FIRST OFF . . .

“Birth of a Nation,” the D.W. Griffith Civil War epic that has been controversial for decades because of the film maker’s attitude toward the Ku Klux Klan, is at the center of another flap. A professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., has canceled an exhibit where the film was to be shown because local NAACP officials objected to the portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1915 silent movie. Local NAACP President Joseph T. Fowlkes said it would not be appropriate to show the movie because of recent racial incidents on campus. Fowlkes, admitting he was uncomfortable asking that the film be canceled, said that when the film is shown it should be accompanied by discussion about racism and its racist messages. The film depicts the Civil War and the exploits of the Ku Klux Klan. Professor Kermit S. Champa agreed the movie has a racist message but said it is also Hollywood’s first epic and is a landmark for its technical innovation. School officials said the exhibit of cinema and art from World War I was two years in planning and its timing was coincidental. Racial slurs and Ku Klux Klan posters have recently been found on buildings at Brown University. A disclaimer of any racist intent was to have accompanied the film. Champa said it would have disrupted the entire exhibit to cancel just one film or to include an extended discussion of racism.