'Garden City" Film by FMS Prof. Hurst Shows What Makes Pluralism Work, What Threatens It
LAWRENCE – Garden City is something of a misnomer, sitting as it does on the parched high plains of southwest Kansas. But as the title of the new documentary by Robert Hurst, “Garden City, Kansas” serves as a metaphor.
“Garden City is a metaphor for ... a common goal. That's what pluralism is,” said Hurst, associate professor of film & media studies at the University of Kansas. “You have differences, but you find commonalities to work toward. And if somebody has a different religion or a different diet, it's not a threat to you.”
A fine sentiment. But it was a threat to that way of life — a conspiracy by a handful of would-be domestic terrorists to attack and kill Somali immigrants — that set Hurst’s film in motion, and it’s an inextricable part of an otherwise upbeat film, said the director.
When news broke that the plot by an offshoot of a so-called “Three Percenter” militia group had been thwarted by federal law enforcement agents -- it was planned for the day after the 2016 presidential election, in which the “Crusaders” feared Donald Trump would lose to Hilary Clinton -- Hurst started sniffing around the story.