A SONG FOR OURSELVES

A Song for Ourselves Film Screening
Friday, March 27, 7:00 pm

On Friday, March 27th over 100 people filled the MCS Music Room and classrooms for a screening of A Song for Ourselves, a film celebrating the life and work of Asian-American activist and former MCS teacher Chris Iijima.

During the 1970s when Asians in America were invisible to the country -- and none more importantly even to themselves -- the late Chris Iijima's music provided the voice and identity an entire generation had been in search of. Through animated photographs, intimate home movies, archival footage and Chris' own songs, A Song for Ourselves shows how Chris' music unleashed the contagious energy of the Asian American movement with an unrelenting passion for social justice and a life well lived.

Activist, musician, and civil rights advocate, Chris Iijima was a beloved elementary school teacher at Manhattan Country School from 1975 to 1985 and later become a law professor at the University of Hawaii Law School. Chris died in 2005 of a rare blood disease, amyloidosis, leaving behind his wife, Jane Dickson, also a former MCS teacher, and two teenage sons, Alan '03 and Christopher. An inspiration to his colleagues and students at MCS, Chris left a legacy of love for learning and a passion for justice that will not soon be forgotten. To honor his life and his work, in 2006 a group of MCS alumni and parents of alumni started an endowment fund in Chris' name to support faculty development, the promotion of innovative curriculum, and the unique sliding scale tuition policy that makes it possible for all children to attend MCS. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Chris Iijima Fund.