in need of imagination

I watched Valarie Kaur's documentary, Divided we Fall, yesterday at GW. In short, its a documentary about a 3rd generation Sikh American, who set out on the road after 9/11 to document hate crimes in the Sikh community, specifically in NJ/NY and Arizona (location of first victim four days after 9/11).

Although the film was focused on the Sikh community and their experiences, it is relevant not only to the Muslim community, but to all minority communities in this continuing struggle. She told a story of Americans, one that most people ignore, and touched upon some very very important issues of societal prejudices, race relations, demonization of the"other" and discrimination. It was incredibly thought provoking, on a level of internal self assessment, and inspiring - it sparks a very important debate about the future of race relations in the context of the South Asian community, especially in light of everything that is going on today - violations of civil rights and liberties, and immigration reform at the very least.

It reminds me of a graduation speech by Thomas Friedman, admittedly one that I did not attend, but had I known he was speaking at my cousin's graduation - I would have been there in a nano-second. Friedman talks about imagination - comparing two events, the fall of the Berlin wall (11/9/1989) and September 11, 2001 (9/11/01).

"... it struck me that [11/9 and 9/11] each represent a powerful form of imagination at work in the world today. 11-9, the fall of the Berlin Wall, was brought about by people daring to imagine a different and more open world, one where every human being would be free to realize his or her full potential and then summoning the courage to act on that imagination.

It was really so simple. ... [p]ressure built up on the East German government, and when it suddenly announced plans to ease travel restrictions, tens of thousands of East Germans immediately went to the Wall where, on 11-9, 1989, border guards just opened the gates.

[Someone] must have said to himself or herself, "Imagine. Imagine what might happen if we grant these visas to all these East Germans? Imagine if the East German government doesn't know how to respond. Imagine if people just come streaming out. Imagine -- imagine -- if East German citizens, young and old, men and women, are emboldened by seeing their neighbors flee to the West, and then one day they just swarm that Berlin Wall and tear it down brick by brick?" Some people probably had that exact conversation, and because they did, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 11-9 opened the world up like a burst dam.

... 9-11 changed all of that. It showed us the power of a very different kind of imagination. .... At some point they literally must have looked at one another, those boys of 9-11, and said, "Imagine. Imagine if we pull this off. Imagine if we actually can hit both towers of the World Trade Center. And imagine -- imagine -- if each tower were to come crashing down like a house of cards?" Yes, I am sorry to say, some people actually had that conversation, too.

The imagination of 9-11, of course, is a pessimistic imagination, one that seeks to divide people, one that seeks to erect walls and borders... As a result of it, the world that was your oyster seemed to close up a bit like an oyster's shell.

...

Our country needs your imagination in another very important way as well. We are the most powerful country on earth, and we could do a lot better for ourselves if every once in a while we actually imagined what it was like not to be an American, to be the other man or woman. People who have power often don't think about it. People who don't have power think about it every day. If we want to have the world with us ... we must become better listeners."

Tom Friedman encourages the Class of 2004 to play the imagination game, and imagine a world where things could be different, a world where powerful people made different choices. And encouraged them to go out and act on it, in a sort of - be the change that you wish to see in the world sort of way. Although I was not in the class that he addressed, I felt like his speech was a rally cry to our generation. By that point, a young South Asian woman in California had started her own quest to imagine a better world, setting out to listen to and document the stories, and it culminated into "Divided we Fall." She pushed it one step further, and asked the question - what does it mean to be American?

I identified with this film very strongly because it echoed my own thoughts after 9/11 - what can we do to imagine a better world (of course I use those words in retrospect, but it sums up what I was thinking). In attempting to figure that out, I was also trying to figure out who I was - what I believed, who my community was - who did I call family, who did I turn to, who would I stand up for. In doing so, I emmersed myself in a long quest of self assessment - one that I am still struggling with today.

I wanted to jump up at the end of the film and yell Bravo ... but I didn't, and part of it I think was a part of my own internalization. The film aims to achieve something quite admirable in the long run - if we can all look at each other, passing each other on the street - and not immediately register - south asian, muslim, white, etc. - and instead say - human - we have allowed our minds to break down those barriers and recognize our common humanity. At the end of the film, I hesitated to stand immediately, as much as I longed to, because my mind identified that it wasn't a story of my community.

If we are to get anywhere on the road to social unity, to fight back against the hate in our society, we must stand together, as humans. I, personally, have a long way to go in doing so, but this film convinces me that it has to be done.