World Refugee Day Film

World Refugee Day celebrations will commence in Grand Rapids on June 20th with the screening of “Welcome to Shelbyville”, a documentary by Kim A. Snyder which offers a complicated account of how a small southern town wrestled with its identity in the midst of the 2008 presidential election and its own changing demographics. The viewer learns that Shelbyville, “the buckle of the Bible belt,” “the pencil capital of America,” is also the home of large community of Somali Refugees, a community who is largely misunderstood. The film follows several town characters who express varying attitudes toward what seems inevitable: change. The Somali experience resettling in Shelbyville in situated in the greater American narrative of racial and cultural integration. Wealthy Street Theater has been so kind as to host the event, and the film and discussion will go from 7-9pm. We hope to see you there!