Interview credit: Janet Donovan
“Harvest of Empire is a breakthrough documentary in the way it connects the historical interaction between the US and Latin America with the immigration debate. Using rarely seen newsreel footage and interviews with prominent migrants from countries in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, the film puts a human face on an issue too often reduced to vulgar stereotyping. It has the effect of changing the discourse from one of “illegality” to “historical truth.” Production Notes
Harvest of Empire opened at Regal Majestic Stadium 20 in Silver Spring on March 15th to such good reviews it has been extended for another week.
Holllywood on the Potomac sat down with producer Wendy Thompson and co-director Eduardo Lopez prior to the opening.
“This is a project I got involved with seven years ago when Eduardo Lopez showed me Juan’s (Gonzalez) book. The film is based on one of the best books on Latino history here in the U.S. At that time, in 2005, we felt that it was necessary to bring into historical perspective the Latino presence here because there was a lot of mis-information which has continued in subsequent years and even up to last year during the elections. There was a lot of mis-information. So we feel that this book (this film) has a really good way to talk to people about the facts and explaining why we’re here,” said Thompson.
“I got involved because I was very concerned about the language I was listening to in the mainstream media,” said Lopez. “Not only the extreme right wing media but in mainstream media, I was very concerned about the language being used to describe Latinos and us.
In all of the conversations I would hear on radio or see on television, there was a tremendous lack of information about what really drove Latinos to become immigrants in The United State. Therefore, the entire topic was open to mis-information and to sterotyping that was extremely negative and offensive to our community. I thought that is was the time to tell the story of Latino immigrants – to tell our story ourselves.”
Director Lopez tries to explain the thought that so many Americans have about immigrants coming here because they think the streets are “paved with gold.” “But this is really not true. It’s not true in terms of the motivation of the immigrants and it is certainly not true in terms of the reality of our lives here. The act of immigration – the process of immigration – is extremely difficult and one that’s really taken under incredible risks. These are difficult decisions that they make; to leave their homes, leave their families, leave the places not only where they were born but raised and the places where they feel comfortable.”
“What most of us are never taught in school and never exposed to in the mainstream media,” he emphasized, “is the very stark reality that the great majority of the Latino community came to the U.S. for reasons that are very much involved with their own countries, either economically or of the military interests in Latin America.
There is a very long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America that most of us don’t know about. And therefore, when we see Latinos coming here in increasing numbers to The United States, we really naturally wonder why. But most often the reasons given in the mainstream media are wrong and actually that is what Harvest of Empire is all about. It is our attempt to show the rest of our fellow citizens why the Latino presence exists and is growing in the United States.”
“The point that we are trying to make in the film is that a good number of people came here because life in their countries were terrible. They were going through civil war, there was rampant violence everywhere, families were being separated and parents were being separated from their children. So when you have a chaotic situation like that, anyone in that situation would want to find a better place for themselves; and so a lot of these people were forced to migrate – to leave their homeland and come to The United States,” added Thompson.
We were interested in knowing if they thought there was a hierarchy in terms of discrimination between the countries and what we need to do to correct the immigration situation.. It was an unexpectedly noisy locale on a Friday afternoon where the interview took place, but here they give us their take – regardless of the background sounds and sights, we wanted you to see and hear their personalities:
On mis-information:
Her personal story: Wendy Thompson
“I came to this country twenty-four years ago,” said Wendy. I decided to stay and I worked as a nanny for two families taking care of their families for eight years. Through these families I was able to get my green card and then subsequently after I obtained my green card I became a citizen of this country.
I have to say that one of the things that people have in common with my experience is that this country offers opportunity – and not necessarily opportunities that are being offered in our countries. I don’t think I would have ever been able to make a movie, like the movie we’re showing this week at The Magestic, in my country. Only in this country would I be allowed to do this and am glad we were able to make this film a reality. And so I think what this country has to offer is opportunity – opportunity that makes us work harder. Some people say to me “You think you’re entitled?” I don’t think any of us feel entitled to anything. Most of the people that I know in the community are working three jobs to take care of their children and their families and in jobs that not many people want to work in. That means entitlement? Then they have a misconception about what entitlement is all about.”
His personal story: Eduardo Lopez
“I came to The United States in 1967 from El Salvador. My mother always loved The United States – she loved the freedom and the values – because in Latin America unfortunately, the social environment is much too classist and sexist and it’s racist. She lived a little while in The United States when she was a teenager and she always remembered what a great place it was and she wanted me to grow up here.”
The Trailer:
