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The University of Missouri-Kansas City brought that into focus with two documentaries it showed recently. I only wish more people could see the films.
Each humanizes individuals who leave everything they love and defy the odds to come to the United States for a better life.
The films also showed the fear of children of illegal immigrants because of some adults’ hatred. Imagine how get-tough legislation proposed in Missouri, Kansas and other states is making kids feel today.
“Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary” was made after California voters passed Proposition 187 against illegal immigration. Director Laura Angelica Simon’s documentary focuses on 9-year-old Mayra, who had great hopes and dreams for a future in the United States with her family.
But after the law passed Mayra, an undocumented immigrant, feared her teachers would force her and her family from America. The film showed how some educators made students fearful.
The film documented how today’s political rhetoric could be hurting undocumented children in the Kansas City area. It’s one more reason the issue needs to be resolved without scapegoating or punishing those who are here.
A panel discussion followed the film. Theresa Torres, an assistant professor of anthropology at UMKC, said undocumented families deserve to have a future.
Boris Ricks, an assistant professor of political science at UMKC who had lived in California, said people in Missouri should pay attention to what happened on the West Coast. The political climate can change swiftly, even in a so-called liberal state.
The acquittal of the police officers accused of the Rodney King beating in 1994 was followed by the 1994 passage of Proposition 187, which ended health and educational benefits for undocumented people. Two years later, Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action, was passed and bilingual education was eliminated by the passage of Proposition 227.
Think what could happen in a more conservative state like Missouri. Efforts are under way to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to end affirmative action.
“These things do not occur or evolve in a vacuum,” Ricks said. They are strategic and tactical.
“Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary” shows the perils of people from South America, Central America and Mexico trying to come to the United States.
According to the documentary, thousands are robbed, others are killed and more are listed as missing. Some are maimed trying to hop freight trains. The land is littered with unmarked graves.
Judy Ancel, director of the UMKC Institute for Labor Studies, said that so-called free-trade policies such as NAFTA have left people in neighboring countries without work. They come to the United States to survive.
Raul Murguia, Escalera program coordinator with the Guadalupe Center, said one person in the film said in Spanish that he preferred to risk everything rather than die of hunger in his country.
Mary Lou Jaramillo, CEO of El Centro Inc., said people who make the journey possess great courage, tenacity and an unstoppable will. Those who get here become great workers.
In the end, those qualities and their character will prevail.
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