Making Contact: Immigrants and Elections Miniseries
In addition to producing weekly shows, this month’s grantee Making Contact Radio also delves more deeply into specific policy issues as special projects. One such special project is the immigrants and elections miniseries, which has particular resonance to Vocal Minority’s own origin story. While not forgetting the realities of the impact of voter suppression and increasing voter restrictions in many states, the first two parts of the miniseries present a surprisingly optimistic exploration of various immigrant communities all over the country that have increased political engagement leading up to the 2016 presidential elections.
Part I: Immigrant Communities Upholding Democracy
In Part I of the miniseries, Making Contact meets with a range of immigrant communities who are upholding and actively participating in our democracy. First, in Phoenix Arizona, we meet a few Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals beneficiaries, or “dreamers”. These young activists have organized their communities and founded political groups, originally centering on registering immigrants to vote. One young dreamer, Elizabeth Perez, met the Vice Mayor of the City through her work as an activist, and managed to navigate complicated city politics to be hired as an assistant at the city council.
Making Contact next introduces us to a few members of the congregation of the Western Suburbs Mosque in Canton, Michigan. Even though the mosque has historically preferred to stay away from politics, the events of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing increase of discrimination against the Muslim community have pushed many to engage. One older Muslim immigrant, Saber Ahmed, started calling other Muslims in order to canvass for candidates she supported and has begun hearing from politicians as a result of her activism, creating an encouraging feedback loop, in which politicians have begun to recognize the value of these activists and their communities. The consensus arising out of a recent Islamophobia meeting at the mosque is that the increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric in the last few years has pushed Muslims to “prove” their American-ess. This is unfair, they say, but they have no other choice.
Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice and author of The Fight to Vote explains that historically, as demographics change and new immigrants become targets of politicians, such discriminatory rhetoric and actions become the motivating force for voter registration and participation. He says, “People often are motivated more by the fear of what they might lose than hope of what they might gain… We’re at a moment right now where we could be tipping backwards in a lot of ways … but at the same time could be moving forwards with reforms to take American democracy to the 21st century. It’s still a vision that brings a lot of people to our shores.”
Part II: Barriers To The Ballot
Part II of the miniseries addresses various barriers to voting. The show begins with an overview of the Voting Rights Act and the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby v. Holder, which eliminated the requirement that the Department of Justice approve or “pre-clear” new voting rules for states with a history of voter discrimination. This has led to a decrease in the number of polling stations and new voter identification laws in Arizona and a blackout in processing voter registration forms prior to the election in Georgia.
These legislative-imposed barriers, however, are not the only problem. Voter turnout has amongst immigrant groups have been low. In Arizona, 22% of the electorate is Latino. Of that number, only 50% registered to vote in 2012, and 40% of those registered actually voted. Samuel Becerra, a 19 year-old Bernie Sanders supporter, did not plan to vote at the time he was interviewed, saying “It’s my right, right? … It’s a choice whether I want to vote or not.” He explained that he did not feel that he could trust Hillary Clinton after reports that the Democratic National Committee had given her advice on how to defeat Sanders. He noted that his mother Araceli, who gives U.S. citizenship classes to new immigrants, would be disappointed. She did plan on voting, saying, “Latinos were comfortable, at ease… then [Trump] slapped us in the face and we are going to return the gesture by voting.”
This story reminds us that even though many were provoked by Trump’s divisive language to act in the political process, many also disengaged after a heated and fractious Democratic primary.
Mobilization of Minorities and Immigrants
The stories featured on the Making Contact Immigrants and Elections miniseries drive home the reality that oftentimes citizens need to be prodded out of complacency and react to very real threats to their livelihoods and existence in order to fight in the political process. Members of both the mosque in Part I and the Latino community in Part II both testify to the change in the activism levels in their communities as a direct result of discrimination. However, political victory requires cooperation between various minority and interest groups as well as the involvement and support of allies.
Part II of the show ends with coverage on Proposition N in San Francisco, which allows non-citizen parents to vote in school board elections. As we now know, Proposition N passed, thanks to a multiethnic coalition led by parents. San Francisco County Supervisor Eric Mar, who put the proposition on the 2016 ballot, said prior to the vote, “We feel that the Donald Trump anti-immigrant racist, sexist sentiments at the national level [will lead] San Francisco voters [to] viscerally and politically resist.” When minorities unite to respond to discrimination and challenges to their rights by organizing and engaging in the political process, change is possible.
This is also at the heart of Vocal Minority’s mission. We must respond to the challenges of today by organizing and engaging in the political process. We will face resistance, and barriers both tangible and intangible. However, we must forge ahead, gather like-minded individuals around us committed to support us, and tackle each challenge that comes barrelling down from the President’s Office, Congress, the state legislatures or our local governments as a united front. We must be the change we wish to see.
Immigrants and Elections, Part III was set to be released the day of the 2017 Presidential Inauguration but has yet to be posted. It will be interesting to see what Making Contact Radio will choose to focus on, given the outcome of the election.
