09/06/2017
A year ago, we were hired to tell the stories of marginalized communities around southern California. One of them was the story of Esperanza, an amazing mother and young grandmother who lives in Los Angeles County but hails from Michoacán. She is an amazing human and we feel so blessed to know her. She's also been deported four times, but has kept coming back out of love for her family and grandchildren. And hopefully the courage it took for her to participate in the telling of her story should be evident.
The ending of the immigration policy is a profound setback for justice and likely a catastrophe in the making. The irony is that DACA itself is insufficient to meet the demands of justice and a coherent immigration policy. Esperanza herself was never protected by it, but certainly people in her extended family or in her close circles would fall under it. And now after coming out of the shadows they are vulnerable targets.
Lastly, while we strive for justice, we should not cast the undocumented as mere victims. What we tried to show in this piece is that so many of them are embodiments of constructive resilience. In the presence of Esperanza and her family, I felt I had much to learn about life and how we should live it.
Thanks to TJ Williams and Todd Brown for cinematography, Peter Spears Dean for editing and Tony Papa for AE'ing. Graphics by Rebecca Berdel
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