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A
mind shattering experience for colleges, universities, high schools, organizations
and conventions
Shown in 311 American colleges
for packed audiences.
Student Activities often spends thousands of dollars to bring famous
speakers to campus - only to find that 50-100 students show up....
......American Pictures is known for standing room only crowds. The
tenth show at Harvard drew 700 people. The third show at U.C. Davis drew
2000. Students who miss it often drive hundreds of miles to see it on
other campuses.
No
program today presents the growing minority crisis in America so
visually and with such "lasting impact.
An
Experiment
in Oppression
The show reveals the
psychological costs of racism on both the black and
white mind. But it is not only a "show" about the
victims of racism, it is also an experiment in
oppression.
The technique of the show is to incessantly bombard the
audience with a one-sided view from the position of the
black underclass, a view in sharp contrast to the
Horatio Alger myth.
There is no opportunity for rationalization or justification. A form of
oppression ensues that gradually breaks down the audience's defenses. It
effectively creates a momentary role reversal, allowing the astonished
students to actually experience the emotions that blacks often suffer in
everyday white society. This paves the way for whites to begin to
identify with and understand black reactions.
The Welfare State.....or
the Lack of it
A major thrust of both the
show and the discussion groups concerns
institutionalized poverty, fear, and insecurity. As an
outsider who grew up in a European welfare state, Jacob
Holdt challenges established American thought patterns
by demonstrating the enormous financial and human costs
of living without cradle-to-grave security.
Despite the fact that the countries with the greatest
economic equality - such as Denmark, Sweden, and Japan -
achieved the highest growth rates in the last century,
American thinking is steeped in the notion that the
capitalist welfare state "destroys people's incentives,"
provides "handouts from above," or even leads to
suicide.
In the search for solutions, it is essential that
students at least be informed about alternatives.
Business, medical and law schools have also found it
important to challenge their students with the show.
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