Coming Together to Stop Racism

By Wally McElwain, a Spring 2012 intern at The Leadership Conference Education Fund

Fifteen years ago, the Not In Our Town movement traveled across the country to document the ways in which communities confronted racism. Video crews filmed these solutions developed by grassroots activists. Not In Our Town has produced 45 videos, and they host screenings at locations varying from town halls to private organizations. The goal of the screenings is to stimulate discussion and brainstorm ways that a community can embrace diversity and fight hatred.

On March 29, Campus Progress screened the movement’s most recent film, Not In Our Town: Class Action at the Center for American Progress. The film is split into two stories. The first story centers on the University of Mississippi. Ole Miss is one of the nation’s oldest universities, and its legacy is intertwined with Southern history. The Ole Miss community takes great pride in this history; however, parts of this historical legacy isolate and offend members of the Ole Miss community. In response, Jake McGraw and Melissa Cole created a racially diverse student organization aptly named One Mississippi. The Associated Student Body President Artair Rogers passed legislation that banned the chant, “Glory, glory hallelujah, the south will rise again” from the football stadium. Students rallied together to organize a successful counter-protest when the KKK arrived on campus.

The film’s other story takes place in Bloomington, Indiana. In 2010, a series of anti-Semitic acts challenged the Bloomington community’s solidarity. Bloomington United—a group founded some years earlier as a result of an anti-Semitic motivated murder—quickly responded to the incident with a message of unity and anti-hate. Bloomington Muslims and other religious groups came to the aid of the Jewish community. More than 300 people and the town’s mayor joined the Jewish community in a ceremony to light the first candle of Hanukkah.

Following the film screening, a panel of experts answered questions from students and young activists in the audience. The panel included film subjects Rogers and Cole, Libby McInerny, the director of strategic partnerships and campaign development for Not In Our Town, and Julie Ajinkya, a policy analyst for Progress 2050 at Center for American Progress. Eduardo Garcia, an immigration advocacy associate at Campus Progress, served as the moderator for the panel.

Individuals and organizations interested in hosting a similar film screening and discussion can make the request here.