FILM SUMMARY

On a hot summer night in Detroit in 1982, Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler foreman, killed Vincent Chin, a young Chinese American engineering draftsman, with a baseball bat. Ebens’ stepson Michael Nitz, a laid-off autoworker, held Vincent in a bear hug while Ebens brutally bludgeoned him to death. Although Ebens and Nitz pled guilty to manslaughter, they never spent a day in jail. This gripping Academy Award-nominated film relentlessly probes the legacy of Asian American activism and the implications of the murder—for the families of those involved and for the American justice system.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Who Killed Vincent Chin? to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

Please be advised that there are a number of disturbing scenes of violence, sexuality, and racist depictions. In terms of language, be aware of profanity and racial slurs throughout the film. Referring to anyone of Asian descent as “oriental” or a Japanese/Japanese American as a “Jap” is inappropriate and racist.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

These suggested readings provide a range of perspectives on issues raised by the POV documentaryPresident and allow for deeper engagement. Compiled by Sarah Burris from Bay County Public Library.

Adult Non-Fiction

Birch, Sarah. Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order.Princeton University Press, 2022.
Throughout their history, political elections have been threatened by conflict, and the use of force has in the past several decades been an integral part of electoral processes in a significant number of contemporary states. However, the study of elections has yet to produce a comprehensive account of electoral violence. Drawing on cross-national data sets together with fourteen detailed case studies from around the world, Electoral Violence, Corruption, and Political Order offers a global comparative analysis of violent electoral practices since the Second World War.

Cheeseman, Nic and Brian Klaas. How to Rig and Election.Yale University Press, 2018.
Contrary to what is commonly believed, authoritarian leaders who agree to hold elections are generally able to remain in power longer than autocrats who refuse to allow the populace to vote. In this engaging and provocative book, Nic Cheeseman and Brian Klaas expose the limitations of national elections as a means of promoting democratization, and reveal the six essential strategies that dictators use to undermine the electoral process in order to guarantee victory for themselves. Based on their firsthand experiences as election watchers and their hundreds of interviews with presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, election officials, and conspirators, Cheeseman and Klaas document instances of election rigging from Argentina to Zimbabwe, including notable examples from Brazil, India, Nigeria, Russia, and the United States.

Coltart, David. The Struggle Continues: 50 Years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe. Jacana Media, 2016.
David Coltart is one of the most prominent political and human rights figures in Zimbabwe. In 2000, he was elected to Parliament and, following the creation of a ‘coalition’ government in September 2008, he was appointed Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, a position he held until August 2013. Over the years, Coltart has been threatened, detained, spuriously prosecuted and has survived several direct attempts on his life. For three decades, Coltart has kept detailed notes and records of all his work, including a meticulous diary of Cabinet dealings, the source material for much of his book.

Frantz, Erica. Authoritarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know®.Oxford University Press, 2018.
Despite the spread of democratization following the Cold War's end, all signs indicate that we are living through an era of resurgent authoritarianism. Around 40 percent of the world's people live under some form of authoritarian rule, and authoritarian regimes govern about a third of the world's countries. In Authoritarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Erica Frantz guides us through today's authoritarian wave, explaining how it came to be and what its features are. She also looks at authoritarians themselves, focusing in particular on the techniques they use to take power, the strategies they use to survive, and how they fall. Understanding how politics works in authoritarian regimes and recognizing the factors that either give rise to them or trigger their downfall is ever-more important given current global trends, and this book paves the ways for such an understanding.

Fuller, Alexandra. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood.Random House, 2001.
From 1972 to 1990, Alexandra Fuller–known to friends and family as Bobo–grew up on several farms in southern and central Africa. Her father joined up on the side of the white government in the Rhodesian civil war, and was often away fighting against the powerful black guerilla factions. Her mother, in turn, flung herself at their African life and its rugged farm work with the same passion and maniacal energy she brought to everything else. Though she loved her children, she was no hand-holder and had little tolerance for neediness. She nurtured her daughters in other ways: She taught them, by example, to be resilient and self-sufficient, to have strong wills and strong opinions, and to embrace life wholeheartedly, despite and because of difficult circumstances. And she instilled in Bobo, particularly, a love of reading and of storytelling that proved to be her salvation.

Godwin, Peter. The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe. Little, Brown and Company, 2011.
Journalist Peter Godwin has covered wars. As a soldier, he's fought them. But nothing prepared him for the surreal mix of desperation and hope he encountered when he returned to Zimbabwe, his broken homeland. Godwin arrived as Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator for 30 years, has finally lost an election. Mugabe's tenure has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest rate of inflation and the shortest life span. Instead of conceding power, Mugabe launched a brutal campaign of terror against his own citizens. With foreign correspondents banned, and he himself there illegally, Godwin was one of the few observers to bear witness to this period the locals call The Fear. He saw torture bases and the burning villages but was most awed as an observer of not only simple acts of kindness but also churchmen and diplomats putting their own lives on the line to try to stop the carnage.

Holland, Heidi. Dinner with Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter who Became a Tyrant.Penguin Global, 2008.
With plunging life expectancy, soaring inflation, and unemployment, repression, and starvation fueling a mass exodus, Zimbabwe is a nation in crisis. Its president, Robert Mugabe-once lauded for his heroics as a guerilla leader who fought against white-minority rule in the 1960s- is now seen as the man who ruined the country and cast shame on the African conti­nent. Beginning with a dinner shared with Mugabe the freedom fight­er and ending in a searching interview with Mugabe as Zimbabwe's president more than thirty years later, Heidi Holland's incisive and timely investigation charts Mugabe's gradual self- destruction and probes the mystery of Africa's loyalty to one of its worst dictators.

Kenyon, Paul. Dictatorland: The Men Who Stole Africa.Head of Zeus, 2018.
The austere, incorruptible leader who has shut Eritrea off from the world in a permanent state of war and conscripted every adult into the armed forces. In Equatorial Guinea, the paranoid despot who thought Hitler was the savior of Africa and waged a relentless campaign of terror against his own people. The Libyan army officer who authored a new work of political philosophy, The Green Book, and lived in a tent with a harem of female soldiers, running his country like a mafia family business. And behind these almost incredible stories of fantastic violence and excess lie the dark secrets of Western greed and complicity, the insatiable taste for chocolate, oil, diamonds and gold that has encouraged dictators to rule with an iron hand, siphoning off their share of the action into mansions in Paris and banks in Zurich and keeping their people in dire poverty.

Perry, Alex. The Rift: A New Africa Breaks Free.Little, Brown and Company, 2015.
Africa has long been misunderstood and abused by outsiders. Correspondent Alex Perry traveled the continent for most of a decade, meeting with entrepreneurs and warlords, professors and cocaine smugglers, presidents and jihadis. Beginning with a devastating investigation into a largely unreported war crime-in 2011, when the US and the major aid agencies helped cause a famine in which 250,000 Somalis died-he finds Africa at a moment of furious self-assertion. To finally win their freedom, Africans must confront three last false prophets-Islamists, dictators and aid workers-who would keep them in their bonds. Beautifully written, intimately reported, and sure to spark debate, The Rift passionately argues that a changing Africa revolutionizes our ideas of it, and of ourselves.

Rogers, Douglas. The Last Resort: A Memoir of Mischief and Mayhem on a Family Farm in Africa.Crown, 2009.
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Douglas Rogers is the son of white farmers living through that country’s long and tense transition from postcolonial rule. He escaped the dull future mapped out for him by his parents for one of adventure and excitement in Europe and the United States. But when Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe launched his violent program to reclaim white-owned land and Rogers’s parents were caught in the cross fire, everything changed. Lyn and Ros, the owners of Drifters–a famous game farm and backpacker lodge in the eastern mountains that was one of the most popular budget resorts in the country–found their home and resort under siege, their friends and neighbors expelled, and their lives in danger. But instead of leaving, as their son pleads with them to do, they haul out a shotgun and decide to stay.

Rogers, Douglas. Two Weeks in November: The Astonishing Untold Story of the Operations that toppled Mugabe.Short Books Ltd., 2019.
Two Weeks in November is the thrilling, surreal, unbelievable and often very funny true story of four would-be enemies - a high ranking politician, an exiled human rights lawyer, a dangerous spy and a low-key white businessman turned political fixer - who team up to help unseat one of Africa's longest serving dictators, Robert Mugabe. What begins as an improbable adventure destined for failure, marked by a mixture of bravery, strategic cunning and bumbling naivete, soon turns into the most sophisticated political-military operation in African history. By virtue of their being together, the unlikely team of misfit rivals is suddenly in position to spin what might have been seen as an illegal coup into a mass popular uprising that the world and millions of Zimbabweans will enthusiastically support.

Ndlovu, Ray. In the Jaws of the Crocodile: Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Rise to Power in Zimbabwe.Penguin Random House South Africa, 2019.
The fall of Robert Mugabe and the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s new president in November 2017 were events that no one could have predicted. Just three weeks earlier, Mugabe had sacked Mnangagwa as vice president, a move that seemed to end the long political career of the man known as ‘The Crocodile’. From exile in South Africa, where he had been forced to flee for his life, Mnangagwa made a statement telling Mugabe that he would return ‘in a matter of weeks’ to take control of the levers of power in government and in ZANU-PF. It was a journey with little guarantee of success. However, family members, business associates and allies took serious risks to support him, while a nation squeezed by dire economic meltdown and a deep longing for new leadership raised the stakes and demonstrated against Mugabe after a military intervention.

Nyamayaro, Elizabeth. I am a Girl from Africa: a Memoir. Scribner, 2021.
When severe drought hit her village in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth, then eight, had no idea that this moment of utter devastation would come to define her life purpose. Unable to move from hunger, she encountered a United Nations aid worker who gave her a bowl of warm porridge and saved her life. This transformative moment inspired Elizabeth to become a humanitarian, and she vowed to dedicate her life to giving back to her community, her continent, and the world. Grounded by the African concept of ubuntu "I am because we are," I Am a Girl from Africa charts Elizabeth's quest in pursuit of her dream from the small village of Goromonzi to Harare, London, New York, and beyond, where she eventually became a Senior Advisor at the United Nations and launched HeForShe, one of the world's largest global solidarity movements for gender equality.

Sithole, Ndabaningi. African Nationalism, 3rd Edition.Ndabaningi Sithole Foundation, 2022.
What was the fight for Africa's independence all about? Was it just about majority rule? Was it to replace foreign economic and political systems with home-grown African systems or for Africa to remain with and/or adopt foreign systems? In African Nationalism, the late African freedom fighter Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole presents a compelling account of why Africans sought their independence and his vision of a system that would be ideal for Africa's governance.

Tendi, Blessing-Miles. The Army and Politics in Zimbabwe: Mujuru, the Liberation Fighter and Kingmaker.Cambridge University Press, 2020.
An illustrious African liberation fighter in the 1970s and, until his suspicious death in 2011, an important figure in Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in Zimbabwe, this first full-length biography of General Solomon Mujuru or Rex Nhongo throws much needed light onto the opaque elite politics of the 1970s liberation struggle, post-independence army and ZANU-PF. Based on the unparalleled primary interviews with informants in the army, intelligence services, police and ZANU PF elites, Blessing-Miles Tendi examines Mujuru's moments of triumph and his shortcomings in equal measure. From his undistinguished youth and poor upbringing in colonial Rhodesia's Chikomba region, his rapid rise to power, and role as the first black commander of independent Zimbabwe's national army, this is an essential record of one of the most controversial figures within the history of African liberation politics.

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, a documentary film by Director/Producer Ann Kaneko and Producer/Impact Producer Jin Yoo-Kim, tells the story of historical dispossession: dispossession of Indigenous lands; forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II; and extraction and commodification of natural resources, which has adversely impacted ranchers and farmers. In the present, three communities rise up in resistance and form coalitions to defend, sustain, and protect land and water rights. This lesson provides a critical framework for understanding and analyzing the historical human-environment interactions related to forced removals, specifically at Manzanar and Payahuunadü. Understanding this history will provide a foundation to identify and analyze the forms of resistance like nature, joy and humor.

This lesson looks to the past so that students can take action for social and environmental justice in the present. Students will make connections to the environmental justice movement and will learn about the Principles of Environmental Justice and the Principles of Working Together. Students will then directly apply and utilize research skills and community knowledge to begin to build environmental and climate justice campaigns as a culminating project. The lesson is interdisciplinary, and can be completed over three to four 45-minute class periods with optional homework in between.

These suggested readings provide a range of perspectives on issues raised by the POV documentary He’s My Brother and allow for deeper engagement. This list of books was created by Constance Zack of the School Library Association of Rhode Island.

Adult Non-Fiction

Elkins, Kimberly.What is Visible.Twelve, 2015.
An account of the life and challenges of Laura Bridgman, the first deaf and blind woman to learn language, and those who helped her, including the founder of the Perkins Institute, with whom she was in love, and her beloved teacher.

Girma, Haben.Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law. Twelve, 2019./
Girma grew up with her family in the Eritrean city of Asmara during Eritrea's thirty-year war with Ethiopia. Defining her disability as an opportunity for innovation, she learned non-visual techniques for everything from dancing salsa to handling an electric saw. She developed a text-to-braille communication system that created a new way to connect with people. Pioneering her way through obstacles, Girma graduated from Harvard Law, and now uses her talents to advocate for people with disabilities. This is a testament to her determination to find the keys to connection.

Heumann, Judith.Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.Beacon Press, 2021.
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn't built for all of us and of one woman's activism-- from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington--Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann's lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society.

Keller, Helen.The Story of My Life. Doubleday, 1954.
An illness makes Helen Keller both deaf and blind when she is a little child. With the help of an untiring and patient teacher , she learns how to communicate with the outer world through sign language signed into her hand. This opens the world to her and later she learns to read and communicate and even attends university. She becomes a world renowned speaker and writer who is an amazing source of inspiration to others.

Krouk-Gordon, Dafna and Barbara Jackins.Moving out: a Family Guide to Residential Planning for Adults with Disabilities.Woodbine House, 2013.
Mothers and fathers of children with special needs often report that “Letting go was the hardest thing I ever did.” But finding the right residential situation for an adult son or daughter with a disability does not have to be overwhelming. This practical guide shares decades of combined experience on helping families find housing.

Meyer, Don and Emily Holl.The Sibling Survival Guide: Indispensable Information for Brothers and Sisters of Adults with Disabilities. Woodbine House, 2014.
A book expressly for a teenaged or adult brother or sister of someone with a disability. It offers a sense that you're not alone, tips on how to talk to your parents about plans for your sibling, and a crash course in guardianship, medical and legal issues, and government benefits if you're already caring for your sib.

Sauerburger, Dona.Independence Without Sight or Sound: Suggestions for Practitioners Working with DeafBlind Adults.American Printing House for the Blind, 1993
Independence without Sight or Sound covers the essential aspects of communicating and working with deaf-blind adults--individuals who have both vision and hearing loss. Written in a personal and informal style, it is filled with practical information for any professional who works with someone who is deaf-blind, such as how to talk with someone who is deaf-blind, how deaf-blind people can communicate with strangers and interact with people in public, and how they can overcome isolation and assert control over their own life. Written by an expert in orientation and mobility, this guide emphasizes adapting orientation and mobility techniques for deaf-blind travelers.

Sjunneson, Elsa.Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism.Tiller Press (imprint of Simon and Schuster), 2021
A Deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else.

As a Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness--much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they're whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be.

RESUMEN DE LA PELÍCULA

McAllen, Texas alberga la última clínica de salud reproductiva en la frontera entre Texas y México. Es el centro de la tensión entre los manifestantes religiosos que intentan impedir que entren pacientes y el personal de seguridad de la clínica que lucha por protegerla. On the Divide sigue a tres diferentes miembros latinxs de esta comunidad y las decisiones imprevistas que enfrentan para su supervivencia diaria.

USO DE ESTA GUÍA

Esta guía es una invitación al diálogo. Se basa en una creencia en el poder de la conexión humana y está diseñada para personas que desean usar On the Divide para involucrar a familiares, amigos, compañeros de clase, colegas y comunidades. A diferencia de las iniciativas que fomentan debates en los cuales los participantes intentan convencer a los demás de que tienen la razón, este documento prevé conversaciones que se llevan a cabo en un espíritu de apertura en el que los participantes intentan entenderse y ampliar su pensamiento compartiendo puntos de vista y escuchando activamente.

Hemos diseñado las preguntas de discusión para que ayuden a una amplia gama de audiencias a pensar más profundamente sobre los temas de la película. En lugar de intentar responder a todas, elija una o dos que se adapten mejor a sus necesidades e intereses. Y asegúrese de dejar tiempo para considerar tomar acción. Planificar los próximos pasos puede ayudar a que los participantes salgan de la sala sintiendo energía y optimismo, incluso cuando las conversaciones hayan sido difíciles.

Para obtener consejos más detallados sobre la facilitación y planificación de eventos, visitehttps://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Consejos y Herramientas para Facilitadores:

On the Divide es una película única que está especialmente posicionada para apoyar la abogacía del aborto y crear espacios para el desarrollo comunitario. Al afirmar los matices y la humanidad, la película sirve notablemente a las personas más afectadas por las restricciones al aborto en un área que se ha convertido en un campo de batalla por la justicia reproductiva.

Dado el potencial de la película para generar debates y cambios positivos, alentamos a los organizadores y anfitriones a ver la película de antemano y los invitamos a reflexionar sobre los objetivos del evento:

• ¿Qué esperanzas tiene para esta proyección?
• ¿Qué espera aprender de esta experiencia? ¿Qué espera que aprendan los

participantes?

• ¿Qué anticipa que será un desafío para facilitar este evento?
• ¿Qué espera que suceda después del evento?

El documental es una película seria, intencional y emotiva y puede generar conversaciones delicadas. Considere los siguientes consejos sobre cómo crear y participar en un diálogo productivo y respetuoso:

• Co-crear acuerdos comunitarios antes de la discusión. Se puede encontrar un ejemploaquí.
  
• Practicar la escucha activa—aborde la conversación desde un lugar de solidaridad y servicio a los más afectados por las restricciones al aborto. Si surgen respuestas emocionales, mantenga la calma y sinceramente considere lo que el ponente tenga que decir.
  
• Hacer preguntas intencionales—al construir puentes que atraviesan las divisiones creadas por las cuestiones, intenta comprender y conocer a las personas donde se encuentren.
  
• Reconocer las historias y emociones de las personas—si alguien comparte su experiencia personal, valide su experiencia y agradézcale haberla compartido. Esto puede ayudar a crear respeto mutuo y entendimiento.

Además, considere las siguientes sugerencias para ayudar a garantizar la seguridad y el cuidado en su evento:

• Colabore en co-facilitar su evento con una persona de confianza para guiar un diálogo centrado en el cuidado.
• Invite a voluntarios de salud mental para que puedan apoyar a cualquier persona que experimente angustia.
• Repasen las advertencias sobre desencadenantes antes de que comience el evento.

Acuerdos Comunitarios: ¿Qué Son? ¿Por qué son útiles?

En un esfuerzo por crear un espacio de colaboración motivado por la solidaridad y el respeto, alentamos a los organizadores y anfitriones de eventos a integrar acuerdos comunitarios en sus eventos. Los acuerdos comunitarios ayudan a establecer un marco y parámetros para entablar un diálogo que permita establecer un sentido común de intencionalidad antes de entablar una discusión. Los acuerdos comunitarios se pueden co-construir, y crearlos se puede usar como una actividad de apertura que tu grupo emprenda de manera colectiva y colaborativa antes de entablar un diálogo.Aquí hay un modelo de Acuerdos Comunitarios que puede revisar. Como facilitador, puede medir cuánto tiempo debe tomar su grupo para formar estos acuerdos o si los participantes estarían dispuestos a aceptar acuerdos comunitarios preestablecidos. A continuación se presentan algunos ejemplos de acuerdos comunitarios:

• Usar declaraciones de "yo"—extraiga de sus propias experiencias y hable en su nombre en lugar de usar "nosotros".
• Dar un paso adelante y dar paso—equilibrar su participación interviniendo en la conversación y retrocediendo para ayudar a crear espacio para los demás.
• Escuchar activamente—escuchar sin interrumpir ni centrar su propia respuesta.
• Respetar la privacidad y la confidencialidad—los anfitriones, organizadores y participantes del evento acuerdan no compartir información privada fuera de este espacio.
• Respetar sus necesidades—ya sean necesidades de accesibilidad, emocionales o logísticas, comunicarlas a los anfitriones y organizadores del evento y/o ser capaz de alejarse de la conversación si le desencadena.
• Centrar el cuidado—recordar que estamos aquí para cuidar de nosotros mismos y de nuestras comunidades. Permitir que valores solidarios guíen la participación en la conversación.

Una nota sobre el lenguaje inclusivo

Históricamente, la lucha por la atención y el derecho al aborto ha centrado la experiencia de las mujeres blancas cisgénero. La campaña de impacto de On the Divide se compromete a centrar la experiencia de todas las personas afectadas por las restricciones al aborto, especialmente las más afectadas—mujeres y personas que dan a luz que son latinxs, afrodescendientes, de pueblos originarios, personas de color y/o inmigrantes.

Alentamos a lxs organizadorxs y anfitrionxs de eventos a integrar un lenguaje inclusivo que reconozca y centre la experiencia de las personas trans, no binarias y de color en la lucha por la justicia reproductiva y el acceso al aborto. Para obtener definiciones útiles y aclaraciones sobre el lenguaje, puede visitar“Language of Gender” de The Gender Spectrum.

FILM SUMMARY

In Maniitsoq, Greenland, the US aluminum giant Alcoa Corporation has been planning to build a smelting plant for years. With the promise of economic renewal,Winter's Yearningfollows the lives of the area’s loyal aging population and its stymied youth. Pictured against immense, isolating landscapes, the people await their plant and with it, the nation's possible first step towards sovereignty.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Winter’s Yearning to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

LETTER FROM THE FILMMAKERS

When we traveled to Maniitsoq for the first time, it was to make a film about ALCOA’s establishment of a giant aluminum smelting plant on the edge of the town. Thousands of foreign workers were supposed to arrive in the small town of only 2,500 inhabitants. As anthropologists, we felt it was a social experiment too significant to go undocumented. We wanted to tell the story of Greenland’s biggest industrial adventure, as the locals would experience it. We expected the townspeople to be somewhat divided on the question of the plant and were honestly surprised to find that most of the town favored the project. Maniitsoq never got their plant. Perhaps they never will. But for many years, they waited for it to happen ─ and we waited, too. During this period of waiting, we got to know Maniitsoq and Maniitsoq got to know us. We fell in love with this tiny town, which has been overlooked politically and exists only in the shadows of Greenland’s larger, more influential towns. But Maniitsoq has its own charm. Wherever we went and whoever we spoke to, we sensed that people here shared a great love for their hometown. But also, a yearning. They shared their lives with us with great generosity and hearts wide open.

-- Sidse Torstholm Larsen and Sturla Pilskog, 2022

"Every mountain up here has a story behind it. Those are part of who we are and where we come from. If they come in and change the land, those stories become meaningless."

Kathy Jefferson Bancroft, Lone Pine Pauite-Shoshone Tribe

Film Summary

At the foot of the majestic snow-capped Sierras, Manzanar, the WWII concentration camp, becomes the confluence for memories of Payahuunadü, the now-parched “land of flowing water.” Intergenerational women from Native American, Japanese American and rancher communities form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from the City of Los Angeles.

Filmed over five years, the documentary captures stunning and intimate imagery of Payahuunadü/Owens Valley, combined with archival gems and careful research to narrate this epic tale of the American West. It begins before colonizers came and then shows how the US Army and settlers forced out the Nüümü and Newe; how the LA Aqueduct sucked the Valley dry; how incarcerated Japanese Americans made the land green again; how Patsiata/Owens Lake became a health hazard and how this Valley now bears the pain of these stories and the consequences of losing water to diversion.

Using this Screening Guide

This resource created for Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust supports educational and community screenings. It encourages viewers to consider our responsibilities to our past and how we might confront and build a better future. How can you use this guide to build community as well as form coalitions with other communities?

‍

This list of fiction and nonfiction books, compiled by Susan Conlon, MLIS and Kim Dorman, Community Engagement Coordinator, of Princeton Public Library, provides a range of perspectives on the issues raised by the POV documentary Winter’s Yearning.

In Maniitsoq, Greenland, the US aluminum giant Alcoa Corporation has been planning to build a smelting plant for years. Pictured against immense, isolating landscapes, the people await their plant and with it, the nation's possible first steps towards economic renewal and political sovereignty.

ADULT NONFICTION

Alley, Richard B. The Two-mile Time Machine: Ice Cores, Abrupt Climate Change, and Our Future. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.
Richard Alley, one of the world's leading climate researchers, tells the history of global climate changes as revealed by reading the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland.

Flaherty, Louise and Neil Christopher. Kappianaqtut: Strange Creatures and Fantastic Beings From Inuit Myths and Legends.Iqaluit, Nunavut; Toronto, Ont.: Inhabit Media Inc., 2011.
Each volume in the Kappianaqtut series provides readers with an in-depth academic examination of two mythological creatures from Inuit mythology. The series examines Inuit myths from an ethnographic perspective and fosters discussion on the variations and multiple representations of the myths and creatures in question. This volume, which explores the giants of the North and the mother of the sea mammals, has been fully revised and updated. Kappianaqtut represents the first book-length study of Inuit mythological beings written from a Northern perspective.

Gertner, Jon.The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey Into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future.New York: Random House, 2019.
Greenland: remote, mysterious, ice-covered rock, has some of the most profound secrets of our planet--clues about where we've been, and where we might be headed. And now, with the ice sheet melting at an unprecedented rate, we are able, for the first time, to understand the story that lies within it, and what it can tell us about our future.

Glassley, William E.A Wilder Time: Notes from a Geologist at the Edge of the Greenland Ice.New York, NY: Bellevue Literary Press, 2018.
Greenland, one of the last truly wild places, contains a treasure trove of information on Earth's early history embedded in its pristine landscape. Over numerous seasons, William E. Glassley and two fellow geologists traveled there to collect samples and observe rock formations for evidence to prove a contested theory that plate tectonics, the movement of Earth's crust over its molten core, is a much more ancient process than some believed. As their research drove the scientists ever farther into regions barely explored by humans for millennia--if ever--Glassley encountered creatures and natural phenomena that gave him unexpected insight into the origins of myth, the virtues and boundaries of science, and the importance of seeking the wilderness within.

Sonne, Birgitte. Worldviews of the Greenlanders: An Inuit Arctic Perspective.Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 2017.
Ninety years ago, Knud Rasmussen’s popular account of his scientific expeditions through Greenland and North America introduced readers to the culture and history of Arctic Natives. In the intervening century, a robust field of ethnographic research has grown around the Inuit and Yupiit of North America—but, until now, English-language readers have had little access to the broad corpus of work on Greenlandic natives. Worldviews of the Greenlanders draws upon extensive Danish and Greenlandic research on Inuit arctic peoples—as well as Birgitte Sonne’s own decades of scholarship and fieldwork—to present in rich detail the key symbols and traditional beliefs of Greenlandic Natives, as well as the changes brought about by contact with colonial traders and Christian missionaries. It includes critical updates to our knowledge of the Greenlanders’ pre-colonial world and their ideas on space, time, and other worldly beings. This expansive work will be a touchstone of Arctic Native studies for academics who wish to expand their knowledge past the boundaries of North America.

Tedesco, Marco.The Hidden Life of Ice: Dispatches from a Disappearing World. New York: The Experiment, 2020.
Marco Tedesco is a world-leading expert on Arctic ice decline and climate change. In The Hidden Life of Ice, he invites the reader to Greenland, where he and his fellow scientists research the dramatic changes afoot. Alongside the sobering facts on climate change, Tedesco shares photographs of this surreal landscape— as well as captivating legends of Greenland’s earliest local populations, epic deeds of long-ago Arctic explorers, and his own reflections.

Watt-Cloutier, Sheila. The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Fight to Protect the Arctic and Save the Planet From Climate Change. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2018.
The Right to Be Cold is the human story of life on the front lines of climate change, told by a woman who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Indigenous environmental, cultural, and human rights advocates in the world.

Zuckoff, Mitchell.Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival, and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II.New York: Harper, 2013.
In Nov. 1942 a U.S. cargo plane crashed into the Greenland ice cap.The search-and-rescue mission got caught in a storm and also crashed but miraculously all nine men aboard survived. A second rescue operation was launched, but the plane, the Grumman Duck, flew into a storm and vanished. The survivors of the B-17 spent 148 days fighting to stay alive while waiting for rescue by famed explorer Bernt Balchen. Then in 2012 the U.S. Coast Guard and North South Polar mounted an expedition to solve the mystery of the vanished plane and recover the remains of the lost plane's crew.

Who Killed Vincent Chin? is a landmark documentary film unveiling one of the most well-known hate crimes against Asian Americans, the failures of the American justice system, and the legacy of Asian American activism in their response to this travesty. From the police investigation, prosecution, to the sentencing judge, justice was not served for the brutal killing of Vincent Chin. Directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña in 1987, this film captures a national multiracial civil rights campaign led by Asian American activists. The crime happened in 1982 Detroit when Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler foreman, killed Vincent Chin, a young Chinese American engineering draftsman, with a baseball bat. Ebens’ step son Michael Nitz, a laid-off autoworker, held Vincent in a bear hug while Ebens brutally bludgeoned him to death. Although Ebens and Nitz pled guilty to manslaughter, they never spent a day in jail. This lesson provides a framework for critical analysis of a racially motivated killing, the American justice system, and activism through the Vincent Chin case.

Students will gain an understanding of the importance of the Vincent Chin case as it pertains to hate crime laws, the American justice system, and Asian American civil rights activism. They will first enter the lesson by considering what they know about hate crimes through a journal prompt and discussion. Next, they will learn about federal hate crime laws enforced by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from a reading. Then students will apply this knowledge to the Vincent Chin case by examining evidence from the film clips to prove that the killers committed a hate crime. Through a “chalk talk” activity students will respond to one another’s analysis and opinions about the case. Next, students will examine a quote made by Judge Kaufman explaining why he decided to sentence the killers Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz to no jail time. Finally, they will write a support statement speech as if they were going to participate in the Justice for Vincent Chin demonstration by using all the information they analyzed in the film clips and activities.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

FILM SUMMARY

Wuhan Wuhan is an observational documentary unfolding during February and March 2020 at the height of the pandemic in Wuhan, China. With unprecedented access at the peak of the pandemic lockdown, Wuhan Wuhan goes beyond the statistics and salacious headlines and puts a human experience into the early days of the mysterious virus as Chinese citizens and frontline healthcare workers grappled with an invisible, deadly killer.

The film focuses on five heart-wrenching and endearing stories: a soft-hearted ER doctor and an unflappable ICU nurse from the COVID-19 hospital; a compassionate volunteer psychologist at a temporary hospital; a tenacious mother and son who are COVID-19 patients navigating the byzantine PRC healthcare system; and a volunteer driver for medical workers and his 9 month pregnant wife whose heartfelt story forms the backbone of this film.

Wuhan Wuhan is a testament to the universality of our collective pandemic experience, that no matter what country, no one is immune to disease and that we, as a human species, share the same humanity in our struggle to survive.

Content Warning: While Wuhan, Wuhan is a person-focused narrative situated in the earliest experiences with COVID-19, this ongoing pandemic continues to impact the daily lives of millions. Please know that conversations around an ongoing pandemic will likely conjure memories, feelings, and painful experiences for those in your community. For this reason we have included a Grounding Activity for you to offer those in attendance at the close (or throughout) your conversation.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use Wuhan Wuhan to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. Because COVID-19 remains in our lives today, and with so many loved ones, neighbors, and community members deeply affected by the pandemic, this film can also stand as a meditation for us all. The storytelling, musical score, and characters lend themselves to a unique opportunity to be reminded of our shared humanity and the universal connections we share around the world to live, love, and help one another remain safe.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

LETTER FROM THE FILMMAKER

As a Chinese person who grew up in North America, I feel strongly committed to telling a nuanced story that doesn’t generalize a population of people and reveals them to be individuals, not just a monolith. Nationalism builds walls and this is not the intention of this film. In WUHAN WUHAN, the lives of the people we follow are individually a document of perseverance, but collectively they represent the profound humanity we universally hope for in times of crisis. I’m driven to make this film because of anti-Asian racism quelled by double-speak and mis-truths from leaders around the world, who obfuscate the realities of this pandemic; that in the end it is the everyday person, the essential frontline workers, the volunteers, the intergenerational families, it is us, who must navigate the ups-and-downs of this unprecedented and historic event that will shape our lives forever. In a way, as systems and governments fail us, the people have come together. We will survive.

- Yung Chang, Director

This list of fiction and nonfiction books, compiled by Susan Conlon, MLIS and Kim Dorman, Community Engagement Coordinator, of Princeton Public Library, provides a range of perspectives on the issues raised by the POV documentary Manzanar Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust.

From the majestic peaks of the snow-capped Sierras to the parched valley of Payahuunadü, “the land of flowing water,” ``Manzanar Diverted:” poetically weaves together memories of intergenerational women. Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.

ADULT NONFICTION

Bahr Meyers, Diane.The Unquiet Nisei: An Oral History of the Life of Sue Kinetomi Embrey. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Based on extensive oral histories, The Unquiet Nisei recounts how Sue Kunitomi Embrey emerged from the WRA camp at Manzanar to become a leader of the Japanese American Redress Movement.

Brown, Daniel James. Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II.New York: Viking Press, 2021.
In the days and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. Chronicling the lives of several Japanese Americans who volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Brown also tells the story of these soldiers’ parents, immigrants who were forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Whether fighting on battlefields or in courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing what Americans do best—striving, resisting, pushing back, rising up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring.

Lillquist, Karl. Imprisoned in the Desert: The Geography of World War II-Era, Japanese American Relocation Centers in the Western United States. Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Central Washington University, 2007.
Evacuation of persons of Japanese descent from the U.S. West Coast to inland, arid sites in 1942 contains elements of all aspects of traditional geography, including physical, human, and regional sub-disciplines; however, few geographers have written on the topic. Further, little has been written about the landscapes in which the Japanese Americans were incarcerated, and how the evacuees interacted with the landscapes while they were incarcerated. This book focuses on the geography of each of the eight western U.S. relocation centers–Amache, Gila River, Heart Mountain, Manzanar, Minidoka, Poston, Topaz, and Tule Lake. Common to all in their western U.S. locations was aridity. All were located in arid or semi-arid environments. The Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas centers were excluded from this study because of their locations well east and in vastly different environments than the remainder of the sites. They were also the shortest-lived centers of the ten.

Miller, Char (editor). Wading Through the Past: Infrastructure, Indigeneity & Western Water Archives.Claremont: The Claremont Colleges Library, 2021.
Wading Through the Past is a collection of essays based on the 2021 Western Water Symposium, sponsored by The Claremont Colleges Library. An assortment of scholars, librarians, and advocates have virtually gathered to discuss the process of digitizing, making accessible, and using the Western Water Archives in the hope that we might better understand and improve our relationship to water. SPECIFICALLY noting “Payahǖǖnadǖ Water Story by Teri Red Ow”l

Omi, George. American Yellow.Sarasota: First Edition Design Publishing, 2016.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Omi family was uprooted from their home in San Francisco and incarcerated approximately 2,000 miles away at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas. This memoir follows the story of the Omi family’s survival through the war and of their journey back to San Francisco to rebuild their lives in the aftermath.

Rotner Sakamoto, Pamela. Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds.New York: Harper Perennial, 2017.
Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an portrait of a resilient family, an examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.

Umemoto, Hank. Manzanar to Mount Whitney: The Life and Times of a Lost Hiker.Berkley: Heyday, 2013.
Hank Umemoto was a young teenager when he was incarcerated at Manzanar during World War II. From inside the barracks, he was able to see Mount Whitney, and vowed that he would one day hike the mountain when he was a free man. Umemoto recalls stories from his life as a Japanese American in California both before and after the war, and chronicles his journey admiring Mount Whitney from inside Manzanar to finally reaching its summit decades later.

Yamashita, Karen Tei.Letters To Memory. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press, 2017.
This memoir recollects the Japanese internment using archival materials from the Yamashita family as well as a series of epistolary conversations with composite characters representing a range of academic specialties.

FILM SUMMARY

McAllen, Texas is home to the last reproductive health clinic on the Texas/Mexico border. It is the center of the tension between religious protesters who try to stop patients coming inside and the security staff of the clinic who fight to protect it. On the Divide follows three different Latinx members of this community and the unforeseen choices they face for their daily survival.

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use On the Divide to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Tips and Tools for Facilitators:

On the Divide is a unique film that is specially positioned to support abortion advocacy and create spaces for community building. By embracing nuance and humanity, the film notably serves those most affected by abortion restrictions in an area that has become a battleground for reproduction justice.

Given the film’s potential to spark discussion and positive change, we encourage organizers and hosts to watch the film beforehand and invite them to reflect on the goals of the event:

• What hopes do you have for this screening?
• What do you hope you will learn from this experience? What do you hope participants will learn?
• What do you anticipate will be a challenge in facilitating this event?
• What do you hope will happen after the event?

The documentary is a thoughtful, intentional, and emotional film and may bring up sensitive conversations. Consider the following tips on how to create and engage in a productive and respectful dialogue:

• Co-create community agreements ahead of discussion. An example can be found here.
• Practice active listening—approach the conversation from a place of solidarity and in service to those most affected by abortion restrictions. If emotional responses arise, stay calm and truly consider what the speaker has to say.
• Ask intentional questions—when building bridges across issue divides, try to understand and meet people where they are.
• Acknowledge people’s stories and emotions—if someone shares their personal experience, validate their experience and thank them for sharing. This can help create mutual respect and understanding.

In addition, consider the following suggestions to help ensure safety and care at your event:

• Co-facilitate your event so you can have a trusted partner in leading care-centered dialogue
• Invite mental health volunteers so that they can support anyone experiencing distress
• Review trigger warnings before the event begins

Community Agreements: What Are They? Why Are They Useful?

In an effort to create a collaborative space fueled by solidarity and respect, we encourage organizers and event hosts to integrate community agreements into their events. Community agreements help provide a framework and parameters for engaging in dialogue that allows you to establish a shared sense of intention ahead of engaging in discussion. Community agreements can be co-constructed, and creating them can be used as an opening activity that your group collectively and collaboratively undertakes ahead of engaging in dialogue. Here is a model of Community Agreements you can review. As the facilitator, you can gauge how long your group should take to form these agreements or if participants would be amenable to pre-established community agreements. Below are some sample community agreements:

• Use “I” statements—draw from your own experiences and speak on behalf of yourself rather than using “we.”
• Step up, step back—balance your participation by stepping up into the conversation and stepping back to help create space for others.
• Actively listen—listen without interrupting or centering your own response.
• Respect privacy and confidentiality—event hosts, organizers, and participants agree not to share private information outside of this space.
• Honor your needs—whether they be accessibility, emotional, or logistical needs, communicate those to event hosts and organizers and/or feel empowered to step away from the conversation if triggered.
• Center care—remember that we are here to care for ourselves and our communities. Allow caring values to guide participation in the conversation.

A note on inclusive language

Historically, the fight for abortion care and rights has centered the experience of white cis-gendered women. The impact campaign for On the Divide is committed to centering the experience of all those affected by abortion restrictions, especially those most affected—women and birthing people who are Latinx, BIPOC, and/or immigrants.

We encourage event organizers and hosts to integrate inclusive language that acknowledges and centers the experience of trans and nonbinary people and people of color in the fight for reproduction justice and abortion access. For helpful definitions and clarification of language, you can visit The Gender Spectrum’s “Language of Gender.”