Volume 124 Issue 144
kansan.com
Friday, April 27, 2012
onarch
insea-ring earlier ers are
liveli vill all
"at we goingation, back,"
steman
FILM
Documentary prompts race discussion in schools
XIN LI/KANSAN
Patrick Monroe, a senior from New Berlin, Wis., looks through a lens to focus a shot for his documentary. The documentary features the "Can We Talk" program at Free State High School, which focuses on racial issues in public schools
IXIN LI
editor@kansan.com
Sylvia Yimer, a graduate student in the School of Social Welfare, went to visit the program "Can We Talk" at Free State High School. "Can We Talk" is a localized part of a national program. Yimer said her visit was driven by her interest in race equality in public schools.
Yimer said the program was meant to facilitate understanding of different races and reduce the academic performance gap between white students and students of minority groups. She said she was surprised by how unrecognized the program
A group of University students is producing a documentary called, "Courageous Conversations about Race," a program encouraging high school students to face racial issues.
"Film can be used to make change and be the outlet for voices that are marginalized to be heard," Yimer said. "These kids wouldn't get an opportunity to get their stories heard without someone giving that to them necessarily."
Last September, Yimer brought the documentary idea to a University student club, the Documentary Film Society. The student club was just established by then. The president of the club, Patrick Monroe, a senior studying film, was excited to hear about the idea.
Monroe said it was great to know that Sylvia was as dedicated as he was to filming and directing.
Yimer said Singleton was personable. The author set aside more than four hours of his day to meet exclusively with Monroe and Yimer.
The program is inspired by the book "Courageous Conversations about Race — a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools," by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton. In February, Yimer and Monroe flew to San Francisco to interview and film Singleton.
Index
was. Yiner decided to make a documentary to raise awareness of the program.
"It was easy to tell how passionate he was about his work and how eager he was to help us," Yimer said. "The interview with Glenn is by far the most important interview for the film."
"Since we started, we were focusing on funding and didn't have
anything solid to work on." Monroe said. "Then Sylvia called me with this golden idea"
CLASSIFIEDS 7
CROSSWORD 4
SPORTS 8
SUDOKU 4
State High School student who said to have benefitted from the program. Yimer said their next goal was to set up an interview with Tim Wise, one of the leading authors on race and racism in America.
CRYPTOQUIPS 4
OPINION 5
During spring break the team conducted an interview with a Free
Monroe said the project would expand through the school year and develop into a 70-minute feature.
Monroe said a lot of work needs to be done to make the documentary successful and he hoped they could eventually send the documentary to film festivals. He hasn't yet announced a release date.
"As a filmmaker, I hope this will be a calling card not just for me, for the club, but for KU," Monroe said. "We want to show people what KU students are capable of."
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Edited by Anna Allen
Don't forget
Today is the Brown Bag Drag Show sponsored by SUA, Queers & Allies and Kicker. This is the last Tunes @ Noon of the year.
Today's Weather
Showers and thunderstorms are likely, otherwise mostly cloudy.
X
HI: 67
LO: 54
don't get struck by lightning.
山