Why host a screening of La Americana?

La Americana allows all of us to watch a film wherein the main character is an immigrant, and a mother, with a story that parallels many other immigrant’s stories. This opportunity is rare, when much of the debate about immigration reform involves separating people who are immigrants from their humanity – as well as their sense of security, history, culture and, all too often, family.  This then enables dehumanizing attitudes and practices to set a troubling tone for what should be our greater understanding of the complexities of our own and other people’s lives and our interconnectedness as people, regardless of our nationalities, economic status or the languages we speak.

When we allow ourselves as a society to see or experience any group of people as less than human, we guarantee that group will suffer greater hardships and even threats to their dignity, not to mention our own. In so disregarding people’s humanity, we assure that any potential policy “reform” about issues of immigration will ultimately fail. This is because if we disregard the very root causes and reasons people migrate, motivations that that arise from personal, emotional, political and economic happenings in our lives, and from one of the most human of urges – to survive – then any policy proposed will miss its mark.

Folks all around the country can challenge themselves to setting this intention by making space and time for La Americana. Hailed as “a great empowerment tool,” one that encourages and requires deeper discussion and more humane thinking from all of us about what our values are as people, as well as how we value people who are immigrants, this film is available to community, faith and policy groups just for the asking.

Over the next few months, we will be inviting our partners to share their screening stories here on this blog.

Stay tuned!

En la lucha,

Angela

click here to host a screening in your community: http://www.peoplestelevision.com/host