Syracuse University to show documentary on Oswego County hate crime

Syracuse University to show documentary on Oswego County hate crimeOctober 27, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel, the Program on Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will sponsor an Oct. 30 screening of the film “North of 49.”

The screening begins at 7:30 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium and is free and open to the public. A discussion and refreshments will follow.

“North of 49” is an hour-long documentary by Newhouse faculty members Richard Breyer and David Coryell that examines the aftermath of the Nov. 18, 2001, arson at Gobind Sadan U.S.A., a Sikh temple in Palermo, N.Y.

The four teenagers found guilty of the Gobind Sadan attack claim they burned down the converted farmhouse because they thought the turbaned Sikhs who worshiped there were cheering on the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001. The teens–Joshua Centrone, William Reeves, Mitch Trumble and Cassie Hudson–said they believed the temple’s name meant “Go Bin Laden.” Two were sentenced to four to 12 years in prison; two, including the then-pregnant Hudson, served 90 days in county jail. “North of 49” focuses on Hudson’s transformation from an ignorant and confused teenager to a young woman-and mother-prepared to accept and respect those different from herself.

The name of the documentary refers to the section of upstate New York above Route 49 in Oswego County. “North of 49” was funded in part by the Newhouse School and a Sikh foundation. It was distributed nationally by WPBS-TV/Watertown, N.Y., and the Filmakers Library in New York City. It has also been used in classes at the Newhouse School and the Maxwell School.