Sunday, October 15, 2017

AMERICAN MIGRANT STORIES, PREMIERES AT CSU, BAKERSFIELD, OCTOBER 19, 2017

This coming Thursday evening (October 19), beginning at 6 pm, we will premiere the documentary "American Migrant Stories" at California State University, Bakersfield's Walter W. Stiern Library.


We started working on this documentary almost immediately after Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 presidential election. Understanding that things were going to take a turn for the worse for America's migrant communities, about 26 attorneys from Bakersfield came together to put on a series of "legal clinics" designed specifically for Kern County's undocumented population.

The goal was to go to local communities across Kern County and advise the undocumented populations of their legal rights and responsibilities. The group of attorneys doing this work, without compensation of any type, is called the Immigration Justice Collaborative.

As the director of the Center for Social Justice I was able to secure a grant from The California Endowment, and hired a film crew from the Los Angeles area to document the legal clinics. During spring 2017 we determined that we should move beyond simply filming these legal clinics and decided to create a documentary on the broader issue of migration in America, while focusing on events in Kern County.


The film runs about 32 minutes. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be served at the showing. The event is time certain, and will start immediately at 6 pm.

- Mark

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