Thread: follow-up talk on immigration documentary

VJ sponsors screening, follow-up talk on immigration documentary

Valley Journal staff report



“We can’t fix it, unless we talk about it,” to quote Mark Gould of Gould Construction from a local newspaper article following last month’s airing of the NBC Dateline/Tom Brokaw documentary on immigration.

The documentary focused on Gould’s business and its struggles with labor needs, along with the multitude of other economic and social concerns that go along with the broader immigration issue.

Indeed, we must talk about it if we are to truly understand the issue, which really isn’t just one issue, but multiple issues that affect our communities in many ways.

For that reason, The Valley Journal will be co-hosting a free viewing of the NBC Dateline special. The showing will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at Dos Gringos Burritos in La Fontana Plaza. A big thanks to Nelson Oldham for that.

The public is welcome to come in early and grab some food and drink and stay after the screening for an open discussion to see what people in Carbondale and the greater valley think about the issues presented in the special.

The special highlighted some issues we all seem to be aware of, but sort of left the unanswered question, now what?

As is typical with most mainstream broadcast news magazines, the documentary was somewhat superficial and rather incomplete in the end. It might have been better to take the variety of issues and break them into segments over a series of programs.

Not that leaving the local immigration issue open-ended was such a bad thing, either.

That’s where we, the citizens of the community that were the focus of the program, come in. We really can’t fix it if we don’t first at least talk about it a little bit more. And, with some better understanding of the issue, perhaps we can come up with some solutions.

For instance, what about the great difficulty Latino immigrants who want to obtain legal status run into when trying to do just that, especially since the restrictive, post-9/11 guidelines imposed in the Patriot Act? It’s a system that’s too expensive, too time-consuming and filled with so much corruption, that it’s no wonder immigrants, and businesses who rely on immigrant labor, give up trying to follow the law.

And what about the worker housing issues in our valley that affect not only Latino immigrants, but all workers? Not one mention of that particular issue in the program.

What also wasn’t mentioned was the fact that there has been a sizable population of legal Latino residents who have been a part of our community for many decades. And what about the dozens of Latino businesses that add greatly to our community?

We believe it is important to provide this opportunity for a more critical viewing of the documentary, followed by an honest discussion about the immigration issue. Hope to see you there.

http://link.toolbot.com/valley-journal.com/54830

For instance, what about the great difficulty Latino immigrants who want to obtain legal status run into when trying to do just that, especially since the restrictive, post-9/11 guidelines imposed in the Patriot Act? It’s a system that’s too expensive, too time-consuming and filled with so much corruption, that it’s no wonder immigrants, and businesses who rely on immigrant labor, give up trying to follow the law.

Ya gotta be kidding .....give up trying to following the law.....already the discussion is going to be slanted....it is just too hard to follow the law so illegal immigration is really okay.....there are alot of inmates in prision who have the same reasoning on crimes they committed , for all the good it did them!!!

I doubt very seriously these "Latino immigrants" have any more difficulty obtaining legal status than any other illegal aliens. If they're illegal, send them ALL home.

Is there anyone who lives in the area who could go to this? You could go and report back on how it went, and what the majority of the people are saying. It would be very helpful.

It would be interesting to attend if someone lived in that area.
It is pretty likely that because of the location and the concentration of illegals with employers that want to employ them....it will be overwhelmingly " BOO HOO" Poor illegals , poor employers who need them.