Methods of obtaining more National Attention.

At this stage of the political climate, it seems that there are too many pressing and daunting matters in Washington DC to make immigration a core theme in 2009. With the Economy as it is and new policies most likely on the continuation or discontinuation of the War in Iraq/Afghanistan, coupled with what appears to be a war on Health Care reform, I just don't see the likelihood of Immigration making it onto the Congressional floor.

We need more mainstream outlets. We need more national attention. Unfortunately, most who support Dream Act, feel constrained, due to their own migratory status. It's understood. I mean who would want to go out and garnish attention to this issue knowing that at the same time they are 'outing' their migratory status.

This is why I feel that to the pool of current strategies we must incorporate a means of trying to make the issue more mainstream. By that I mean, targeting cultural outlets like, the Oprah Show, the Ellen Show, etc, etc.

How can one do this. I think that if we were able to recollect the stories of the people here, their dreams, their struggles and hopes and have them neatly placed in a book we could begin to try to target a wider audience. In order to get Washington to move, we need to move the people to Washington. Calls to senators help, and maybe a 10 second clip from the local newscast or an article from a newspaper gets some attention. But, nothing like being on Oprah or Ellen to garnish nationwide attention. That is what this issue needs.

Now, I am just throwing this out there. The goal is to compile peoples stories, written by them, in a book. The focus of the book is to show how this new generation of kids are the new civil rights movement. To show how, having been raised here, being in heart and soul and american, they are denied the rights of an american by solely not being born here.

If you are interested or want to contribute with the project or have ideas, feel free to toss a line here and we'll find a way to get in touch. I know the question of earnings will come up. I was thinking of donating all earnings to charity X, to give the book more validity.


Anyway, I started rambling.. What are your thoughts and opinions?

i would contribute with an experience worth reading and learning from!!

That would be excellent. I'll send you a PM with my information so we can get in touch.

You may want to contact these people and see how they went about publishing their book.
http://www.amazon.com/Documented-Dre.../dp/0979781434 This has been brought up before but no one really knows a publisher or how to pitch a book or even who to pitch it to. There is a former DREAMer who is now a published author. She had a story published in the New York Times. http://www.dreamact.info/forum/showt...t=russia+black If we can somehow overcome the hurdles I mentioned above, I'm more than willing to help.


As for more media attention, we need people who are willing to show their faces. That's risky when you're undocumented.

I believe that bombarding mainstream media is a great idea. This is really the first time I find a source that is interested in the Dream Act with so many people working hard. Thank you. It means a lot to me.

We get a lot of mainstream attention -- Problem is that the attention doesn't translate into working together as a collective. That's what we really need to overcome. We can't let the nativists swarm Congress again and moreover, we need to know and be connected to our networks.

I publish whenever I can for blogs like A Dream Deferred, The Sanctuary and more coming soon. I have shown my face on camera recently and I am not afraid. Ideally, we should have DREAMers reading and commenting and blogging as well -- there are so many inactive blogs started and then just abandoned. We should have DREAMers part of the blogsquad for immigration reform. That isn't happening and it is discouraging.

A couple of us together have made "DreamActivist" a brand name -- You will find that on Digg, Twitter, Stumbleupon and most social networking sites

Our latest project launched today is the Twitter for the 'Dream Act' -- it shall be handled by the major activists for the DREAM Act across the country and link up as many students and allies as possible for the latest news and updates on DREAM.
https://twitter.com/DreamAct

Lets work the new media. One thing you can do today:
http://www.change.org/ideas/view/pass_the_dream_act_now

We have had a lot of books and articles published on DREAM already that we can also promote.

Cheers CAR.
admin@dreamactivist.org

Wow, where to start?

First of all, I understand how difficult it is to try to work as a collective. Even without the added determent of, having to 'out' your migratory status. People in these sort of situations are just reluctant or afraid to come forward.

As I said, I am pretty new to this. I am here to help in whatever I can. I have felt that in any politicized issue you need the backing of the American public. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but, with the current issues at hand in DC, I just don't see how immigration will even make it onto the floor this next congressional session. Time here is of essence.

That is why I thought of a book. A recollection of stories in the first person. Short stories, maybe 10. A compilation. The writer may remain anonymous if he/she so desires. It's in my mind a way to introduce the average joe American to the struggles of the hidden citizens of this country. I mean the purpose is two-fold:

1 - Educational: Make the public aware of this civil rights issue. It is in it's core a civil rights issue, independent of how wrapped it is in immigration.

2 - Garnish media attention: Have to shot for the big guns. I am talking about from Oprah on down. Oprah has segments on fantastic kids. We could always pitch a show on fantastic kids whose dreams are stalled. Hey if we shot for the top and don't get there, we sure as hell hit lot's of stuff on the way up.


I have currently two contributors to this project. My wife is an editor, so I can receive assistance there. With respect to publishing, there are always University publishers and out of the country publishers who might be willing to undertake the project. You can always self publish and just e-mail bomb.
One step at a time.

I have been passing along the info about the Dream Act on change.org. I am not much of a blogger, but it seems that soon will change.

Keep up the good fight!

CAR

I am a retired school teacher. I am not Hispanic, but have a special place in my heart for the Hispanic families I have worked with. I have learned to speak Spanish and as a result, have been able to get to know the families. During this time I befriended the family of one of my students who came from Mexico without papers. We have been friends now for about seven years. I especially have worked with one of their daughters, who is now a junior in high school with a very high B average. I was her teacher in fourth grade at which time she was a very withdrawn, shy girl, but obviously very intelligent. I began to encourage her to study and stay in school. My husband and I enrolled her and her siblings in after school soccer and attended the games with their family. Gradually she began to come out of her shell. Last year her school was going to enroll her in an early exit program for migrant children, but she wanted to stay in school for her junior and senior year because she wants to go to college. I went with her and her mother to the school and they changed her plan. However, now we are faced with the reality that she may not be able to go to college because she came here without papers. My husband and I have even checked into adopting her but have been told that this would not change her status in this country. I am very interested in the Dream Act and have thought of starting a petition to send to the representatives of my state to encourage them to vote for this bill. I have found that very few non-Hispanic people are aware of the Dream Act, even the teachers at school who teach these children. When I talk to them about this they are surprised to learn that these children will not be able to go to college and get a a job, and I feel sure that many of these people would support this bill if we make them more aware of what it will do. Please let me know of any other ideas you have that I could do to help.

Dear Shirley,

I believe it is stories like yours that have to be spread to the seven winds. The experience of these children has to be heard. They cannot and must not remain 'hidden citizens'. We have come a long way from the civil rights movement of the 1960's to have a group of people to be as undermined as these kids and many now adults are.

I beseech those that are reading, if you are interested in contributing your story to the project, do so! It can be kept anonymous. The idea is to highlight the cause of your bringing here, what this country means to you and the struggles of knowing you belong but being left out. How this has affected you. I know there are writers here! The more personal the experience, the better.

One step at a time.

If you need stories to put in your book, DAP is one place to find them.


Also as far as major media attention goes, usually they contact us and we've had almost no luck with major news when we contacted them.

I think we would have more luck with ethnic media outlets. They're smaller but also much more likely to pick up stories on DREAM and DREAMers. This would serve two purposes, informing more immigrants about the DREAM Act because most don't know it exists and good publicity that might be picked up by larger media outlets.

If you are interested, let us know. That can be our next project.