LIBRARY HOSTS RACISM MOVIE AND DISCUSSION

The community is invited to attend another program in the "Coming Together Racine" series of movie screenings and discussions about racism and race relations at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 5:30 p.m (NOTE: new time, due to change in library's hours).

Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand were nominated for Oscars, along with director Alan Parker, in this outstanding 1989 story of FBI agents in Mississippi investigating the recent disappearance of two white civil rights workers and their African-American companion. Agents Anderson and Ward work against each other more frequently than they work together as they battle to find the truth in a hostile and increasingly volatile environment. Agent Ward is twenty years younger than Anderson, but has risen higher in the FBI hierarchy through an idealistic adherence to protocol. Agent Anderson joined the FBI late in life, after years of working as a small town sheriff in a rural Mississippi border town. Anderson and Ward seek to overcome the formidable challenge posed by a conspiracy of silence, hatred, and bigotry from diametrically opposed backgrounds and perspectives, but their respect for each other grows as they discover that neither has an exclusive hold on the truth. The evolution of understanding between the southern-bred, obstinate veteran agent and his northern-born partner are a microcosm of the nation's potential for hope. This movie received Oscars for Best Film Editing (Gerry Hambling) and Best Cinematography (Peter Biziou).

A member of Coming Together Racine will facilitate a discussion of the movie after the screening. Participants are encouraged to bring a brown bag supper. The series is cosponsored by Coming Together Racine and the Racine Public Library and is funded by the library's Alma Boernke Endowment Fund.

Coming Together Racine is a 501(c)3 organization developed in response to community needs identified at a Town Hall Meeting on February 25, 2005. At the event it was determined that a greater effort is needed in the Racine community to eliminate the barriers preventing equal voice and access to community resources. In response to the results from the Town Hall Meeting a community-wide committee, The Committee to Eliminate Racism, was formed. In September 2005, after assessing the Racine community's needs, the Committee to Eliminate Racism submitted an application to become an affiliate of the Coming Together Project, and in February 2006 was approved as Coming Together Racine.

Coming Together Racine will work to:

§ Promote racial harmony in the community;

§ Educate community members on racism and its effects on people and the community; and

§ Bring people together to foster awareness and appreciation of people of all cultures.

To achieve these goals the Committee will provide opportunities for members of the Racine community to dialogue, explore, learn, and strategize around racism. This movie is one of a series of events designed to engage Racine in discussion.