not aware of but not to the extremes alluded to in the film. It is unfortunate that Beverly’s comments were presented as virtually the sole authoritative source on race relations in Shelbyville. There are many intelligent and thoughtful African American citizens who could have contributed balance and perspective, including Mayor Eugene Ray. Presenting their views would have substantially reduced the sense of “racial tension” that was obviously an important part of the filmmaker’s agenda, and diminished support for the State Department’s characterization of Shelbyville as: "a town long defined by its history of racial tension between African American and white residents dating back to the end of the Civil War. “ (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164171.htm) 

I find the bias of the movie disturbing.  The town has put enormous resources into educating and assimilating a very large number of Hispanic and Somali refugees.  And by the way Rev Stephen Caine is the minister of my home church and neighbor. I will find out more tomorrow when I am there whether his comments were edited to fit a preconceived point of view.

And what was the basis of all this?  That Somalis felt someone was mean to them.  There was no act brought up as a basis for their unhappiness.

Please be thoughtful and discerning when looking at this and remember how once we/ICA felt the bias of a reporter with an angle to promote.  And don't buy into the "all small Southern towns are . . ." stereotypes.  It is much more complex.  

And if you want to use something to discuss diversity please consider using the Shelbyville Times Gazette reporter's series instead of this one-sided film.  It might not have the distribution of the film but might be a more balanced description of the situation.

Elizabeth


On May 25, 2011, at 5:40 PM, jlepps at pc.jaring.my wrote:

Colleagues:

Last night we saw a fantastic film on Public Television -- "Welcome to Shelbyville," the story of a small town in Tennessee undergoing major change. It's a documentary of how attitudes of black and white residents shifted with the influx of first Hispanics, and more recently Sudanese. It's a great story of a community coming to terms with diversity, and would be an excellent program with a group followed by a focused discussion. It's also playing in some theaters in Colorado.

You can see it online at http://video.rmpbs.org/video/1944965828/

John


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