Welcome to Shelbyville, screenings and discussions at the Andrew Foster Auditorium

Screenings and discussion: Monday, October 1 at 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Andrew Foster Auditorium and at 7:30 p.m. in Chapel Hall.

This powerful documentary focuses on a small Tennessee town in the heart of the Bible Belt as it grapples with discrimination in the face of changing demographics.

Shelbyville’s long-time residents are challenged with how to best integrate the recent arrival of hundreds of Somali refugees of Muslim faith, hired by the local Tyson chicken-processing plant.

As the town erupts in controversy, we hear from all parts of the community:

• Latino workers grappling with their own immigrant identity;
• longtime African American residents balancing perceived threats to their livelihood against the values they learned from their own civil rights struggles;
• the Somali refugees attempting to make new lives for their families and maintain their dignity in a hostile new land; and,
• white civic and church leaders who are attempting to guide their congregations and citizens through a period of unprecedented change.