An rough edit of footage shot for a documentary about the Spertus Museum of Judaica's 1992 exhibition "Bridges and Boundaries." In this tape, students from Bridgeport Elementary School look at the pieces by Claire Wolf Krantz and Kerry James Marshall.
0:15Copy video clip URL A group of schoolkids move through the exhibit to Claire Wolf Kratz’s piece and read the prayer on the Book of Life.
1:32Copy video clip URL Rebecca, a docent for the museum, explains the prayer to the school children. She talks about the way Jewish people reflect on their deeds during the Jewish new year, and asks the class, “Are you good all year?” The class talks about some of their own missteps and wrong deeds.
3:05Copy video clip URL Rebecca further explains the significance of the prayer.
3:32Copy video clip URL The class moves on to Kerry James Marshall’s piece, and the kids immediately recognize and identify the photographs of graffiti as gang signs. Some of the kids talk about their experiences with gangs.
4:52Copy video clip URL Rebecca asks the kids if they know what the six-pointed star is. The kids respond in unison, “A gang sign.” Rebecca asks if they’ve ever seen the star anyway else. One girl identifies it as Jewish. Another girl says they have a Jewish teacher who wears a necklace of the six-pointed star, but hides it in her shirt and says, “only she can wear it because she’s Jewish.”
5:37Copy video clip URL Rebecca begins to explain the image of Baruch Goldstein but is cut off as the kids discuss how his beard “looks Jewish.”