The brutal, hate-based beating of two Mexican
day laborers catapulted the Long Island suburb of Farmingville into national
headlines. Farmingville brings this combustible situation to the screen
with an extraordinarily balanced look at the stories and opinions of
the town leaders, longtime residents, day laborers and activists. Along
the way, the film exposes laws and infrastructure that are out of sync
with our increasingly globalized economy and spotlights one community’s
polarized responses to our changing demographics.
Without a Hollywood ending to offer resolution or
hope, Farmingville presented Active Voice with
several challenges. How would we design a campaign to help
communities begin or deepen their own dialogues on
immigration, racism,
national identity and the democratic process? How could we
shine a light on innovative solutions and successful strategies
for dealing with some
of the issues raised in the film? And finally, how should we
use the example of Farmingville to help people understand
that day labor is a result of
an increasingly global economy?
We decided to use this “case study” of how a town
in crisis did not deal with its challenges
and divisions as an opportunity to dissect how conflicts occur
and to explore ways of diffusing conflicts without making neighbors
into enemies or escalating
rhetoric into violence.
We supported sneak preview screenings around
the country, especially in communities with large day laborer
populations,
and used discussion guides to make virtually every screening
of Farmingville a learning opportunity. Successful models of
how police departments, public agencies and community based
groups were easing resident-day laborer tensions were featured
in our resource guide, which we presented to immigrant organizations
and policymakers.
Since the broadcast, several partner organizations continue
to use Farmingville and the other campaign components. AV continues to
encourage advocates and
day labor groups to use Farmingville and the resource materials
to inspire enlightened dialog, build coalitions and educate
law and policy makers.
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