Rivers Among First to Screen Important Film on Race & Race Relations

 

The documentary brought together 12 New York City teenagers for workshops and discussions specifically about race and tracked them over the course of a year. It is part of an ongoing project at NYC’s Calhoun School called “Deconstructing Race” that aims to “transform the conversation about race, racism, and privilege in this country and expose the myth of colorblindness in a society that espouses a post-racial mantra.”

 

“The film was very accessible for our students because they were able to see kids their own age go through this process,” said Rivers’ Director of Diversity and Inclusivity John Bower. “The individuals in the documentary are emphasizing not just the importance of talking about race and privilege, but more importantly doing something about it. Some of the students in the film are now seniors in high school or college freshmen and are actively involved in furthering these conversations and making social change in their communities.”

 

The event was made possible thanks, in part, to the funds raised by last year’s “Fund a Need” portion of the Rivers Parents’ League Auction which was dedicated to providing funding for diversity initiatives. The response Bower has received from parents, faculty, and students who attended the event has been extremely positive, and has him excited for the conversations that will come from it in the coming weeks and months.

 

Ben Liston, who joined Rivers this fall as the school’s counselor, was one of the faculty members in attendance and believes that the lasting impact of the film could be felt on a daily basis.

 

“I knew that the film would bring up applicable ideas, but since it was a group of students from New York, I didn’t think it would have felt as close to home as it did,” Liston said. “The journey the students in the film go through is a journey that I believe would be healthy for our students to examine and refer to as they evaluate the lens through which they view what diversity means and determine if that lens is as broad as it should be.”

 

One theme Liston observed in conversations following the film was censorship and how we sometimes allow opportunities for discussion of each other’s differences to pass us by.

 

“Examples come up all the time of small comments that people hear that make you raise an eyebrow, so to speak,” Liston said. “But instead of asking ‘what do you mean by that?’ in a non-confrontational way to collaborate and understand other perspectives, we censor ourselves and let that opportunity for salient discussion go.”

 

What the film does is offer the opportunity to see what those discussions look like through the authentic experiences of its subjects.

 

“The film was very real,” Bower said. “You’re learning about race, racism, and privilege through story, and it’s hard to argue against the value of discussing individuals’ realities.”    

 

A group of Rivers students and faculty members will have the opportunity to view the film again when it is screened at the People of Color and Student Diversity Leadership Conferences in Indianapolis at the beginning of December.