Award-Winning Film The
Letter to Show at MHC
Posted: April
13, 2006
Mount Holyoke,
in collaboration with Massachusetts Fair Housing Center
of Holyoke,
will screen
the controversial
and powerfully
moving film The Letter: An American Town and the Somali
Invasion Wednesday, May 3, at 7:30 pm in
the Blanchard Campus Center Great Room.
The film focuses
on Lewiston, Maine, which found itself at the center of a national
debate when 1,100 Somali refugees
were relocated
there in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. The film chronicles
a letter written by the then mayor, Larry Raymond, asking the
Somali refugees
to tell their friends and family not to move into the city.
This
letter created quite a controversy, pitting anti-immigrant
white supremacist groups against local groups in support of the
refugees.
The tensions climaxed on January 11, 2003, in simultaneous
competing rallies that required the largest police action ever
seen in
Maine to ensure the safety of the town residents.
This film
has won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival. It was
chosen as the Opening Night Film at the 2004 Amnesty
International Film Festival and has garnered various other
prestigious nominations
throughout the U.S. and around the world.
Following the
screening, attendees are invited to remain for a discussion about
the film
as well as racism and discrimination
persistent in our own communities. Staff from the Massachusetts
Fair Housing Center (MFHC), a nonprofit organization working
to
defend the civil rights of residents of central and western
Massachusetts and ensure equal access to housing, will
be leading
the discussion.
MFHC has been investigating claims of housing discrimination
and educating the community about fair housing for the
past 16 years. "People
believe that the civil rights movement is something that
happened in the past," said Erica Johnson, program
director at MFHC, "but
I can assure you that the movement is still going on and
the staff of MFHC is working every day to ensure all people
have
access to
housing."
This event
is supported in part by Arise for Social Justice in conjunction
with their second annual
Tent City Week
and Center
for the Environment.
The event is
free and open to the public. For more
information about Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, please contact
Erica Johnson, MFHC program director, at 413-539-9796.
Related Links:
Hamzeh Mystique Films
Directions to MHC
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