Immigration Community Conference: April 6, 2008

what: Examining the Impacts of Local Policy Responses to Undocumented Immigration

when: 12:30 to 6:00 pm, Sunday - April 6, 2008

where: Global Education Center, Chapel Hill

free and open to the public - free parking available

click here for directions

The Institute for the Study of the Americas, The Center for Global Initiatives, and the Chapel Hill Institute for Culture and Language Education (CHICLE), present the Community Conference: Examining the Impacts of Local Policy Responses to Undocumented Immigration. The community conference will kick-off a four part series of Sunday afternoon discussions in April entitled: "Immigration: Asking the Hard Questions."

Participants from UNC Chapel Hill, the UNC School of Law Immigration / Human Rights Policy Clinic, Elon University, the NC American Civil Liberties Union, and the NC Justice Center will examine the following questions: in the wake of failed federal immigration reform, how are law enforcement agencies, state, and local policy makers in North Carolina responded to undocumented immigration?  How is deportation being used as a solution to undocumented immigration in North Carolina counties, and what is its impact in communities in Alamance and Mecklenburg County?

The Community Conference will feature a film screening of Al Otro Lado, a 2005 documentary about immigration and drug trafficking through the lens of Mexico's 200-year-old tradition of corrido music.  Sponsors of the event include El Centro Latino, El Pueblo, CITCA, CALDO, the Institute for Southern Studies, and the NC Council of Churches.

For more information see the UNC Institute for the Study of the Americas and CHICLE.  The event program is available here.

The Weiss Fellows will be providing volunteer support for staffing this conference as will as assisting with conference planning and logistics.

Alamance

Today, five Fellers headed out to Alamance County to learn a little more about the towns that are nearby. After learning about 287g and the immigration issues that Alamance seems to be having, we certainly had developed a particular perception of Alamance without ever having been there. We decided a field trip was in order, so we headed out on this rainy and overcast Saturday morning to visit the county next door. We first stopped in Mebane, a very small little town near the Alamance/Orange line. Today was supposed to be the second day of their annual "Spring Shoppers' Stroll" through the downtown, but the rain moved the sidewalk festivities indoors. We then headed to nearby Graham, wandering around its downtown for a little while before stopping in for lunch at the Graham Soda Shop. It was certainly an enjoyable day, and I think that we'll all do a better job of venturing into the places nearby in the future. We talked about the importance of getting out of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro (even Raleigh and Durham) areas and into what might be a little more representative of the rest of this very large state.

It was very interesting for me to ride down NC 54 with planners, an environmentalist, and a social worker. Not only was the conversation interesting (generally); everyone had various insights to offer as we saw different developments popping up. It's really neat to listen to how others' areas of study and research influence the things that they notice when driving down the highway. I played camera woman today; the Fellers were relatively patient with me as I snapped photos of them and the things that we encountered along the way.

The above photo is in downtown Mebane, where we started our journey.



One of the fellers in front of the Mebane newspaper.

There is a very large mural painted on the side of one of the buildings in downtown Mebane; we had to get a closer look.

A few Fellers in front of the Mebane Mural in downtown Mebane.

Just outside of "downtown" Graham.

Two of the Fellers in downtown Mebane; we were deciding our next move.


This is downtown Graham; it looks as if they've very recently updated the downtown traffic square (the signs confirmed this, stating that the work had been completed in 2007). Downtown Graham is much bigger than downtown Mebane, but still has the same "charm" that Mebane seems to have. The people who we encountered in both towns were quite nice, informative, and friendly. In both towns, too, we heard that folks from Alamance are nicer than folks from Orange.


Fortunately, our visit to Alamance was relatively uneventful. The very large building in downtown Graham (the country seat) was, from what we could gather, the Sheriff's Department. It was closed on this rainy Saturday.


There were plenty of promises for home cooked food in Graham and Mebane; this sign caught my eye as we walked underneath it. We went back to the Graham Soda Shop (nearby) for "the famous" Alamance cheese dogs...


Coleslaw, chili, onions, ketchup and mustard inside a hot dog bun, with melted cheese! No hot dogs in these buns... they were pretty yummy. Sweet potato fries, too. We all finished our lunches.

Despite our best efforts, we very much enjoyed ourselves and our visit to Alamance. (Meant tongue-in-cheek, of course!) We've learned a lot from each other this semester, but we've also learned that we actually get along quite well and are a bunch of rather strange and fun people. I'm glad that Jess, Erin, and Michael were adventurous enough to go along with Marc's and my half-baked field trip plan into some new-to-us neighboring towns.

We totally got caught taking a picture of Jess by this fancy car (by the owners). They offered to take a picture of all of us. : )

And that was our day in Alamance County! We certainly only "got our toes wet" in terms of learning about the county, but it was good for us to get out of Chapel Hill for a little while and to wander around two small towns that are part of the very diverse county that we've all heard so much about this year.

Greetings

Hi 2007-2008 Weiss Fellows, this is Mike Woolley, former Weiss Fellow and current faculty member in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. This blog idea is fabulous and I have enjoyed reading about some of the very interesting issues you all have been having presentations about and the stimulating discussions that have ensued. I have a couple brief comments. First, I applaud the discussion on race and Erin's comments, I wondered if the training you did Erin was with someone from the People's Institute out of New Orleans, they are fabulous and I highly recommend everyone to seek out the opportunity to do one of their trainings about race. Maybe that should be Weiss-organized activity each year at UNC. Similarly, I participated in a "Middle Passage Experience" which takes participants through a little of what it was like being captured and brought across the ocean as a slave during the slave trade, very powerful for me as a white American, and I highly recomend that as well. Finally, as a new resident of Chicago (I spent my first 4 years out of UNC at the University of Michigan, this is my first year here at UofC), I wanna live in the new Spire...but as an academic I will probably not be able to afford it...

A More Perfect Union

Whether they support Barack or not, everyone should watch or read this speech and then talk about it with as many people as they know.

now this is an intersection...

Buenos Aires, Argentina - some would say more like a race track than an intersection

After we build it, what if we don't want them to come?

It seems that the post from last week's meeting may have been eaten by the BlogMonster that shut us down, so I'm reposting the recap to open up the floor to comments about my impersonation of a presentation...Many thanks to Professor Burby for entrusting me with his slideshow.

In short, we spoke about the unintended consequences that arise when containment policies are implemented separately or perhaps without consideration of hazard mitigation issues. Containment can be a natural or legal phenomenon, but establishes a barrier beyond which building cannot occur. In some cities, this has not been overly problematic, but in places like Baltimore, Los Angeles and New Orleans, somewhat dire consequences have occurred as a result.

Specific to New Orleans, the natural containment between Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River coupled with technology enabling the drying out of formerly uninhabitable land and Federal projects resulting in the construction of the I-10 twinspan bridge created the perfect recipe for disaster. We saw first hint with Betsy in 65 and had a harsh reminder in 2005 as Katrina topped the levees and flooded the Crescent City, resulting in the most costly natural disaster to date. The area of New Orleans East, a natural cypress swamp without intervention, is an unfortunate example of how containment can compound the impact of natural disaster.

Because you all sat through my presentation once, I chose to just do an overview here, deciding instead to pose some questions to you, my multi-talented fellow fella's:

1. Getting past Katrina, that heartbreaking hurricane, how do we make better policy in the future that COMBINES planning and mitigation, rather than operating in policy silos?
2. What about emergency/disaster management are those of us from my angle just not seeing? What interdisciplinary approaches can you all provide?
3. How does disaster/emergency management and mitigation fit into urban livability, particularly in light of my comments that Storrs, CT is the least likely place for a natural disaster. My comment was not intended to make fun of the location of my sibling's choice of school, but to highlight that natural disasters are perennial and non-discriminatory, at least in striking. Given this, how do we make them less of an issue?
4. During our discussion, issues of equity and accessibility were raised. What other major American issues did Katrina reveal?

I should note, any brilliant ideas may become part of my dissertation.

Pop quiz: Which social "activist" type are you?

Jes's recent post on personal vs. political reminded me of the Movement Action Plan (MAP) - a progressive guide to creating social change with a breakdown of four activist "types" that each play a role in promoting change. (You can read more about Bill Moyer, the man behind the MAP concept, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moyer)

The four activist roles include: Citizen, Reformer, Rebel, and Change Agent.

Here's a diagram that shows what each type of activist is all about. (If you click on it, you can blow it up to actually read it!):


I like that "citizen" is included in there, probably for reason's similar to Jes's comment below, "of COURSE the personal is political." I think this diagram sort of "un-demonizes" activism, showing that "activist" does not necessarily imply someone who is promoting an extremist view. From the standpoint of the Fellers, if our goal is urban livability, and to that end, social change is necessary, then it is easy and perhaps necessary to take the leap from being a "concerned citizen" to being an engaged "activist" without being radical.

In thinking about our discussions of Urban Livability so far, and also in our individual academic specializations or career fields, I'm curious where each of us Fellers would place ourselves on this diagram, and why. Has your perspective changed since joining the Fellers? Do you hope to play a different "role" in your future career?

Sandbag Homes

Award-Winning Sandbag Shelters

After the horrific earthquake in Bam, Iran (we mentioned it during our last meeting), there was a push to improve emergency preparedness and multiple proposals were put forward. One of the most meritorious proposals for the project was using local building materials for residential homes that would sustain earthquake shocks of a certain scale. As you know sandbags are incredibly flexible, even more so than wood, or any traditional building material. The sandbag homes are fairly inexpensive, and quick to build and can be finished in a variety of styles. They can be built as small shelters or as large-scale houses. Pictured here is a sandbag home that has been finished with plaster – which both looks aesthetically pleasing (can be made spaciously, and plays the important role of inexpensive disaster preparedness. Other finishes have been adobe style, which are popular in rural areas. I think these are rather ingenious for the region and can probably be used in other regions of the world.


These pictures are from archnet.org

For more info, you can look at this link:
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=8219