Cambridge, Massachusetts

Reflection written by Mike Nilon, M.Div. '10 student at Harvard Divinity School and organizer of the HDS screening.

At the end of a long day of orientation, 54 students and diverse members of the Harvard Divinity School community gathered in the Sperry Room on Wednesday, Sept. 10 to view Divided We Fall. We were pleased with the diversity of the audience and their willingness to engage. We began the evening by dividing the plenary group into quads and having a short discussion, in which we asked our audience to discuss their experiences of September 11th. We wanted them to frame the movie with their own lived experiences and gut reactions to what happened.

As it did the first time that I watched it at Northeastern, the film invoked the ghosts of the various victims of this national tragedy and their spirits spoke to us of loss and also of healing. At numerous key points in the narrative I could see people leaning forward and hear audible gasps and sighs as the story reach its denouement. Afterwards, because the group was small enough, we all began to discuss the film and what we felt and thought about it. Numerous insightful and wise comments were made by different individuals in the audience.

One woman said that, although African-Americans had suffered the disastrous effects of racism for a very long time, African-Americans had been quick to judge people displaying articles of faith post 9-11. She felt convicted about that hypocrisy and urged greater solidarity in the future. One man argued that viewing a film was a start, but that we needed to get this form of representation out of the academy. An administrator of the school opined that these types of tragedies are happening everywhere and all the time. She thought that we should be vigilant lest violations of civil liberties and hate crimes become the norm in our society. One woman expressed admiration for Balbir Sodhi’s widow and her strength of character.

After a few minutes of discussion, we decided to bow our heads and observe a moment of silence in honor of the men and women who perished in this attack and other similar acts of violence.