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Life & Times Transcript
10/06/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It's called sanctuary, but can churches and cities just decide to give illegal immigrants safe haven? Don Silva>> You're going against federal law when you say you're a safe haven or sanctuary cities for those that are in our country illegally, regardless of origin or nationality, so it's just wrong. Sergio Calderon>> It's not our intention to thumb our noses. We're just basically voicing our opinion and hoping that the legislators listen. Val Zavala>> And then, don't call them birdwatchers. We'll look at what happened to three men who became obsessed with setting a record for birding. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Two cities on completely opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to illegal immigration. On the right, San Bernardino. On the left, a small city called Maywood that's become known as a safe haven for undocumented workers. So what happens when residents in San Bernardino come to protest in Maywood? As Hena Cuevas tells us, it didn't take long for tensions to rise. Hena Cuevas>> Maywood, located just ten miles south of Los Angeles, is a small city of only forty thousand people, but they're crammed into one square mile, making Maywood one of the densest towns in southern California, and virtually all of its residents, ninety-seven percent, are Hispanic and about half are here illegally. So perhaps it's not surprising that Maywood has openly declared itself a safe haven for the undocumented, a declaration that has many outside of Maywood up in arms. >> "Look what you did to my town. I was raised here. It's pathetic!" Hena Cuevas>> On August 26, the anti-illegal immigrant group, Save Our State, and several other organizations chose Maywood as the site for a protest. Joseph Turner is the founder of Save Our State. Last May, he led an unsuccessful attempt to pass a strict anti-immigration law in San Bernardino. Joseph Turner>> The difference is that you have a city like Maywood which is openly violating and contradicting law. The city of San Bernardino would simply be enforcing laws at the local level that run congruent or parallel or of that nature with federal law. There is no contradiction or hypocrisy there. >> "This is our land. This is our street. Get the hell out of here!" Hena Cuevas>> Tensions started rising when two hundred people showed up to counter the protest, among them Maria Mendoza. Maria Mendoza>> We're now immigrants. They took our land. It was stolen five hundred fifty years ago. We have the right to be here in America. We love America. Hena Cuevas>> The Maywood controversy began last January. That's when the City Council passed a resolution stating its opposition to the Sensenbrenner-Cain Immigration Bill. The Sensenbrenner bill proposes criminalizing those here illegally, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers and boosting security along the border. Sergio Calderon>> We felt we needed to voice our opinions in the city. Hena Cuevas>> Sergio Calderon is a Maywood councilman. Sergio Calderon>> We supported the resolution opposing the Sensenbrenner team proposed legislation and, at that point, we were labeled as the sanctuary city because we were the first city, at least in the southeast, probably in California, that opposed it openly. Hena Cuevas>> According to Calderon, the sanctuary label prompted death threats against the mayor and at least one council member. Sergio Calderon>> This issue carries a lot of weight and it carries a lot of passion. It's very controversial, so you're always going to have pros and cons. Some people that are fanatical about certain situations will take it to whatever level is necessary. Hena Cuevas>> The tension was visible during the protest. Look what happened when this woman from Save Our State tried to cross the street to join fellow protesters. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> It didn't help that she and others had to pass through the opposing crowd. One of those protesting that day was Save Our State member, Don Silva. Don Silva>> I don't have anything against anyone who wants to come here, but you must do it in a legal and graduated and sane fashion. Otherwise, we will have mayhem and chaos just like we have now. Hena Cuevas>> Maywood's reputation as an immigrant-friendly town began earlier this year when the City Council did away with the traffic division. Why? Because police were stopping people at checkpoints. Anyone without a license had their car impounded for thirty days. >> "Okay, Alejandro, your ticket is for driving without a driver's license." Hena Cuevas>> And who can't get licenses? Illegal immigrants. Sergio Calderon>> It was very focused, I believe, in trying to capture that specific sector of the population. Hena Cuevas>> So the traffic division was disbanded. Officers were reassigned to fight more serious crimes and Maywood earned a reputation as a safe haven for undocumented residents. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> But for Save Our State member Silva, Maywood is simply thumbing its nose at the law. Don Silva>> You're going against federal law when you say you're a safe haven and sanctuary cities for those that are in our country illegally, regardless of origin or nationality, so it's just wrong. Sergio Calderon>> It's not our intention to thumb our noses. We're just basically voicing our opinions and hoping that the legislators will listen. That's all we're doing. Joseph Turner>> It's wrong because you can't have a city openly aiding and abetting illegal activity. There's no difference between illegal immigration and other sources of criminal activity. You can't just simply condone one act and not the other because you simply believe that law is a bad law. Hena Cuevas>> But it's not just cities grappling with the issue of illegal immigration and the type of message they would like to send to the federal government. It's also religious organizations and no one has been more involved in the immigration debate than the Church of La Placita, the one across the street from Olvera Street. They're the oldest church in Los Angeles and, in the past, they have served as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. In December 1985, La Placita Church provided a safe haven for refugees fleeing from the civil war in Central America. Father Richard Estrada was a priest back then. He says that people would actually live in the church, sleeping in the pews. Father Richard Estrada>> We didn't have the capacity to have people sleeping here and living here, so that stopped in about 1990 or 1991. Hena Cuevas>> But with the intense immigration reform debates nationally and locally, La Placita Church has once again declared itself an official sanctuary. Father Richard Estrada>> We need to huddle together, those that have made the commitment, in exactly how we are going to provide that service of sanctuary. Is it going to be the way it was in 1985 when we were letting a lot of people sleep in our church? How is it going to, you know, look like? Hena Cuevas>> But in that situation, one of the criticisms has been that, by stating that, it is a political statement when you declare yourself as a sanctuary. Father Richard Estrada>> Oh, yes, it is a political statement. We cannot deny it. But, again, we have to hold our ground. It is a moral issue. It's all about people and it's all about individuals and their rights. Hena Cuevas>> But what does it mean to be a sanctuary? The latest case is unfolding in Chicago. On August 15, Elvira Arellano took refuge inside a Methodist church. She's facing deportation, but doesn't want to leave her son, a United States citizen. Father Estrada supports Arellano. He says the immigration reform needs to handle each case individually. Father Richard Estrada>> It's not a black and white. You have to avail every situation. Hena Cuevas>> Back in Maywood, Calderon says they will enforce any immigration bill. However -- Sergio Calderon>> It all depends on what the bill says, what weight it carries, which direction it goes. Are we going to have some sort of way for the people that are here to seek legal status? It all depends on that. Don Silva>> What other laws would you like to declare yourself a sanctuary from? Are there any other laws? Well, let's start at immigration laws and let's move on from there. How dare you? [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> At the end of the day, four cars from the Save Our State people were vandalized. For now, it's wait and see for both sides. But with emotions running high, the waiting promises to be more passionate than patient. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> This week, downtown Los Angeles is the site of a historic gathering, the National Latino Congreso, a conference involving hundreds of Latino leaders from across the country, the first one in more than thirty years. But why now and what do they hope to accomplish? To find out, I talked to Fernando Guerra, an expert on Latino politics and culture at Loyola Marymount University. He says the conference's mission is three-fold: to build on the momentum of last spring's immigration marches and influence debate in Washington, to look back at thirty years of Latino leadership to see what has and hasn't worked, and finally as the number of Latino elected officials continues to grow, to see how Latino leaders can serve their own community and address the needs of a multi-cultural society. So this gathering, this Congreso that's happening this week in Los Angeles, is really historic in many ways, yes? It really hasn't happened like this before at this point in time with these big questions to answer? Fernando Guerra>> You're absolutely right. I think, when we look back in the year 2006, it will be one of the most important years in American politics, Los Angeles politics, Latino politics. People will talk about this period as the beginning of a new Latino politics and, in Los Angeles, a new Latino century. That doesn't mean to the exclusion of non-Latinos. It means Latino leadership, Latinos playing the main role in terms of politics, in terms of culture and hopefully in terms of the economy. Val Zavala>> And when it comes to Latino leadership, what do you think is the most important sort of evolutionary step or change in our thinking or growth that Latino leaders have to achieve to really fulfill the potential? Fernando Guerra>> Well, number one, they have to go beyond just being Latino leaders. Antonio Villaraigosa is not a Latino mayor. Antonio Villaraigosa is a mayor for the city of Los Angeles who happens to be Latino. He cannot govern this city, he cannot be effective, he cannot even be effective for Latinos if all he did was focus on Latino issues. He has to focus on all aspects of Los Angeles. That transition has been happening for Latinos for the last ten years, I would argue. That's number one. Val Zavala>> But that's hard -- Fernando Guerra>> -- oh, yeah. Val Zavala>> Because immigration is a huge issue and it's very much a Latino issue. At least, that's the way it's evolved so far. We keep hearing Latino power and growth and numbers and so forth. On one hand, you hear Latino, Latino, Latino and then, on the other hand, we can't be all Latino. Fernando Guerra>> Well, you know what? It is an incredibly difficult issue. That's why I think that Latino politicians are some of the best and the brightest because they've been able to manage that two-step where they need dual validation, both in terms of their constituents who are electing them Latino, but also a constituency who they are serving in terms of mayors which are much broader than just a Latino base. But Antonio Villaraigosa didn't win the mayoralty with all the Latino vote. Every single Latino could have voted for him and he still would have lost. He did it to reach out. That's the same thing also with whether it's Senator Salazar from Colorado or Bill Richardson from Mexico. You cannot win the Latino vote alone. You need to create coalitions, coalitions with African Americans, but also coalitions with all kinds of other communities, and you need to be able to communicate that. Latinos have grown up in that environment, so I think they're actually positioned to be some of the best leaders in an increasingly multi-cultural Los Angeles, California and the United States. We have to be frank. We've seen some of the tension between African Americans and Latinos in the high schools, in the prisons. Any time you institutionalize the two groups, it occurs. We've seen some of the tensions with Latinos and Anglo European Americans regarding immigration, day laborers, things of that nature. We've seen some of the tension with Latinos and Asian Americans in Monterey Park or other areas. For us to believe that there isn't tension means that we're not going to address the problem. On the other hand, every single day in America, there are millions of multi-cultural interactions that occur. Ninety-nine percent of them are either positive or neutral. The one percent that deteriorates is not what defines America. How would you as an individual like to be judged just by one percent of your actions, that that would define you, that is who you are? That is not what America is. Tensions build ethnic conflict. It's not what it is at all. As a matter of fact, it was an incredible multi-cultural experience that began two, three or four centuries ago not only in the East Coast, but now you see it in Hawaii and New Mexico. Two states that are majority non-Anglo that function very, very well. Val Zavala>> So as we see all these Latino leaders come together in Los Angeles, there's not really one dominant Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez leader in the Latino community. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Fernando Guerra>> I think it's both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, you would want one person to symbolize the movement, to simplify the movement, to be the spokesperson that everybody can focus on and could lead us. It's great to have a president, George Bush or Clinton or whatever your partisanship would like, but that person symbolizes the movement, symbolizes what the issue is all about. That doesn't occur. We don't have a Martin Luther King, okay? On the other hand, any leader, even a great leader, is going to have issues, going to have personal problems, going to have foibles. They are human, and that can bring a movement down. That could take away from a movement. Yet the media loves to have the one leader, but also bring them up and take them down. Not having one leader, I think at this stage for Latinos, is good. We're such a diverse community. Val Zavala>> That's the other thing. Fernando Guerra>> Yeah. It's not only diverse in terms of national origin, but it's diverse in terms of geography, whether you're from Texas, Florida or California. Val Zavala>> And there's not even necessarily a great homogeneity in all the issues. There's a lot of differences of opinion. Fernando Guerra>> That's right. So I think what we're going to see are leaders who emerge in certain issue areas like the environment or health care or education and then leaders who emerge in certain local areas and in regional areas. That we certainly have. I mean, when you talk about the Antonio Villaraigosas and the Bill Richardsons and the Martinas in Florida, you know, you can just on and on. There we have tremendous leaders who have been very effective. Val Zavala>> Fernando Guerra, Director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, thank you. Fernando Guerra>> Well, thanks for having me and thanks for being on our campus. Val Zavala>> If you've got young children or grandchildren, you'll want to watch this next brief feature. It's about a garden designed specifically for youngsters. It's at The Huntington in San Marino. But one word of warning: once you take your children here, they'll be begging you to go back. Jim Folsom>> Hi. My name is Jim Folsom and I'm the Director of the gardens here at The Huntington in San Marino. We are right in the middle of our Children's Garden which has become a crucial part of what The Huntington represents to this community. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> We decided that the theme we would use for the Children's Garden is the same theme we used to teach about plants. That is, earth, air, fire and water. Earth, air, fire and water happens to be great things to young children. We're talking dirt, water, mud, wind. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> Now in earth, we have this wonderful feature. It's magnetic sand, the same black sand you'd put at the beach. We have piles of it and we put it in this basin with these two powerful magnets and children truly enjoy watching the magnetic sand do magical things. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> We have another feature which is the Rock Chimes. You drop pebbles through it and you get these great sounds. Behind us, to the south of the garden near the entrance, we wanted to make air visible, so what we did was create a Fog Grotto. About a minute and a half out of every three minutes, this whole cloud is created by a series of ninety-six nozzles under two thousand pounds of pressure. Earth and fire. What do you do about fire? You can't have flames for children, right? We interpreted sunlight as the spectrum. We have a crawl-through called the Rainbow Tunnel. We have refraction gratings on top and it casts rainbows inside. Incredibly popular. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> Well, that leaves the easiest thing in any children's garden, which is water. What we decided to do was create a water feature, but water features that children could engage in. You'll find it's these wonderful things called Water Bells. It's just these wonderful patterns of water that look like umbrellas and toadstools. You put your hand in it. It's dry on the inside and it's this sheet of water coming out. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> It's a complete integral experience that, for younger children, establishes the expectation of wonder in a natural world. It allows both the child and the parent or the grandparent these multi-generational experiences. It allows them all to ask questions and to seek answers together. So that's a perfect learning environment and it's something that carries from a garden like this to home and to other places. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Toni Guinyard>> There are six hundred seventy-five different species of birds in North America and, every year, grown men and women have competed against each other to become the number one birder, spotting the most species of birds. Well, journalist Mark Obmascik follows three men who have an obsession. They want to be number one. Their travels are chronicled in the book "The Big Year". Mark Obmascik>> The Big Year is kind of the Super Bowl of bird-watching. Of all things to be competitive about, imagine that. It's a contest to see who can spot the most birds in one year in North America. There are three guys who just took the brakes off. They took the brakes off their obsession and went for it for a year. They're like grownup Tom Sawyers gallivanting around the globe, traveling an incredible amount. One guy spent between eight to twelve thousand dollars a month chasing rare birds. So these guys go by train, by plane, by car, by helicopter in some cases through the mountains, by boat, just to see as many different species of birds as possible in North America. It's kind of a feathered version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Toni Guinyard>> Now I notice you said "birders". I take it that "bird-watchers" is off-limits? Mark Obmascik>> Well, there is a difference. People are a little bit picky about that. Bird-watching is supposed to be this passive activity for spinsters and sensible shoes and bachelor British Army colonels. But birders are the people who chase. There are hundreds, if not thousands -- Toni Guinyard>> -- wait a minute. Chase? Mark Obmascik>> They chase rarities. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who will chase rare birds around the continent. There are internet rare bird alerts set up on web pages. There are services that will call you in the middle of the night so you can wake up and catch the next red-eye flight to, say, Gibsons, British Columbia to catch a Xantus' hummingbird which just gone blown in by a hurricane from Cabo San Lucas. It's an addiction. Toni Guinyard>> You know how crazy this sounds? This sounds absolutely crazy, but fun. Mark Obmascik>> Oh, the guys in this contest were pretty amazing. They were away from home two hundred seventy days. They traveled two hundred seventy thousand miles. They lived for weeks on end on a desolate Alaskan isle that was seventeen hundred miles from Anchorage, but only two hundred miles from Siberia, where they sat and waited for the strongest El Nino on record to blow in Asiatic birds into North American air space just so they could count them. 1998 was the strongest El Nino on record, so there were all these freak winds that were blowing in these bizarre birds from Europe, in from Asia, up from Latin America, where they would land. There are a lot of places in North America that, if a rare bird lands, within a half hour it's posted on the internet and people chase. They come from all over just to chase a rumor of a rare bird. These guys would go -- I mean, they were going to Point Barrel, Alaska from New Jersey. They would go from Maryland to Phoenix and get there and the bird would be gone. So they would hear a report a few days later that the bird had returned and they would make the same repeat trip. Really expensive last-minute travel. Run through the airport, Hertz commercial kind of stuff. Jumping over chairs, shoving your fist in the gate so that it doesn't close. Just amazing last-minute stuff. Toni Guinyard>> What is the appeal of this? Mark Obmascik>> You know, I asked these three guys that question about a million different ways. What is it about birds that just prompts these feelings? Finally they got tired of me asking the question and they finally just said, "Why'd you fall in love with your wife?" I just concluded that passion and obsession is really something that you can't put into words. It's just something that you feel. Now for these guys, their passion or obsession was birds. That may not be it for you or someone else, but I think everyone understands what it's like to have a dream and just go for it for a year. Take the brakes off, and that's what these guys did. One of the things that really attracted me to this competition was that a Big Year is as much about honor and integrity as it is about winning. I covered politicians for seventeen years. My job was to find people who lied and to trip them up. I tried a million different ways to see if these guys cheated. They never did. Toni Guinyard>> At the end of the competition, is there anything more but the notoriety of being able to say I saw the most birds or I saw the most species of birds? Mark Obmascik>> No. Toni Guinyard>> That's it? Mark Obmascik>> If you win a Big Year, there is no cash prize, there's no trophy, there's no trip to Disneyland. All you get is bragging rights which, in the birding community, there's enough people that bragging rights are a pretty big deal. But really it's just about the satisfaction of having gone to places that most people have never gone. These guys lived an amazing travelogue. They were in the Everglades at dawn for flamingos. They were in the North Woods of Minnesota for owls after dark. They were off the Gulf Stream of Cape Hatteras. They were in Monterey Bay time and again, one of the richest natural marine environments anywhere. But they also lived through some of the more disgusting places. Because they chase birds all over, these guys got to be some of the world's foremost experts on dumps and sewage lagoons. Toni Guinyard>> Is this a sport for folks who are just rich and have a lot of time on their hands and money to finance it, or can common folks take part as well? Mark Obmascik>> Both. In fact, the three people in this competition, one is a guy who grew up poor in the Bronx and then scrapped and clawed his way to the top of one of the toughest businesses anywhere. He's a New Jersey industrial contractor. He is the guy who spent between eight and twelve thousand dollars a month on his Big Year. Another competitor is a guy named Al Levantin who's got a big spread up on the slopes near Aspen. Now Al's deal was that he fell in love with birds as a boy in Boy Scout camps. But then Al, like a lot of these other competitive birders, never does anything halfway. Al spent a lot of money on his Big Year too. He spent about sixty thousand dollars. The third contestant is a guy named Greg Miller who gets probably more hugs per mile than any man I've ever met before. Now Greg got so obsessed with finding new birds, he didn't have much money and he actually went broke. He maxed out five credit cards. He lived in the Dakotas for three days on nothing more than a single jar of Jif and a bag of Mr. Salty pretzels. These guys are driven. Who do you do a Big Year for? There's no prize, so ultimately you do it for yourself. One guy told me of birding that credibility is like virginity. You can only lose it once. There's another guy who said, if you cheat, who are you cheating? You cheat yourself. Toni Guinyard>> These birders sound like very wise folks. Mark Obmascik>> Well, it's pretty sweet. It's pretty touching. I mean, part of the story -- I worked some awful stories when I was a reporter at the Denver Post. I was lead writer for our Pulitzer on Columbine. I did some September 11 coverage and a lot of other things where, you know, police officers were killed in jail breaks and young kids we leave behind. I just got really beaten down by a lot of the front page. I mean, the front page of a paper is generally man at his worst. Well, here are three guys who had a dream and they chased it for a year. They're like little boys. It's just that what they did for a year is chased a creature that has a brain no larger than your bellybutton. So they've got this terrific sense, I think, of humor about themselves. They know that they've surrendered a piece of their life to this creature and, why they have this passion, they just can't explain. But obsession, I think, is a pretty universal thing that a lot of people can understand. Toni Guinyard>> Mark, thank you so much for spending a little time with Life and Times, and happy birding. Mark Obmascik>> (Laughter) Good birding to you too. Thanks a lot. That was fun. Val>> And that's our program for tonight. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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