In order to probe the issue of racial segregation, the filmmakers of the new documentary "I Sit Where I Stand: The Legacy of Brown vs. Board of Education" looked at one of the most commonly segregated areas - the high school lunchroom.
Award-winning filmmakers Whitney Dow and Marco Williams will present their film this Sunday from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m in the Fogelman Executive Center at The University of Memphis.
"A film that deals with this issue is especially important in today's society because people are starting to notice that self-segregation is going on again years after the segregation period," said Earnestine Jenkins, assistant professor in the art department who specializes in African-American history and film.
The film features a group of high school students living in Buffalo who set out to racially integrate their lunchroom.
"We wanted to do a film that dealt with the Supreme Court's decision 50 years ago that outlawed racial segregation in public schools," Dow said. "So we decided to go to a high school lunchroom, which is kind of universally known as being segregated."
The filmmakers started out by putting up notices on bulletin boards around the school advertising for any students who might be interested.
"We interviewed about 50 students who were interested and narrowed it down to around 20," Dow said. "We then developed the plan together with the students."
The first action the students took was to map out the lunchroom and see how it was segregated. They then tried several approaches to get students' attention.
"The students tried to start their own table with the purpose of drawing in students of different ethnicities. They tried making announcements, but everything they tried was unsuccessful," Dow said. "They finally had some success when they started to approach individual students and get them involved."
In the end, the students managed to temporarily integrate their lunchroom.
"I think people naturally segregate themselves like this because people like to be comfortable," Dow said. "And it is just more comfortable to be with people who are similar, whether it is racially, economically, or professionally.
"There is nothing wrong with self-segregation, it is just something that is," he said. "What is wrong is when people are afraid to break away from this comfort or when groups are not accepting of other people."
The film is being presented by Facing History and Ourselves, which is an educational organization aimed at engaging students in the examination of racism, prejudice and anti-Semitism in an effort to build a more tolerant society.
"Our goal in presenting this film is to invite people to think about their identity and to encourage conversation," said Rachel Shankman, director of the Memphis region of Facing History. "The film asks the question of what makes us comfortable with people who make us feel familiar and what happens when someone tries to break away from that familiarity. It illustrates the complexity of trying to make a change."
Dow believes that her experience working on this film only confirms her opinions on race and segregation.
"I think the idea that we are all the same underneath or that people should be colorblind when dealing with other people is invalid," Dow said. "What we need to realize is that Americans are different and complex. We are not the same and maybe if we focus a little on our differences we will start to see them as something positive."
