Migrant Youths Use Video To Explore Social Issues
TELEVISION SERIES TO SHOWCASE PROJECTS
The fourth piece in a series about CCH's statewide Communities Speak initiative, which uses story to strengthen communities, inspire change
Mariluz Sanchez and her sister, Puri, both students at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, Calif., knew right away what the topic of their video project would be. Their friend, Jesus Suarez del Solar, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in Iraq, had just become one of the first casualties in the war against Saddam Hussein. They would tell his story.
The Sanchez's video, Un Soldado Mexicano, looks at Suarez's life through the eyes of his father, Fernando Suarez del Solar, who moved his family to Escondido from Tijuana in 1997 to honor his son's desire to be a Marine.
Suarez del Solar senior, who has since publicly spoken out against U.S. involvement in Iraq, talked to the young videomakers shortly after his son's death in March 2003. "Jesus," he said, "joined the Marines because he wanted to save the world from terrorism. He went to fight for an ideal."
Un Soldado Mexico is one of almost 60 videos produced, shot and edited by at-risk youth in San Diego County as part of Tu Voz (Your Voice), a Communities Speak project that provides video training to youth historically neglected and negatively portrayed by the media and then packages the videos for screenings in schools, communities and on television. The project has involved more than 90 youths, many of whom, like the Sanchez sisters, come from migrant families, in a 100-mile area that extends from Santa Ana to San Ysidro.
Media Arts Center Executive Director Ethan van Thillo got the idea for Tu Voz while organizing the San Diego Latino Film Festival. Van Thillo began to realize that although the festival received many entries from young people, most were MTV-like in content and style and few originated in San Diego. Van Thillo, who had worked previously with the migrant community in San Diego, recognized the need to capture the stories of the migrant experience and make them available to a wider community.
Working in collaboration with the Migrant Education Program of the San Diego County Office of Education, the Media Arts Center began holding 12- week, hands-on video production workshops with migrant youths at high schools in North San Diego County. From the outset, the goal of the workshops reached beyond the teaching of video skills. Van Thillo wanted young people to see that they could play a direct role in shaping their communities by using video as a tool for change.
" The workshops give the kids a lot of work-readiness skills," said Van Thillo. "They learn how to use a digital camera, edit on computers, set up lighting and organize their work. But it also lets them see that they have a stake in the community and can affect what happens there."
Project instructor Ricardo Favela, who has taught the majority of the workshops and comes from a migrant family himself, recalled the class in Escondido that Mariluz and Puri Sanchez attended. "It was at the beginning of the Iraq war, and we talked about the war's impact on the community. And then Mariluz, Puri and a couple of other students were absent from class one day, and it was only later that I learned they had all attended Jesus' funeral. When they came back, they told me they wanted to make a video about Jesus. It was one of three videos that particular class worked on."
Many of the videos tell of harrowing border crossings and other experiences unique to migrants. "One of the things we try to do is get the kids to look at themselves," said Favela. "We typically have them make a life map, write about issues important to them and interview members of their families. Some students are reluctant to discuss their own or their families' experience because it's too painful, but we talk about how important it is to get the stories out so others can understand the migrant community better."
The videos the kids make focus on lighter topics as well. One group filmed people getting on and off the trolley in San Ysidro, with one student asking people questions about where they were going and how they viewed their community, and another group made a video about how to make Mexican food.
Once the workshops are completed, the Migrant Education Program holds community screenings for friends and family. For the students and their families it's a proud moment. "Just putting a video together is such an accomplishment and a great leap for many of the kids," said Project Coordinator Sebastian Hernandez. "They get to interact with people they don't usually meet, see things they don't normally see, and work with the latest video production equipment."
In addition to serving migrant youths, the San Diego Media Arts Center is reaching beyond that population to African-Americans and other long-term residents through organizations working with those groups. Among those is the MAAC Project, a social service agency that operates several affordable housing complexes in the San Diego area. Workshops are being held for young residents at two MAAC locations.
Now that so many videos have been finished, the Media Arts Center is working furiously to edit them into eight half-hour programs for airing on television and for use in schools and community venues. Two programs have been completed thus far and are ready for screening at this year's San Diego Latino Film Festival.
In addition to community access stations, several other stations have expressed interest in airing the shows. But Van Thillo's and Hernadez' vision for Tu Voz goes beyond television broadcast. They are planning public community screenings to stimulate discussion about the issues and are developing education packets for teachers to use alongside video screenings in the classroom. "We'd like to see the programs become part of the curriculum in local schools" Van Thillo said.
Added Hernandez, "I always think about how much more we could do if had more staff and more funding. But then I look at the impact we have already made on students and what we are beginning to accomplish by getting the work distributed, and I almost feel like we've done something."