Not In Our Town toured through the Detroit area screening the film "Waking in Oak Creek" and meeting with local anti-intolerance organizations, law enforcement, and educational institutions to talk about community empowerment.
Waking in Oak Creek
Just months after he was elected as Mayor of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Mayor Steve Scaffidi was faced with the challenge of leading a town that had just experienced one of the deadliest hate crime attacks in recent history. His new book "Six Months In August" profiles a community in crisis from the perspective of Mayor Scaffidi. Patrice O'Neill, Executive Producer and Director of Not In Our Town's "Waking In Oak Creek" sits down with Mayor Scaffidi to discuss his newly released book.
Not In Our Town was proud to screen our film, Waking in Oak Creek, to a packed hall at Google headquarters last week, in partnership with Google's Diversity Committee.
Oak Creek police officers Lt. Brian Murphy, who was shot 15 times in the line of duty, and Officer Sam Lenda were awarded the Congressional Badge of Bravery in honor of their heroic actions on Aug. 5, 2012, when they intervened during a hate crime attack at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, WI.
Last fall, Alexandria’s Inclusion Network conducted a two-day training for first-year law enforcement students at the Alexandria Technical and Community College. Graduates from the program frequently apply for the state patrol or end up serving at departments and agencies across the country, including border patrol.
As part of its 35th Annual Sikh Parade on Nov. 1, Yuba City, CA will host a special screening of Not In Our Town documentary Waking in Oak Creek, which profiles a suburban town rocked by hate after six worshippers at a Sikh Temple are killed by a white supremacist. In the year following the attack, the film highlights a community and law enforcement working together to overcome tragedy, stand up to hate, and create a safe town for all.
More than 75 Bay Area supporters turned out on Wednesday night for a special screening of Waking in Oak Creek and A Prosecutor’s Stand in San Francisco, followed by a community discussion about community activism.
Above: Victor Hwang, the civil rights attorney featured in A Prosecutor's
Stand, talks with Not In Our Town producer Charene Zalis. Below: San
Francisco Deputy Chief Lyn Tomioka addresses the crowd. Photo courtesy
of Jack Rix, Second Act Events and Marketplace.
The Sacramento, CA suburb of Elk Grove is home to a large Sikh community that, in 2011, mourned the loss of two grandfathers that were gunned down by an unknown shooter. A year later, a white supremacist walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and opened fire, killing six worshipers and leaving a police lieutenant wounded.
This 2012 attack in Oak Creek, WI is the focus of our film, Waking in Oak Creek, detailing the community’s response to one of the deadliest hate crime attacks in recent U.S. history. We brought Oak Creek’s story to the California State Capitol Theater in Sacramento in August, bridging these two communities' stories of crisis, loss and healing.
Not In Our Town partnered with Welcoming America around the release of our film, Light in the Darkness, a PBS documentary that explores how a New York village came together following anti-immigrant violence.
Welcoming America works with affiliates nationwide to engage the towns that welcome immigrants. In addition to online activities that feature Not In Our Town, Welcoming America hosts National Welcoming Week, starting on Sept. 13!
During the week of Sept. 13-21, 2014, Welcoming America and its partners across the country will host National Welcoming Week, a nationwide event that will highlight the contributions of immigrants to American communities.
Throughout the country, National Welcoming Week events will bring together immigrants and U.S.-born community members in a spirit of unity through service projects and cultural events.
Finding solutions to cultural insensitivity in Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins, CO seems to have come a long way since the days when “No Mexicans or Dogs” signs plagued its windows, but an article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan explores the stereotyping and racial profiling that still linger.
Leroy A. Gomez, a Fort Collins resident for more than 30 years, has been the target of racism and intolerance ever since he arrived in the city in 1982, according to the Coloradoan. Hispanics are not the only target in Fort Collins; Chinese-Americans and other minorities have also experienced racial discrimination at work and on the streets.