Who's inspiring you to speak up?

by: Que Linda

Sun Aug 01, 2010 at 04:44 PM CDT

"The courts won’t end the controversy over Arizona’s anti-immigration law, only leadership will."

Every seat at the Rose Marine Theatre was taken last night.  Sitting next to me was a stylishly dressed, middle-aged Anglo woman who has clearly seen success in her life.  She said what I’ve been waiting years to hear — “it’s time people who look like me start speaking out.”

That was the impact of 9500 Liberty, a documentary by filmmakers Eric Byler and Annabel Park, that chronicles the experiences of Prince William County, Virginia, when they passed an ordinance identical to SB 1070 — even written by the same right-wing, anti-immigration think tank.

At the invitation of my friend State Representative Lon Burnam, I hosted 9500 Liberty’s Fort Worth premiere on the very day SB 1070 was supposed to take effect before a federal court thankfully said otherwise.  The movie drew a crowd that was equal parts Anglo, African American, and Hispanic.  This was so much more than a movie premier; this was a community dialogue.

The documentary takes an interesting turn — not just when the city of Manassas suffers economic hardship and foreclosures as people move out of town, but when an unlikely pair of middle class moms start showing up at council meetings and doing their own research, become bloggers, and yes, become political activists.  Their actions gave courage to others.

So I started thinking to myself, who in Texas is inspiring others to speak out?

Some people forget there have always been “Mexicans” in America’s immigration debate — they were just previously known as Italians, Irish, Germans, and even Chinese.

Houston’s Rev. James Bankston, the senior minister at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, is another who is inspiring courage.  St. Paul’s draws many of Houston’s most established families to its pews — a tough crowd that didn’t stop Rev. Bankston from joining an ecumenical coalition challenging their respective congregations to see immigration in a different light.  As the reverend told the New York Times, “It’s not like preaching to the choir, so to speak.”  Speaking out for real change never is.

And then there is Jennifer Cortez.  What I love about Jennifer, a twenty-something student at the University of Texas at Arlington, is that like the mom bloggers of 9500 Liberty she reminds us that you don’t have to have a fancy title to speak out.  Jennifer is a tireless advocate for federal passage of the DREAM Act, which not only opens the doors to a college education but would provide a path to citizenship for the children of immigrants who pursue their education and stay out of trouble.  Keep it up, Jennifer!

Silence is damning. That’s why I spoke out against the Arizona law at the May Day march on the steps of the State Capitol, at Netroots Nation, and everywhere I could get on to a podium.  But my biggest takeaway from 9500 Liberty is that leadership isn’t the sole responsibility of politicians — it’s the responsibility that comes with citizenship.