BuildingBridges

The Bloomington Municipal Code defines a hate incident as including verbal or physical abuse directed at individuals or groups because of their race, sex, color, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, veteran status or housing status. If you are a victim of a hate incident, or witness one, we encourage you to report it. Doing so can help you get the support you need. You may make a report by doing one or more of the following:

• If you believe a crime has occurred, call 911 as soon as you can so that law enforcement may take appropriate action.

• Contact the Bloomington Human Rights Commission by calling 812-349-3429 or e-mailing human.rights@bloomington.in.gov. The BHRC accepts anonymous reports. The BHRC staff will listen to your description of the incident, will try to make appropriate referrals, will help you file a police report if that is your wish and will include a description of the incident in its annual hate incidents report. (No names are included in the annual report.)

City of Bloomington and Monroe County Base Resources

• Anti-Bias Education

• Anti-Israel Activity

• Anti-Semitism Globally

• Anti-Semitism in the US

• Bullying & Cyberbullying Prevention

• Community Security

• Criminal Justice Reform

• Cyberhate

• DEI Resources for volunteer managers

• Domestic Israeli Issues

• Education Equity

• Extremism, Terrorism & Bigotry

• Bigotry

• Bystander Intervention Resources

• Bystander Intervention Training

• Extremism

• Terrorism

• Free Speech

• Immigrant Rights

• Refugee Support Network

• Interfaith & Intergroup Relations

• Israel Advocacy & Education

• Law Enforcement Partnerships

• LGBTQ Rights

• Race & Racial Justice

• Religious Freedom

• Supporting Survivors of White Supremacist Violence

• Voting Rights

• Women’s Equity

Other Tools (Non-local)

• Confronting White Nationalism in Schools Toolkit

• Racial Equity Tools

• Confronting or disagreeing with the perpetrator

• Calling it "racism" or "discrimination" (if it is safe or productive to do so)

• Interrupting or distracting perpetrator

• Comforting the person(s) targeted

• Expressing upset feelings

• Seeking assistance from friend, teacher, manager, coach, etc.

• Reporting the incident to authorities

• Knowledge of what constitutes racism

• Awareness of harm caused by racism

• Perception of responsibility to intervene

• Perceived ability to intervene

• Desire to educate a perpetrator

• Emotional responses to racism: empathy, expressing anger, disapproval, etc.

• Self-affirmation

• Anti-racist social norms

"There's two reasons why people don't speak up or speak out. One is afraid of becoming a target themselves the second is because they say they did not know what to say or do…"

• Seeing the target of racism as belonging to a different group that you are not responsible for (exclusive group identity)

• Fear of violence or vilification, being targeted by perpetrator

• Perception that action would be ineffective

• Lack of knowledge about how to intervene

• Concern that confrontation would be seen as aggressive or not "feminine" (gender role prescriptions)

• Impression management

• A desire to preserve positive interpersonal relations

• A desire to avoid conflict

• Freedom of speech/anti-political correctness

• Social norms that are tolerant of racism

If you see racist behavior in public, you could….

• Say something if it feels safe. It could be as simple as saying “Why don’t you just leave him/her alone?”

If it doesn’t feel safe to say something, you could….

• Think about how you can support the target of the abuse. Go and sit or stand next to them and check if they’re ok.

• Tell someone responsible, such as the driver, if it’s happening on a bus or a security guard if it’s happening at a store or venue.

• Call the police if you think that you or somebody else may be in danger.

If you see racist material online, you could….

• Report it. Most social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube) can deal with offensive content.

• Make a complaint to the City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission or police.

• Say something. Go to the "Letter to a Hater " section below to check out messages you can post in response to “haters” online.

If you see racism directed towards a classmate, colleague or teammate, you could….

• Say something. There are many ways you can respond to prejudice in any situation.

• Tell them that they can complain. The City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission can investigate and resolve complaints of race discrimination. The complaints process is free and confidential.

• Suggest they talk to someone. Most schools, workplaces and sports clubs will have a policy for dealing with bullying, and harassment, including racism.

Below are four examples of messages you can use to respond to online hate. A friendly request you can cut and paste in response to a hateful blog post or comment on a news story.... If you see hate online, speak up!

Option 1:

• Shareable Link - Use this link to respond to a hateful post

Option 2:

I/We think your comment is hateful and in no way reflects the views of the majority of people on this website/blog. Discriminating against others, whether because of their race, sex, sexuality or background, makes for a society of narrow-minded bigots. You’re entitled to your private opinion, however, if you publicly victimize someone, we won’t stand for it. If anyone else agrees, REPOST THIS MESSAGE and visit bloomington.in.gov/building-bridges to help us fight racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of hate.

Thanks,

The Anti-Hater

Option 3:

Just letting you know your online hate is not acceptable. I'm not sure if you think you're just making a joke or you just think because no one can see you or knows your real name that it is OK to say these things. It isn’t. We do not want people with your views on this website or anywhere else. Take your hate and go away. Anyone else who wants to see less of this vile racism, homophobia, sexism visit bloomington.in.gov/building-bridges to find new ways to stop hate and haters taking up our time and space.

Thanks,

The Anti-Hater

Option 4:

I want to let you know that the email/letter/post you have sent may be in breach of the law and I am going to report you to the owner of this website and the relevant authorities. Laws protect people from being vilified, bullied and harassed and you may have broken the law.

Thanks,

The Anti-Hater

• Support minority and women owned Bloomington Businesses

• City of Bloomington’s Commission on the Status of Black Males

• City of Bloomington’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration Commission

• Take a class or explore a campus partner of IU’s Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies

• Visit or donate to the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center

• Check out Bloomington’s own Bring It On! on WFHB. Bring It On! is Indiana’s only weekly radio program committed to exploring the people, issues and events impacting the African-American community.

• Community and Family Resources

• 13 Colors of the Honduran Resistance; By Melissa Cardoza; Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle (Translator)

• Adiós Muchachos: A Memoir of the Sandinista Revolution; by Stacey Alba D. Skar (Translator), Sergio Ramirez

• The African Diaspora in the Educational Programs of Central America, by Dario Euraque and Yesenia Martinez

• A Brief History of Central America, by Hector Perez-Brignoll, Susana Stettri De Sawrey (Translator), Ricardo B. Sawrey

• Blacks & Blackness in Central America: Between Race and Place, edited by Lowell Gudmundson and Justin Wolfe

• The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race and Nation, by Greg Grandin

• Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, by Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer

• The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal, by Julie Greene

• Central America Inside Out: The Essential Guide to Its Societies, Politics, and Economics, By Tom Barry

• The Costa Rica Reader: History, Culture, Politics, by Steven Palmer (Editor), Ivan Molina (Editor)

• The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War, by Gioconda Belli

• Don't Be Afraid Gringo, by Elvia Alvarado

• The Long Honduran Night, by Dana Frank

• The Massacre at El Mozote, by Mark Danner

• Miguel Marmol,by Roque Dalton

• Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy, by Paul Dix and Pamela Fitzpatrick

• No Place to Hide: Gang, State, and Clandestine Violence in El Salvador, by Laura Pedraza Farina, Spring Miller, James L. Cavallaro

• Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, by Eduardo Galeano

• A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura, by Eileen Markey

• Remembering a Massacre in El Salvador, by Hector Lindo-Fuentes, Erik Ching, Rafael A. Lara-Martinez

• Sandino's Daughters Revisited: Feminism in Nicaragua, by Margaret Randall

• Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954, by Piero Gleijeses

• Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror Betrayal & Forgetting in Guatemala, By Daniel Wilkinson

• Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America, By Steven Mayers (Editor), Jonathan Freedman

• Unaccompanied, by Javier Zamora

• Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change, 5th Edition, by John A. Booth

• Dividing the Isthmus: Central American Transnational Histories, Literatures, and Cultures, by Ana Patricia Rodriguez

• El Salvador Monografia, by Roque Dalton

• El Salvador en la Revolucion Centroamericana: Imperialismo y Revolucion en Centroamerica Tomo 2, by Roque Dalton

• Enrique's Journey, by Sonia Nazario

• Ashes of Izalco, by Claribel Alegria, Claribel Laegria, Darwin J. Flakoll

• Azul, by Ruben Dario

• Bitter Grounds, by Sandra Benitez

• Blood of Paradise, by David Corbett

• Do They Know I'm Running?: A Novel, by David Corbett

• La Fugitiva, by Sergio Ramirez

• El Infinito en la Palma de la Mano, By Gioconda Belli

• The Inhabited Woman, by Gioconda Belli, Irene Vilar (Editor), Kathleen March (Translator)

• Journey of Dreams, by Marge Pellegrino

• The Knife and the Butterfly, by Ashley Hope Perez

• Little Red Riding Hood in the Red Light District, by Manlio Argueta

• The Lives and Times of El Ciptio, by Randy Jurado Ertll

• Luisa in Realityland, by Claribel Alegría

• Mother Tongue, by Demetria Martinez

• Nicaragua Way, by Nina Serrano

• Odyssey to the North, By Mario Bencastro

• One Day of Life, by Manlio Argueta, Bill Brow (Translator)

• The Radius of Us, By Marie Marquardt

• The Scroll of Seduction: A Novel of Power, Madness, and Royalty, by Gioconda Belli

• The Tattooed Soldier, by Hector Tobar

• The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, by Hector Tobar

• The Weight of All Things, by Sandra Benitez

• 5 ways to start being a better ally for your black coworkers CNBC

• The American Nightmare by Ibram X. Kendi The Atlantic

• 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Connie Shutack medium.com

Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America

High School/Adult

Harvest of Empire offers a comprehensive analysis of the connection between immigration to the U.S. and the long history of United States intervention in Latin America. “They never teach us in school that the huge Latino presence here is a direct result of our own government’s actions in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America over many decades — actions that forced millions from that region to leave their homeland and journey north,” says Juan González at the beginning of the film. The film is based on a book of the same title by González. 2012. 90 minutes.

The Houses Are Full of Smoke

High School/Adult

The Houses Are Full of Smoke is a documentary series released in 1987 studying U.S. involvement in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. "An eye-opening documentary about the Central American wars ... the film's most frightening sequences are bloodless interviews with right-wing vigilantes--self-possessed men of power who suavely deny their responsibility for crimes attributed to them by human rights organizations ... a formidable work of investigative cinema." - San Francisco Examiner. Streams free online.

If the Mango Tree Could Speak

Elementary/Middle/high school

If the Mango Tree Could Speak shares the story of ten girls and boys in Guatemala and El Salvador during the war. From losing family members to war, to challenges to obtaining an education, to the struggle to retain Mayan identity, the movie is filled with their stories, portraying the war through the lens of the youth whose lives it changed. There is a beautiful companion website, When We Were Young, with interviews conducted 20 years later.

Banana Land: Blood, Bullets and Poison

High School/Adult

Bananas are by far the most popular fruit in the United States, but consumers know little about the conditions in which they are produced. Banana Land provides a fascinating and surprising peek behind the curtain into an underworld marked by great turmoil and sacrifice.

Gold or Water? The Struggle Against Mining in El Salvador

High School/Adult

Gold or Water? The Struggle Against Mining in El Salvador explores how residents in the northern Salvadoran community of Santa Marta are fighting U.S. and Canadian mining companies eager to extract the rich veins of gold buried near the Lempa River, the water source for more than half of El Salvador’s 6.2 million people. The film streams for free online in English and Spanish.

Guazapa: Yesterday's Enemies

High School/Adult

Guazapa: Yesterday’s Enemies explores the past and present of the Salvadoran civil war. Don North, a U.S. war correspondent who had spent two months in El Salvador during the height of the conflict, returns to El Salvador to interview people about the consequences 26 years later. The film consists of those interviews and observations from 2009 as well as the observations he collected in 1983 when he first began documenting the crisis. Read COHA review of the film. For a copy, write to Don North for ordering information.

Maria's Story: A Documentary Portrait of Love and Survival in El Salvador's Civil War

High School/Adult

Maria’s Story: In 1989, Maria Serrano, was on the frontlines of the civil war. With unprecedented access to FMLN guerrilla camps, the filmmakers dramatically chronicle Maria's daily life in the war as she travels from village to village organizing the peasant population, and helps plan a major nationwide offensive that led the FMLN into the historic peace pact of 1992. Originally produced in 1991, the contemporary DVD includes updates on Maria's family 20 years later. 2010. 60 minutes.

Romero

High School/Adult

Oscar Romero was named Archbishop of El Salvador at a time when the country was in turmoil and a slogan on the right was "Be a Patriot--Kill a Priest." Starring Raúl Juliá, Romero follows the Archbishop's personal journey from being on the side of the elite to fighting fervently for social reforms and becoming “the voice for the voiceless.” Produced by a Roman Catholic order, the film says little about the role of the U.S. 1989. 102 minutes.

Roses in December

High School/Adult

Roses in December. On December 2, 1980, lay missioner Jean Donovan and three American nuns were brutally murdered by members of El Salvador’s security force. This film chronicles Jean’s life, from her affluent childhood in Connecticut, to her decision to volunteer with the Maryknolls in El Salvador, to her tragic death. "The power of this documentary is that it may reshock us into remembering the United States’ complicity in El Salvador: Our government arms a government that kills Americans." - Washington Post. 1982. 56 minutes.

Voces Inocentes/Innocent Voices

High School/Adult

Based on the life of co-screenwriter Óscar Torres, Innocent Voices tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who is forced to join the Salvadoran army during the civil war.

18 With a Bullet

High School/Adult

18 With a Bullet documents the life and experiences of a major Salvadoran gang called “18.” Gangs developed in El Salvador as a result of deportation of thousands of Salvadorans from the U.S. in the 1990s, including young people who had joined gangs while in Los Angeles.

500 Years: Life in Resistance

High School/Adult

500 YEARS tells the epic story that led Guatemala to a tipping point in their history, from the genocide trial of General Rios Montt to the popular movement that toppled President Otto Perez Molina. While indigenous peoples of Guatemala are no stranger to oppression, the recent events that took place over a tumultuous three-year span, change finally seems possible when their movement is met with popular society’s outcry to end corruption.

Dirty Secrets: Jennifer, Everardo & the CIA in Guatemala

High School/Adult

Dirty Secrets describes Jennifer Harbury’s courageous search for her missing husband Everardo — a Mayan rebel leader — and reveals the dark legacy of decades of CIA complicity in Guatemalan human rights abuses. Part human rights primer, part mystery and part love story, Dirty Secrets follows Harbury through a frightening journey to save Everardo and stop the killing in Guatemala.

El Silencio de Neto

High School/Adult

El Silencio de Neto is a coming of age story of a young boy in the midst of the U.S. backed overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 in Guatemala. Read a detailed description. This film, produced by Luis Argueta, is available on Netflix. 1994. 108 minutes.

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

High School/Adult

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator is an award-winning film that connects the lives of five different individuals trying to piece together the past and demand justice for Guatemala. The leaders that had orchestrated the brutal genocide against the Mayans in 1982 have still not been brought to justice. An international human rights lawyer, a forensic archivist, documentary filmmaker, forensic anthropologist and Mayan survivor team up to make that justice happen. 2011. 103 minutes.

Guatemala: The Secret Files

High School/Adult

Guatemala: The Secret Files tells the story of a hidden history in Guatemala that is being uncovered by human rights activists and a non-profit tech company called Benetech. Archaeologists and Benetech have discovered an archive of hidden police records that documented the human rights violations committed by the state during Guatemala’s civil war.

Sipakapa Not Sold

High School/Adult

The transnational company Glamis Gold (now Gold Corp. ) operates a gold mine in Guatemala. The Maya People of Sipakapa defend their autonomy against the advance of the great neoliberal projects.

When the Mountains Tremble

High School/Adult

When the Mountains Tremble filmed in 1982 at the height of the Guatemalan Army’s repression against the Mayan indigenous people, has become a classic political documentary. It describes the struggle of the largely Indian peasantry against a heritage of state and foreign oppression.

Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley

High School/Adult

When a 21st century coup d’état ousts the only president they ever believed in, these Honduran farmers take over the plantations with no plans to ever give them back.

Beginning with the first coup in Central America in three decades, Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley picks up the story of the farmers who responded to the coup by taking over the plantations of the most powerful man in Honduras. The camera follows three of the movement’s protagonists and one brilliant journalist from the capital city over the four years between the coup and the elections that the farmers hope will return democracy to Honduras. Produced by Makila Usine Médiatique and Naretiv Productions.

The Panama Deception

High School/Adult

In their Oscar-winning documentary, director Barbara Trent and writer/editor David Kasper contrast media coverage of the 1989 invasion of Panama with expert testimony. The filmmakers backtrack to the U.S. turn-of-the-century takeover of the Panama Canal--and volatile aftermath--before flashing forward to the reform-minded Carter era. When the CIA-supported Noriega comes to power, reform gives way to repression, and Reagan calls for the dictator's ouster. The documentary streams for free online. 1992. 90 minutes.

America First: The Legacy of an Immigration Raid

High School/Adult

America First: The Legacy of an Immigration Raid tells the story of Postville, a small Iowa town, a decade after a massive raid on the local meatpacking plant. With Donald Trump reviving George W. Bush’s immigration enforcement policies, Postville’s experience informs the impact, efficiency and repercussions of massive raids in worksites. 2018. 42 Minutes.

El Norte

High School/Adult

El Norte is a about a brother and sister who fled the persecution and civil war of Guatemala after the government army destroyed their home and family. The movie follows their journey north through Mexico, crossing the border into the United States, and life in Los Angeles as undocumented immigrants. Directed by Gregory Nava, El Norte received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1985. The film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." 1983. 139 minutes.

The Golden Dream/La Jaula de Oro

High School/Adult

The Golden Dream/La jaula de oro tells the story of four teenagers (three Guatemalan and one Mexican) on a dangerous journey across the border to the U.S. Their stories are based on 600 interviews conducted by the director. "La Jaula de Oro just may stand as the definitive Latino immigrant odyssey." -- Film Journal International. Listen to an extended Democracy Now! interview with film director Diego Quemada-Diéz on La Jaula de Oro and migration to the U.S. Available on Netflix.

Which Way Home?

High School/Adult

Academy Award nominee Which Way Home follows unaccompanied children as they make the long and treacherous voyage to the U.S. border. Some, like Olga and Freddy, venture out in search of distant relatives. Others, like Kevin, hope to find work to support their families at home. Often traveling for months or even years at a time, these courageous and determined children each have stories of hope and resilience, disappointment and sorrow. Chronicling the harrowing journey of thousands of migrant children, Which Way Home illuminates a powerfully human side of immigration.

• 13th

• Dear White People

• Who Killed Malcolm X?

• LA 92

• #blackAF

• Fruitvale Station

• Time: The Kalief Browder Story

• Becoming

• Luke Cage

• The Innocence Files

• Self Made

• Pose

• Seven Seconds

• All Day and a Night

• Homecoming

• Oprah Winfrey presents: When They See Us Now

• American Son

• Mudbound

• See You Yesterday

• Who Shot the Sheriff?

• Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia

• ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads

• Michael Che Matters

• The Black Godfather

• Quincy

• Bobby Kennedy for President

• The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

• Undercover

• Chris Rock: Tamborine

• Strong Island

• Zion

• Barry

• Wanda Sykes: Not Normal

• ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay?

• What Happened, Miss Simone?

• Imperial Dreams

• Uppity

• Trigger Warning with Killer Mike

• She’s Gotta Have It

• ReMastered: The Lion’s Share

• Jewel’s Catch One

• Orange is the New Black

• Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show

• Rodney King

• Teach Us All