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DIANE LEE, Hoover teacher
“I think
they shot themselves in the foot showing the Mexican flag. I’m sorry and
this is going to sound really bad, but if they love Mexico that much they
should go back.”
“We need
to take care of the people that are here. The children of today who belong
here need to be taken care of.”
“They
keep coming. Two million illegal immigrants live in California. The
federal government does nothing to stop them at the borders, but expects us
to spend billions to take care of them.”
MYRA, Hoover student
“American
people, they don’t want us here no more. They don’t like us.”
ANTI-PROPOSITION 187 TV AD
“187
kicks 300,000 kids out of school and onto the streets.”
PETE WILSON, Governor of California
“For
Californians who work hard, pay taxes, and obey the law… I am working to
deny state services to illegal immigrants.”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“There
are 32 languages in [the Pico Union] community and 90 percent of my students
are political or economic refugees from Mexico, Guatemala, or El Salvador.”
“The day
[Prop. 187] passed, one of my students asked me if I was now a cop who was
going to kick her out.”
DIANE LEE
“The
schools are overcrowded. Teachers are taking a pay cut. We don’t have
enough money to put all these kids in school. If they don’t belong here,
they shouldn’t be here.”
ARCELIA HERNANDEZ, Hoover teacher
“I think
Prop. 187 is so popular with people here in the United States because it’s
created this illusion that if it passes all the problems of the country will
be solved. If we just get rid of the people who make us feel
uncomfortable—the poor, the homeless, the dark-skinned, the people we don’t
understand—if we just get rid of them, all our problems will be solved.”
MALE STUDENT #1 in Library
“I feel
when they call us illegal, they’re calling us like we’re not human beings…
that we’re a little piece of dirt or something… that we’re not human beings
like Americans.”
MALE STUDENT #2 in Library
“They
don’t like us here.”
MALE STUDENT #1 in Library
“They
treat us like we’re the enemies.”
MALE STUDENT #3 in Library
“That we
have no rights to be here.”
FEMALE STUDENT in Library
“I think
people should have a chance to learn, to work, and to be healthy… Even if
they’re Americans I don’t think they have the right to hurt other people.”
“Well,
most of my kids were born in L.A. which means their parents have been here
at least seven or eight years. How dare they live in this country and not
learn English? …If you choose to come to America, you have to give up
something.”
“It
sounds awful, but I’ve been at Hoover seven years, and I think the children
are getting worse and worse and not better. I blame the families. I think
the family needs to say, ‘You will go to college. What do you have for
homework? What did you do in school today? School is important.’”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“Arcelia
picked grapes in Central Valley. I sold popsicles on a street corner in
East L.A. To us there was only one way out.”
“So long
as I got good grades and went to college, I didn’t have to pick grapes, I
didn’t have to pick tomato, I didn’t have to get up at 4 a.m. and be cold
and be nauseous. I could go to school and have a different sort of a job
and never ever have to pick another piece of produce for as long as I
lived. And that’s what I wanted.”
DIANE LEE
“When my
grandparents came they moved to New York. They came for a better life.
They assimilated. They gave their children American names. They learned
English… They wanted to be Americans, they we’re proud to be Americans.
Now being ‘American’ is a dirty word.”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“The
anxiety 187 caused triggered a wave of citizenship applications in our
community.”
CARMEN ALCOTE, Hoover parent and community activist
“I am an
American citizen, in the first place. And I’ve always loved this country a
lot. Because this country gave me my education… helped my entire family.”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“I realize that even if 187 never gets enforced, the
damage has already been done.”
MR. PEETMYER, Hoover librarian
“The
people that come into [this country] as illegal immigrants are forcing
themselves on the people who live there to support them.”
MALE STUDENT #4 in Library
“My mom
is 38 and she knows very good English, but they still don’t want her to be
an American citizen.”
MALE STUDENT #1 in Library
“We know
that we don’t belong here, but we came here for a better opportunity.”
MR. PEETMYER
“You walk
up and down these streets here in L.A. and you find people who don’t take
time to go to the bathroom, you find all kinds of trash on the street… I was
taught when I was growing up that we had to take care of the land.”
STUDENT in Library
“Are you
saying that we [throw trash on the streets]?
MR. PEETMYER
“I’m
saying somebody does… I’m just saying is what has happened didn’t used to
happen.”
FEMALE STUDENT in Library
“I think
you’re saying that just because people from another country’s coming… You
just said that American people before we were here, they didn’t do that. I
think you’re saying that all of us that are illegal do that.”
MR. PEETMYER
“…Who
walks up and down these streets out here?”
STUDENTS (all) in Library
“All of
us.”
MR. PEETMYER
“All
right, I do too… Who throws trash on the streets out here?”
STUDENTS (all) in Library
“All of
us.”
MR. PEETMYER
“No, I
don’t.
MALE STUDENT #1 in Library
“But
American people do too.”
MR. PEETMYER
“But I’m
saying I don’t. It’s my country I’m living in, and I want it to stay nice.”
MALE STUDENT #1 in Library
“It’s not
your country. It’s everyone’s.”
MR. PEETMYER
“I’m
saying it’s my country I’m living in.”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“Things
have changed at Hoover. It was clear that Prop. 187 had ripped apart
whatever fragile contract we had with each other. It had given people a
license to say things that they never would have before.”
DIANE LEE
“I feel I
should be here because I care about the kids. But the bottom line for me
with Prop. 187 is that it’s a law, and I don’t feel people should break the
law.”
“[I had
never felt discriminated against,] not until yesterday, until you told me
people didn’t feel I belonged here.”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“The day
after… I went to interview Myra again. This time, her mother wouldn’t allow
me to. The night before a neighbor had warned her that I may be Myra’s
teacher, but I was also a state employee who may one day turn her child in…
She begged me not to take it personally, but she was just too scared to
trust me.”
CARMEN ALCOTE
“One day
someone crashed into my car. [He hit me and then fled.] Why did he take
off? Because he didn’t have insurance. He didn’t even have the conscience
to see if something had happened to one of us. Why did he run off? Because
he didn’t have his papers.”
“This
used to be a close community. It was very tranquil. People would take
walks. We all knew each other. And now, you can’t even take a walk. There
are shootings. I’ve already seen two. And why? It’s the people who have
recently immigrated. They’re not interested in cleanliness…union…helping
one another. They just take services…But they give nothing. That’s what I
dislike about them. That’s why I voted in favor of 187.”
ARCELIA HERNANDEZ
“I knew
that [Carmen] was angry about this and when she was angry about her car
accident she did say, ‘You know, we should send all of them out.’”
LAURA SIMON, the filmmaker
“When I
told my kids that things wouldn’t change, that they were safe, I lied. I’ve
come to learn that nine months in the fourth grade means little against a
world that simply isn’t ready to invest in them. …Sometimes when I am alone
in my classroom, I wonder if I’ll ever see Myra again. And if I do, who
will she be? What will she say? And will I have to apologize for what we
took away from her?” |