I am associated with [the] Chicano Studies [department], where many
people on this campus assume that we do second-rate scholarship and
third-rate research, and that most of us are-fourth-rate teachers….
It is a continuous process of having to prove myself, including to
students.” – Dr. Alex M. Saragoza, University of California Berkeley.
“I think it is the sense that…White people belong on top and they
shouldn’t have to give up anything for anybody. ” – Dr. Nell Painter,
Princeton University
These are just two of the voices heard in a new film that explores
the frustrations, anxieties, and triumphs experienced by scholars of
color in today’s academy.
Shattering the Silences: The Case for Minority Faculty uses a
prime-time, news magazine format which is much livelier than the
plodding cadence of so many documentaries – to depict the role scholars
of color are playing in the arduous process toward diversity on the
nation’s campuses.
The film, which was produced by moviemakers Stanley Nelson and Gail
Pellett, debuted to a national audience on the Public Broadcasting
System (PBS) earlier this year and is now being screened at academic
conferences and on campuses around the country.
“We as filmmakers…feel thrilled that the documentary has a life of
its own and is being used to facilitate an important dialogue on the
issue of diversity,” says Pellett, who has won several awards for
previous documentary work.
Featuring narration by African American actress Lynn Thigpen – who,
among other credits, is the star of the PBS educational television
series Where in the World is Carmen San Diego – the eighty-six-minute
film covers a wide swath of issues, including: the alienation many
scholars of color feel when assigned to campuses in largely White
towns; the relentless pressure of having to prove the merits of their
scholarship long after having achieved tenure; the toll these pressures
have on their personal and professional lives; and the personal
satisfaction scholars of color feel from knowing that they are changing
not only the course of the academy, but the course of history.
