Immigrant Rights News: Make popcorn, watch Made In L.A. with your community & uhave fun organizing for justice & human rights!

Dear NNIRR Members, Partners & Allies,

Please join us and hundreds of organizations and activists across the country this April and May – screen and discuss the Emmy-winning film Made in L.A. and help create the political space for policy makers to pass socially just and fair immigration reforms. We need your help to create a climate of empathy and understanding around immigrants’ rights now, so political leaders know they can and should support just and fair immigration reforms in the months and years ahead.

In honor of May Day, host a screening of the movie and use this event for organizing, fundraising, building support and developing or strengthening your organization or local coalitions. Hosting a screening is easy and fun. Attendees can watch the moving 70-minute DVD and then take action to support just and fair immigration reform. After the screening, you can use NNIRR’s Community Days of Advocacy for Justice & Human Rights talking points and materials to organize calls and meetings with your Congressional delegation. Also, check out NNIRR’s orientation materials for more ideas and ways to talk about why we need socially just, fair immigration reforms. With screenings and actions happening across the country, together, we can make a real impact.

NNIRR also urges you to encourage community members and participants at the screenings of Made in L.A. to tell their own stories of human rights abuses and organizing. You can join hundreds who are setting up story-telling stations at the community screenings where you can interview a community member, listen to and document their story, and invite them to participate in other local actions for accountability and justice. Use a video, a recorder or a lap-top video camera for people to sit, talk and document their stories. Share your local stories with Hurricane: Human Rights Immigrant Community Action Network and amplify community voices nationally. You can learn more about Hurricane at: www.nnirr.org/hurricane.

MADE IN L.A.

Made in L.A. is a proven tool for building support for immigration reform and changing viewers’ minds- so you can invite people who may not yet have formed their views about immigration reform and work to build a larger base of support. Watch this video– see how Made in L.A. (bilingual in English and Spanish) puts a human face on today’s immigrant experience and illustrates how deeply we are a nation of immigrants.

Click here to view a short web-video of Made in L.A.

The Made in L.A. team has provided all the tools and email templates you need to make each screening an easy-to-organize successful event, and all details are at MadeinLA.com/MayDay. Here are the basics:

1. Purchase a DVD (for home-based events such as houseparties), or a screening kit (for community & faith-based screenings).

2. Download a free conversation guide to talk about the issue and then take action to support humane immigration reform and stop unjust detention and raids.

3. Join hundreds of organizations and individuals across the country in screening the Made in L.A. DVD and taking action!

To learn more about how to host a screening, watch the movie’s trailer and more, visit www.MadeInLA.com/MayDay. Please let Made in L.A. know about your screening here http://www.madeinla.com/contact so we can post it on-line to demonstrate the strength of this movement.

Also, let us know at the National Nework for Immigrant and Refugee Rights about your screening and community organizing for justice and human rights!

Together we can lead the way to a more just and humane future!

On Behalf of NNIRR,

Arnoldo Garcia

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados

310 8th Street Suite 303

Oakland, CA 94607

Tel (510) 465-1984 ext. 305

Fax (510) 465-1885

www.migrantdiaries.blogspot.com

www.nnirr.blogspot.com