x
Breaking News
More () »

Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum to screen civil rights documentary

"Abacus: Small Enough to Jail," an Oscar-nominated documentary telling the saga of a Chinese immigrant family's struggle to defend their bank in New York, will be screened at the Wing Luke Museum
'Abacus: Small Enough to Jail' directed by Steve James. (Photo courtesy of Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman, President of the Chinese American Citizen Alliance)

A special screening of the civil rights documentary “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” will be held at the Wing Luke Museum on Sunday, May 20.

The documentary follows the story of a Chinese immigrant family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York, as they defend their bank against larger companies and accusations in a five-year legal battle.

“It’s not just an issue in New York Chinatown,” said Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman, president of Chinese American Citizen Alliance (CACA) Seattle, which helped organize the event. “It’s an issue that can happen in our community.”

The Academy Award Nominee-Best Documentary Feature, directed by Steve James, was released in May 2017 in the U.S. and earned a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

WATCH: Trailer ‘Abacus: Small Enough to Jail'

The event goes from 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. After the screening, at 1:45 p.m. there will be a discussion with panelists including Chanterelle Sung, one of the four sisters of the family the film is based on.

Other panelists are Connie So, principle lecturer of American ethnic studies at the University of Washington; Robert Change, executive director of the Korematsu Center and professor of law at Seattle University; and Joseph Larchman.

The event is hosted by the CACA – Seattle Lodge, NAAAP-Seattle, OCA-Greater Seattle, and Seattle Asian American Film Festival.

CACA, which was established more than 100 years ago in San Francisco, is one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations.

This screening is the second social justice film screening the association has hosted. The first was the 1987 film “Who Killed Vincent Chin?”

Before You Leave, Check This Out