Amudalat Ajasa presents her documentary on diversity in the Cultural Center. // Photo courtesy of Cody Hmelar.
The lights dim in the Guthart Cultural Center with images of idyllic skies and a suburban neighborhood on the screen. This is how the scene was set for a screening of Hofstra student Amudalat Ajasa’s documentary for The Guardian, “They’re Teaching Children to Hate America,” on Wednesday, March 30.
Originally published on The Guardian’s YouTube channel on Feb. 16, 2022, Ajasa follows the struggles of different sets of parents who both support and protest the introduction of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Curriculum and Social-Emotional Learning in the Carmel Clay School District in Carmel, Indiana.
After watching the documentary, Dr. Katrina Rochelle Sims, assistant professor of history, who co-moderated the discussion, pitched the event. “I received via email a link to Amudalat’s documentary,” said Sims. “I watched it and thought: ‘This is so timely.’ We’ve been having these conversations in my classroom. I think it’s also relevant to what we are doing as a community here at Hofstra trying to center diverse, equitable, inclusive curriculum and initiatives.”
Before walking into the Cultural Center, Ajasa was slightly nervous about the turnout for the event. “I was really surprised by the show of support both by administrators, professors and my friends. [It] was really heartwarming, and it made it really easy to talk about the harder topics that we were talking about,” Ajasa said.
Students from various majors, such as philosophy, accounting and film attended the event. Lailah Nabors, a senior music business major, found some of the interviews in the film to be shocking.
“What stood out to me was this Black mother, who wasn’t really for the change [that occurred] in Carmel, Indiana,” said Nabors. “And I thought that was very interesting because growing up, being a Black woman and learning new things from my parents, they always educated me and always made sure that if I saw something that wasn’t right in the school system, that I should let them know and speak up about it.”
While watching the film, students and staff alike made astounded faces at some of the interviews. Sims asked viewers who had a visceral reaction to the film in terms of anti-critical race theory: “What are you doing in your daily life to counter the narrative?”
“I walked away thinking, OK, I need to get activated. I need to be mobilized,” said Sims. “I need to consolidate my ideas with other individuals and organizations to make sure that we are responding in a meaningful way to this anti-critical race theory movement.”
Frank Shields, a senior film studies and production major, stated that it was nice to see students of other ethnicities than Black attend the screening. “I think sometimes when you do go to these events, the majority of the audience is Black,” Shields said. “We need more white students to be educated.”
While some students were surprised to hear that the racism portrayed in the film occurs on Hofstra’s campus, others reflected on their own experiences.
“It is a predominantly white institution. And it definitely is a school where I’ve even talked to my white friends about racism that I’ve experienced,” said Nabors. “The reaction is always like, ‘Oh, my God, really, that actually happened?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, guys, like, these things happen. They’re not new.’ So, I do think that students who are white should be more educated and come to these things.”
For some viewers, this was a new film that shed light on the effects of racism. For Ajasa, this was the culmination of months of research and filming shown on the big screen.
“What was really interesting … [was] watch[ing] people watch me on a screen – it gave me a second window into how people perceive me. It’s different from ‘oh, these people perceive my future career work,’” Ajasa said. “I got a few emails afterward, and a lot of people came up to me to talk about it. That’s what journalism is: forcing [people] to start discussions.”
Lessons learned from the documentary are just the beginning. “Don’t be ignorant to having conversations about race,” Shields said. “Don’t be opposed to learning. I think it’d be much appreciated if [Black people] weren’t the individuals who always had to bring up these hard conversations. Today especially, it was surprising to me how many white, Caucasian students actually spoke up and asked questions and were very concerned.”
Sims cautioned that the issue of criticisms of race-based education on Long Island may impact the Hofstra community. “I will pair it with Alicia Garza [founder of the Black Lives Matter movement], who said, ‘We need to focus on consolidating power and applying pressure.’ We need to figure out how we will move forward and gain a meaningful way to respond to this anti-critical race theory, because I do believe that [it] is threatening to the meaningful, important substance of work here at Hofstra by demonizing DEI initiatives.”