AALS Presidential Program - Film Screening of Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath

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Valarie Kaur was a 20-year-old college student when she set out across America in the aftermath of 9/11, camera in hand, to document hate violence against her community. From the still-shocked streets of Ground Zero to the desert towns of the American west, her epic journey confronts the forces unleashed in a time of national crisis – racism and religion, fear and forgiveness – until she finds the heart of America… halfway around the world.

The journey to make the film began when 20-year old college student Valarie Kaur drove across the country in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, documenting stories in the Sikh, Muslim, and Arab American communities. Over the next five years, Valarie Kaur’s journey unfolded into a larger exploration of ‘who counts’ as American. In 2005, award-winning director Sharat Raju and his film crew joined Valarie as she retraced her steps across the country, revisiting her original interviewees and interviewing scholars, lawyers, and legislators about race, religion, and security in post-9/11 America.