The undergraduate student organization Faces of Feminism is hosting a screening of the documentary “Precious Knowledge” Friday, Oct. 12 in room 400 of the general classroom building at 7 p.m.
“The purpose of the screening is to bring attention to the ban of the ethnic studies program in Tucson, AZ,” said Jeanette Cuevas, member of Faces of Feminism. The Ethnic Studies program started in Tucson to help youth and youth of color learn about other cultures and to increase academic achievement.
“It was a federally implemented program and then [the Tucson Unified School District] decided to completely get rid of it,” Cuevas said. “They decided to ban an extraordinarily long list of books from the high schools in Arizona. So this is kind of bringing attention to what a banned book is, why a banned book exists.”
Cuevas said the ban is tied to SB 1070 which is the “paper’s please law” that was passed in Arizona. This law permits authorities to ask people for their immigration papers to see if they’re documented or undocumented.
“Around the same time, they banned the ethnic studies program and just a session later they passed HB 87 here in Georgia- which is the mock bill to SB 1070,” Cuevas said.
Georgia State is holding this film screening because people in Arizona asked for a day of soladarity, Cuevas said.
“Nationally people are holding movie screenings of the film “Precious knowledge” which is a documentary about the struggle in Arizona- kind of just letting people know what’s happening.”
Cuevas said the event is to bring dialogue to why things are banned and will include a discussion after the movie screenings.
Faces of Feminism is dedicated to raising awareness surrounding the oppression of minority groups along gendered, raced, classed, and sexed lines.
