Menomonie, Wisconsin

Reflection written by Dr. Lopamudra Basu, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Philosophy and Assistant Director, University Honors Program, University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Divided We Fall was screened in Menomonie, Wis. at the UW Stout campus on September 10, 2008. The venue was Applied Arts 210 and the screening and discussion were held between 7-10 pm. The event was sponsored by the University Honors Program and the Ally Center/ MSC Involvement and Leadership. The event was publicized extensively in the campus and local media and resulted in an audience of over 100 attendees. The discussion was facilitated by Dr. Lopa Basu, Assistant Director of the Honors Program and Dr. Robert Horan, Director of the Honors Program.


The discussion was a very rich and stimulating one. At first many in the audience shared personal memories of when they had suddenly become targeted as the other. Some members in the audience brought in a historical perspective to issues of discrimination noting the banning of the German language in Wisconsin schools. Most in the audience were of the opinion that the only way to counter hate was through education. Some however were somewhat despondent about the active indoctrination into hate that was being undertaken by many extremist hate groups of various religions. Many in the audience expressed sympathy for the Sikh community even though there were no Sikhs in the audience. At the end, everyone wished for more opportunities to discuss these issues in a community setting. We are hoping to have more discussions of the film after the official DVD is released.

> Read audience responses from the UW Stout screening.