Hearing the Kids

by John Finn

Name: Jessica Keath
Hometown: Saint Paul, Minnesota
Major: English/Sociology
I.S. Title: To Get a Voice Heard: The Development and Production of a Documentary Film as an Application of Qualitative Study
Advisor: Peter Havholm and Anne Nurse

The Bicentennial Bridge across the St. Joseph River in southwestern Michigan is less than a quarter mile long. But the two cities that it links — Benton Harbor and St. Joseph — are worlds apart. Benton Harbor is a predominately black city of 11,000 with abandoned storefronts and boarded-up buildings. St. Joseph, a largely white city of 9,000, features pristine beaches and quaint shops.

Two years ago, Jessica Keath ’05 witnessed the depth of the divide between the two communities when a police chase and a death led to racial unrest and rioting in Benton Harbor. Observing that community’s despair, in stark contrast with the prosperity and comfort across the river in St. Joseph, inspired her Independent Study, a documentary film entitled To Get a Voice Heard.

Keath spent the summer of 2003 in Benton Harbor working with an international Christian mission group that reaches out to young people. In the early hours of June 16, an African American resident of Benton Harbor died when he crashed his motorcycle into an abandoned building as he was being chased by a police cruiser. As word of his death got out, the city erupted with several days of vandalism, looting, rock-throwing, and arson.

Most of the rioters were under the age of eighteen, which troubled Keath more than the violence and destruction. "That weighed heavily on my mind and my heart," she says. "I kept wondering why they felt they had to do it."

Two days of rain and pleas from clergy and city officials helped to calm the community. But even after returning to Wooster for her junior year, Keath was unable to shake the images of rage and hopelessness she saw on the faces of young blacks in Benton Harbor.

"I have always had an interest in social justice and racial reconciliation," says Keath, a double major in sociology and English. "I’ve also been interested in the aspirations and expectations of black youth. I did some documentary film work for my senior project in high school, so I decided to put it all together for I.S."

Keath went back to Michigan in the summer and fall of 2004 to interview children. Her forty-minute film opens with children in Benton Harbor expressing shock, fear, and anger. "Man, this dude got shot, shot in his head five times," says nine-year-old Andrew. "I was scared," adds eleven-year-old Keyana. "I’m glad they burned it down," says another young resident.

Later in the film, the scene shifts to St. Joseph, where thirteen-year old Tim expresses similar emotions. "I heard the helicopters and then I heard that people were getting shot. It was scary."

Keath asks children in both communities the same questions: "What kinds of things do you worry about?" "What’s it like to live in your neighborhood?" "If you had one wish, what would it be?"

In Benton Harbor, one young boy says, "I worry about me and my mom gettin’ hurt. I just hope my mom lives long enough to see me graduate." In St. Joseph, Keath asks seventeen-year-old Brennan about her fears. She pauses, glances around the room, and finally says, "I can’t really think of anything."

Keath’s film is compelling and dramatic, but it is also balanced. "The merger of two disciplines (sociology and English) allowed Jessica to present the lives of the youth in Benton Harbor in a far richer way than either discipline could have accomplished alone," says Anne Nurse (sociology), who co-advised Keath’s project with Peter Havholm (English). "She was able to be empathetic, yet think critically about the lives of the youth. Her work is exactly what I.S. was intended to be — a humanistic, creative, and scholarly endeavor."

Keath is also interested in the line between hope and hopelessness. "Benton Harbor and St. Joseph are a microcosm of the racial and socioeconomic divide that pervades the United States," she says in her I.S. "The (two) communities exemplify...the ways in which Americans are physically and spiritually isolated from one another."

Keath’s film is well crafted. "It was a huge challenge," says Keath, who plans to pursue a career in filmmaking. "I didn’t know what I was doing at first, and in that respect it was very humbling, but it was also very rewarding. The experience changed me. I feel very connected to the children and their experiences. The film has taken on a life of its own and made me even more dedicated to ensuring that all voices are heard."