April 15, 2009 (Chicago). The United
States has locked up or thrown out dozens,
probably many more, of its own citizens over the
past eight years, according to an AP
investigation. These deportations, an illegal
practice well-known to the Mexican American
community, are nothing new. According to a
well-known Hispanic journalist, during the Great
Depression almost two million U.S citizens and
legal residents were forced to leave for one
simple reason: They were of Mexican
descent.
The recent months-long AP
investigation has documented 55 such cases, but
immigration lawyers and people in the community
say there are many more. AP
found the majority of the cases are of U.S.
citizens of Hispanic
descent.
Emmy-award
winning journalist Vicente
Serrano, news anchor of the
NBC-TELEMUNDO owned and operated
station in Chicago, IL, headed a different
five year-long investigation that resulted in a
documentary, a first of its kind, about similar
massive and unconstitutional deportations of
the1930s.
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The screenings of
"A Forgotten
Injustice", an
official selection of the
Chicago Latino Film Festival
2009, are highly
anticipated. The film includes the personal
accounts of the survivors, respected historians
and politicians like Hilda Solis, U.S
Secretary of Labor, who introduced a
bill in Congress in 2006 to create a commission to
investigate what happened in the 1930s to avoid
committing the same mistakes. One of the
co-sponsors of that bill is the now Chief
of Staff of President Obama, Rahm
Emanuel. The bill is pending in Congress,
it has not moved since it was introduced in
2006.
Serrano
traveled across the country and Mexico to capture
the experiences of the survivors of this buried
chapter in American history. Many of these men and
women are still living in extreme poverty in rural
areas in Mexico. Some of the survivors are coming
back to the U.S more than 70 years later, like his
Grandmother.
"The
elders I interviewed told me that they are
speaking out for the first time because they
don't want to see history repeat itself.
Unfortunatelly the AP
investigation confirms that under different
circumstances the same injustices are been
committed again. I hope the AP
investigation opens the door to uncover and
correct what is going on today. I believe that
A Forgotten Injustice condems us
to repeat again and again", says
Serrano.
There are two screenings of the film
scheduled by The Chicago Latino Film Festival
Saturday April 18th at 9 PM and
Sunday 26th at 4 PM
at: Facets
Multimedia
Cinematheque
1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL
60614
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