Oscar-nominated filmmaker Violet Du Feng visits Grinnell

By Krista Spies spieskri@grinnell.edu

Filmmaker Violet Du Feng visited Grinnell to showcase her documentary “Hidden Letters” which focuses on contemporary use of Nüshu, a historical Chinese language that allowed women to secretly communicate amongst each other under patriarchal forces of suppression. Through the combined student-organization efforts of the Chinese, Japanese and East Asian studies (CJEAS) Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC) and the Film Club, Feng participated in a Q&A session last Monday after screening her film, which was recently shortlisted for an Oscar award, ahead of any theatrical or global release.

“I think what’s so remarkable is that they found their own way to negotiate with the power,” Feng said in reference to the women who used Nüshu. “They found their own way to negotiate with the existing system and structure by creating their own space, creating the safe space, to allow them to be honest, to be authentic with themselves in their circumstances, meaning that they can be vulnerable and share their sufferings with each other.”

“Hidden Letters” explores the lives of two women, Hu Xin, from the rural village of Jiangyong, and Simu, who lives in urban Shanghai. Though young adults, both practice the histori-

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“The whole point [of the fund] is…not denying students money, because that’s what the school can do sometimes,” Evelynn Coffie `24, vice-spokesperson and treasurer of the BSU, said. “And also for students not to have to explain or hash out their traumas or over explain why they need it, because we shouldn’t have to do that.”

Bethany Willig `23, co-spokesperson of the BSU, agreed with Coffie’s statement of not denying students’ requests through the mutual aid fund. Willig emphasized the reservations students had not only with the general environment following the racial incidents but also the College’s response.

“Following the anti-Black hate crimes in the fall right before midterms, we called an emergency BSU meeting where we had 90 or something Black students in one room. We were there for three hours like, ‘What do we do? How do we feel safe?’ And I think it was very obvious and clear that the College was not meeting our needs,” Willig said.

The BSU decided on a mutual aid fund partnered with an outside non- profit to provide resources to Black students because of the flexibility it offers. As a grassroots movement, a mutual aid fund relies on donations from people in the community it affects. The Executive Cabinet of the BSU noted how the demands Black Grinnell students have been making for years were only met after blatantly racist incidents.

“The fact we have to foster our own environments and make sure that we’re keeping each other safe because we cannot rely on the school or because we cannot rely on our peers is an issue,” said Coffie regarding the racism Black students have been forced to face without support for decades.

Loyal Terry `23, co-spokesperson of the BSU, emphasized the importance of faculty and students stepping in to support Black students instead of expecting College administration to step in instead.

“We’re not the ones that created this system,” he said. “We don’t have the key to unlock it and dismantle it >> Mutual Aid — Continued on page 2