Parents upset 4th-graders shown movie depicting rape, violence

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The Winnetka School District 36 board is looking into why fourth-graders at Greeley School were shown a movie involving the rape of slaves aboard a ship taking them from Africa to the New World.

A group of parents confronted the board this week over the showing of the movie “Middle Passage,” which tells of the brutal voyages slaves had to endure.

Anita Livaditis has two sons who saw the video. It showed a slave ship where men were chained below deck while their wives and daughters are being raped on decks above. A narrator describes what is happening, she said.

“It wasn’t shown, but it was heard,” she said. “Now I have to explain rape to my child.”

The video has no rating but its cover states, in small print, that the movie has “adult content, nudity and violence.”

In other scenes, dead slaves are thrown overboard to be eaten by sharks.

“There are more conscionable ways to teach about slavery,” Livaditis said.

District officials said they are looking into how and why the movie was shown to the children, and hope to wrap up their probe by Friday.

Kimberly Fornek