Educational Media Reviews Online

Ziad Hamzeh’s documentary The Letter shows how Lewiston, Maine, once a thriving French-American mill town but now fallen on hard times, became the center of a racial controversy generating national media attention.

In the early 1990s Somali refugees relocated to the United States to escape civil war in their home country. Finding street violence rampant in larger American cities, they searched for a safe community in which to start over and raise their families. 1,100 Somalis settled in Lewiston, Maine (population circa 40,000).

While some Lewiston residents welcomed the Somalis, others feared the economic and cultural impact these Black Muslim refugees would have on their community. In October 2002 Mayor Larry Raymond published an open letter to the Somalis, saying Lewiston’s financial resources were strained by the influx of refugees and asking them to discourage other Somalis from moving there.

When Raymond’s letter caught the attention of national media, television and newspaper coverage fed the fears of those who felt Somali immigrants depleted resources (such as food stamps, housing assistance, tax breaks and welfare) that should have gone to Lewiston natives. The media coverage also attracted neo-Nazi groups who responded to the town’s growing anxiety and increasing racial conflict by scheduling a rally in Lewiston for January 11, 2003. Lewiston’s Many and One Coalition organized a larger counter-rally in support of diversity.

Hamzeh and his team filmed in Lewiston in 2002 and 2003, capturing the tension and foreboding residents felt in the days leading up to the two rallies. Hamzeh intercuts scenes from the rallies-- and from neo-Nazi meetings-- with comments from long-time Lewiston residents, Somali refugees, church leaders, white supremacists, police and city officials, and politicians including Mayor Raymond.

Some of the interviews are excerpted and spliced to artificially create two-sided arguments. The narrative grows from the cumulative expression of many points of view, with MTV-style quick cuts recreating the cacophony of voices that arose around the refugee issue. The film’s momentum is marred slightly by repetition of certain footage (particularly one scene of white supremacists giving a Nazi salute) and the use of children for emotional impact.

However, The Letter succeeds beautifully as slice-of-American-life storytelling and its message - that Americans should welcome today’s immigrants as we hope our forbears were welcomed - is well conveyed.

The Letter contains some strong language and is highly recommended for college and university libraries. It will be particularly useful for studies in diversity and multiculturalism. Awards

• Selected as the opening night film at the 2004 Amnesty International Film Festival
• nominated for Best Film at the 2004 Pan-African Film and Arts Festival.