Local radio host gets national attention with illegal immigration stance
By Amanda Maynord, amaynord@nashvillecitypaper.com
March 14, 2007

It’s no secret to the Rev. T.J. Graham’s listeners that he is opposed to illegal immigration and now his radio show has captured the ears of documentary filmmakers from New York.

Graham is a staple at Nashville’s WVOL 1470-AM, a station that mainly caters to the black community, where his weekday show “Open Forum” is broadcast.

“The station has that notoriety, but what I like about [the documentary] is now it gives it a little more notoriety, a little more class — it lets people know the station is more than just a radio station,” Graham said. “It’s here to inform people, to enlighten people and to educate people on the community, national issues, local issues and statewide issues.”

One of the issues Graham focuses on is illegal immigration, something two sophomore college students hope to expand on in their upcoming documentary.

Adam Rivera and Colleen Goodhue attend Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y., and they first became interested in the issue of illegal immigration in Nashville after hearing talk of Councilman Eric Crafton’s “English First” bill that came before the Metro Council.

Rivera said the timing of the bill, plus the immergence of Nashville’s Latin American and Kurdish population, led them to the city as a focus for their film.

“We’ve been searching through hundreds and hundreds of topics across the nation and we just found that Nashville was kind of an area where there’s a growing Latin American community and also a Kurdish community – different languages coming together,” Rivera said. “We thought that would be a nice dichotomy – to see how it meshes together.”

Graham said he’s excited about the documentary and the opportunity it affords for spreading the message that illegal immigration in this country is a problem.

“When the illegals come in, that’s where the problem comes in,” Graham said. “A lot of people can’t see the damage that it does to the country. No. 1, you have people walking around your cities, your states, your towns with no identification. You don’t know who they are, where they come from or what type of people they are.”

Graham is not the only radio talk show host Rivera and Goodhue hope to film during their stay. They also want to interview WWTN FM 99.7 host Phil Valentine and include interviews already filmed with local Hispanic nonprofit Conexión Américas.

“We’re trying to get a comprehensive view of this issue of immigrants learning English and the difficulties and struggles they have, basically assimilating to American culture,” Rivera said.

Rivera and Goodhue plan to show their finished documentary sometime in May at the college and hope to have as many members of the community attend as possible.

“We just want [viewers] to see every single part of it – understand the issue as a whole and maybe form their own opinions on it,” Goodhue said.

Graham has his own plans for the summer with several upcoming anti-illegal immigration rallies similar to those he organized last September in response to a pro-immigration rally held in downtown Nashville in May.

“I want the American people to see how the American people really feel about the issue and hopefully some officials will see that the American people are really against illegal immigration,” Graham said. “Lawmakers need to see this and hear this. I’m hoping it touches other state and cities and they see that they’re having the same problem that we’re having here – we can come together as Americans and solve the problem.”

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index ... s_id=55157