The film 9500 Liberty is a documentary by Annabel Park and Eric Byler about a controversial immigration law that was enacted in Prince William County, Virginia. The documentary looks at the major players in support and oppositions to the law; such as Greg Letiecq, Corey Stewart, Alanna Almeda, and Elenna Schlossberg. The debate was unique in that blogs played a large part in organization and getting the messages of both sides out to the world. There were many different opinions about the issue and many people were very vocal in their beliefs, which both worried me and inspired me at different points throughout the film.
One part of this process that made me think was when one of the supervisors retired from the board at the election that fell in the middle of this process. She had clearly had reservations about the bill from the beginning, yet she voted for it three times as the law was passed unanimously three times. Then, when Park is interviewing her she talks about how the hope to stop the bill was in Martin Nohe and that she hopes he would do something. To me this begs the question why didn’t she do something? What was holding her back, were her constituents wanting the law to pass, or was it something else? Since she was leaving the Board I don’t see why she couldn’t have said everything that she said when she went before the Board as a citizen. She said in her interview that she felt like she had to say things now that she couldn’t have said as a Supervisor. I know politics is never straightforward and there are always other things going on, but if she couldn’t speak up on this issue of human rights and racial profiling it makes me wonder what was going on in that town.
This movie brought to light the political games and protocol, among other things, that occur in a high stakes controversial decision. I was really intrigued and surprised by what the leaders of this community were saying and how they were acting. It really made me think about what was motivating them and what really mattered to them.
Lynn, I also think that Park should have defended what she really believed about the "probable cause" aspect of Prince William County's new immigration reform. I wonder if this is the way it is with most politicians around the country. Do politicians show their true views when it comes to hot topics? Do they have to stay within party views or are they allowed to state their personal opinions?
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to find out how upper level government runs. What goes on in an election behind the scenes? Sometimes I think the answers to this question are best left unanswered because the truth would be disturbing to know.
Lynn, thanks for highlighting the story of the former supervisor who gave an interview in the film about the process. You raise some good questions here about what held these elected officials back from voting their conscience--or was the entire process an education for them? The peer-pressure and face-saving going on in the local politics was astounding. It was also interesting to hear that one supervisor had voted for the resolution because only those who vote for a resolution can later move to rescind it. Steph--disturbing as the truth is, it is usually good to know what it is. Otherwise, we keep the status quo in place, and that can be a big problem when the status quo is dysfunctional!
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