Alberto Retana, Vice President of Program Development for the Community Coalition will be joining President Barack Obama’s administration as the new Director of Community Outreach for the Department of Education on Nov. 16. Annenberg Radio News host Pete Griffin interviewed Retana about his new position.
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A new documentary that depicts the struggles of undocumented immigrant youths and the effort to help them become citizens will be screened on Tuesday in Gardena.
The film, “Papers,” features interviews with five undocumented immigrant youths as well as with teachers, politicians and immigration experts. Much of the film discusses the efforts to pass the federal DREAM Act, which would offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have served in the military or completed two years of higher education.
A discussion with director Anne Galisky and others will follow the screening of the film.
In an interview last week, Galisky said she and her partner, producer Rebecca Shine, pressed to finish the film quickly. They shot their final footage at a June rally in Washington, D.C., in support of the DREAM Act and finished the film in September.
“We were responding to the urgency young people have been telling us that they have about this issue,” she said.
Galisky and Shine, of Portland, Ore., began to develop the idea for “Papers” two years ago. They both had mentored high school students and had heard the stories of Latino youths who lacked citizenship and were faced with limits on what they could do after graduation.
California’s response
Undocumented immigrants can attend school through 12th grade and in some states, including California, are eligible for in-state tuition at public colleges through Assembly Bill 540. But lacking a Social Security number, they cannot get federal financial aid or work legally.
As they started talking about making the movie, the filmmakers also were concerned about local ballot measures targeting undocumented immigrants and the Oregon governor’s decision to issue an executive order tightening rules for receiving driver’s licenses.
According to “Papers,” 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S., including two million children. In the film, teachers talk about how many students begin their high school careers working hard in school, only to be discouraged when they understand the barriers they face to getting a college education and pursuing careers.
The problem doesn’t just affect Latino youths. One of the students in the film is Asian while another is from Jamaica.
All of the students who tell their stories are identified in the film only by their first names. One, Monica, is now living in the United States legally, but the rest all could be deported and took a risk by appearing in the film, Galisky said.
She said telling their stories seemed to help those who felt depressed about their circumstances.
“It feels good to speak out and to not be in hiding,” Galisky said.
DREAM Act’s future
The DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, was first introduced in Congress in 2001. Some urge the passage of the legislation before addressing more sweeping immigration reform. Others want to focus on comprehensive reform to the nation’s immigration system. At a town meeting a few weeks ago at California State University-Dominguez Hills with the White House officials studying ways to improve education opportunities for Latino youth, officials said the Obama administration plans to reintroduce a version of the DREAM Act, but the White House is in the midst of conversations whether to include the legislation in immigration reform or in the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.
Galisky said she would like to see some type of victory for immigration rights activists, but isn’t urging a particular approach.
“My job is to bring the subject to the awareness of the broader community,” she said.
“Papers” will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Gardena Cinema, 14948 Crenshaw Boulevard, Gardena. Doors will open at 6 p.m. for a pre-show, featuring music and a few short videos. After the film there will be a panel discussion including Galisky; William Perez, a professor of education at Claremont Graduate University; and a representative from the office of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
Tickets are $5. Information: 310-217-0505. To learn more about the movie, visit papersthemovie.com.
Those who say a sense of community is dead in L.A. weren’t in Inglewood this weekend.
The 12th annual Market Street Festival and Car Show brought around 2,500 Inglewood residents together on October 3 to celebrate the city’s rich tradition in the arts.
For six hours, Market St. from Florence Ave to Manchester Blvd. shut down while people danced, enjoyed a free concert, and devoured hot dogs and fried fish.
What started out as a small street fair on a corner of a city block has morphed into a beloved Inglewood tradition.
And to many residents, the festival means more than just a jovial cultural fete, it represents a chance to dispel common myths and stereotypes about their South Bay city.
With its 40 percent African American population and a poverty rate twice the national average, Inglewood often gets an unfair rap in the media.
“This is a safe city,” said Loretta Morris, who grew up in Inglewood and owns an accounting firm in the area. “I don’t see a whole lot of crime. If it were that dangerous, I wouldn’t be bringing my children here. I wouldn’t own a business here.”
Morris had to struggle to make her voice heard over the shrieks of children’s laughter coming from the bounce houses and the deep, soothing tones of a saxophone of a jazz band on the stage behind her.
Originally conceived as both a solute to the local art culture and a means for businesses to introduce themselves to the community, the Market Street Festival grew steadily each year.
An ever-expanding roster of vendors clamored to sign on board, while attendance skyrocketed as word of the festival and it’s offerings spread amongst Inglewood residents. This year, 58 vendors hocked goods ranging from jewelry to African art to a record crowd.
Nautica De la Cruz of local radio station KJLH emceed the festivities on stage, where an array of musicians played jazz, hip hop, American oldies-but-goodies, and salsa in a reflection of Inglewood’s own diversity.
At the foot of the stage, strangers young and old danced together in random groups.
Out of nowhere, a man dressed in ceremonial African garb and standing eight-feet-tall on stilts, began making his way through the throng as his wife, also wearing traditional clothing, walked in front of him to clear the path.
Peter Abilogu, a professor of African dance and music at El Camino College, hails from Nigeria and is a member of the Urhobo tribe. In Nigeria, Abilogu presided over important tribal ceremonies as an Ikeneke, a spiritual leader who wears stilts to symbolize his duty as a liaison between the Urhobo people and heaven.
Abilogu quickly became offended when an African American man in the crowd yelled out that the professor looked “like witchcraft.”
“You are, what, 50-years-old, and you don’t know your culture?” Abilogu shot back, starting a heated exchange as the man insisted that Abilogu was just a type of hokey witch doctor.
Even when the man eventually disappeared into crowd, Abilogu continued to vent. “We are here to educate the people,” he fumed. “The people don’t want to learn but rather assimilate. They want to be black, not African American.”
Showing off a gold bracelet to the people congregated around him, Abilogu expounded on the beauty and value of the abundance of gold found in West Africa, which he says many African American people eschew for more “precious” metals such as platinum or have plated into white gold.
“We are never proud of what we have,” he said. “We are proud of what other people have.”
On the other side of the stage, several Inglewood-based painters and artists displayed their work as part of a mobile gallery set up by the Inglewood Arts Commission.
Calling Inglewood “The best kept secret in the L.A. art world,” the Commission says many Los Angeles artists have studios in Inglewood, but you would never know it because they choose to show their work on the West side of town or in other parts of the California and the U.S.
However, photographer Edward Ewell embraces showing digital prints in the city he works in. That way “people can see the differences we have as artists,” he said.
Diane Dennis brought her 6-year-old neighbor, Nylah Briggs to the festival, where the two enjoyed the ever-popular folk art of face painting. Dennis, who celebrates her birthday next week, had the zodiac sign for Libra painted on her cheek, while Nylah, blueberry snow cone in hand, sported a colorful rainbow and clouds.
“This is really awesome,” Dennis said. “I just like seeing … people out getting along. I love the city of Inglewood for doing this.”
For her part, Nylah didn’t hesitate when asked what she liked best about the festival. “Dancing,” she said, her typically pristine smile by now blue from the snow cone.
Though most people came for the food or the arts, others, such as 16-year-old Luis Gomez, came for the cars.
The 35th annual Inglewood Classic Car Show, which organizers timed to coincide with the festival, exhibited about 30 cars, mostly Chevy Impalas.
“I was impressed,” Gomez said, adding that he fell in love with a yellow cadillac. “It was very nice.”
There is an empty park in South Los Angeles. Tall fences surround its perimeter, the gates are locked, and the sign above the padlock states that community members must get a permit to enter. It does not give information about how to obtain that permit.
The surrounding community is literally locked out of this park, a place that could facilitate exercise and physical activity.
This park is just one of the many resources denied to South Los Angeles residents, and the area’s students are fed up.
Twenty students from the Accelerated School teamed up with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in August 2008 to spread awareness about obesity in their community. A similar program was established in Baldwin Park. Their means: a social networking website called We’re Fed Up. [Read more…]
The exhibit tackles one of the nation’s most challenging issues and encourages attendees rethink assumptions of race and human variation. The presentation uses multimedia, interactive exhibits and imagery to gives people of all ages the opportunity to think and talk about a topic that touches all of us. Listen to an audio report by Annenberg Radio News reporter Heather Hope.
Indonesia and two South Pacific countries are still trying to recover from deadly earthquakes this week. Indonesia was hit by a strong quake yesterday that killed at least a thousand people. Samoa and American Samoa also suffered a tsunami. Alena Hostetter of Annenberg Radio News reports on how the Samoan community in Carson has come together to help friends and relatives back home
Filed Under: Community
Earlier today Annenberg Radio News host Brittany Knotts spoke to Felix Gutierrez, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, Nicolas Kanelos, a professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston, and Ray Talles director of the Film Voices for Justice Productions.
Newspapers have been struggling to stay in print, but Spanish language newspapers continue to thrive throughout the United States. Voices for Justice commemorated the Latino media’s 200-year history with a film celebrating the role of Latinos in the press. Stephanie Guzman reports. Listen to ARN’s Stephanie Guzman’s report.
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