Center for Education, Equity and Diversity
March Point:
"Cody Nick and Travis, three teens from the Swinomish Indian Tribe, wanted to make a gangster movie or rap video. But instead they were asked to investigate the impact of two oil refineries on their tribal community. March Point follows their journey as they come to understand themselves, the environment and the threat their people face. March Point is the story of three boys awakening to the destruction two oil refineries have brought in their communities. Ambivalent environmental ambassadors at the onset, the boys grapple with their investigative video assignment through humor, sarcasm, and a candid self-knowledge. But as the filmmaking evolves, they begin to experience the need to understand and tell their stories, and the power of the process to change their lives." -- SOURCE: DVD cover
Lost Boys of Sudan:
"Lost Boys of Sudan, which premiered on PBS's P.O.V. series in 2003, is a gripping documentary about young refugees from the Sudanese conflict as well as a moving story of survival and acclimation in a strange and daunting land. The film centers around two young Dinka tribesmen who must flee a vicious civil war in their homeland and risk thirst, starvation, and animal attack to reach refugee camps thousands of miles away in Kenya in Ethiopia. Once there, the "lost boys'" journey begins again, as they are resettled in Houston, Texas, and must start new lives in a completely alien country. Eventually, their adjustment to 21st century life becomes the film's main focus; can they join American society and still retain their tribal connections? Told in simple but powerful images, Lost Boys of Sudan affectingly addresses themes of home, acceptance, family, and what it means to be a member of society–-both America and the global community." -- SOURCE
In Whose Honor? American Indian Mascots in Sports:
"The Cleveland Indians. Washington Redskins. Atlanta Braves. What's wrong with
American Indian sports mascots? This moving, award-winning film is the first of
its kind to address that subject. In Whose Honor? takes a critical look at the
long-running practice of "honoring" American Indians as mascots and nicknames in
sports. It follows the story of Native American mother Charlene Teters, and her
transformation into the leader some are calling the "Rosa Parks of American
Indians" as she struggles to protect her cultural symbols and identity. In Whose
Honor? looks at the issues of racism, stereotypes, minority representation and
the powerful effects of mass-media imagery, and the extent to which one
university will go to defend and justify its mascot." --
SOURCE
RACE -- The Power of an Illusion:
"The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has became so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, new three-hour series by California Newsreel claims. Race - The Power of an Illusion questions the very idea of race as biology, suggesting that a belief in race is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth. Yet race still matters. Just because race doesn't exist in biology doesn't mean it isn't very real, helping shape life chances and opportunities.
Episode 1- The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.
Episode 2- The Story We Tell uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as "natural."
Episode 3- The House We Live In asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people.
-- SOURCE
