Looking for something interesting to do on Friday night? Check this out. (Co-hosted by Delaware Tomorrow’s Michael Stafford)
A key part of the national conversation over immigration reform and Arizona’s S.B. 1070 is coming to Delaware this weekend.
I am honored to be co-hosting a screening of the documentary film 9500 Liberty at Wilmington’s Theater N on the evening of Friday, July 2d at 8 pm. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on immigration reform featuring Maria Velasquez from Voices Without Borders, Eliud Gautier, New Jersey Coordinator of Esperanza for America, and I. We’ll also be joined by two of the film’s producers, Annabel Park, an award-winning filmmaker and founder of Coffee Party USA, and University of Delaware alumnus Jeff Man!
The film tells the story of a 2008 local enforcement ordinance passed in Prince William County, Virginia, that required police to check the immigration status of those they had “probable cause” to suspect were undocumented immigrants. ”Despite a climate of fear and racial tension, ordinary citizens banded together to ask lawmakers to repeal the controversial ‘probable cause’ mandate. They succeeded with an inventive combination of Internet and grassroots advocacy, pointing to the law’s unexpectedly negative economic impact, and the costly law suits that would burden taxpayers.”
I’m sorry I’m not in town to see this.