Alternative Media and Immigration

Hector Amaya, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, will discuss the type of media activism that has become central in the fight for justice toward undocumented immigrants. Starting in 2006, children, including toddlers, have been incarcerated in the T. Don Hutto Correctional Center, in Taylor, Texas. Not since the detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II has the U.S. Government jailed children en masse, without criminal charges against them. Reminiscent of WWII, these shameful policies and quasi-military actions against a civilian population came at a time of perceived state emergency, a post 9/11 of paranoid securitization during which it has been culturally acceptable to use mainstream media to express the most xenophobic views about immigrants, in particular migrants from Latin America.

Eric Byler, Director/ Producer, 9500 Liberty, will show a short clip from the film and discuss the devastating social and economic impact of the “Immigration Resolution” portrayed in the documentary is felt in the lives of real people in homes and in local businesses . 9500 Liberty reveals the startling vulnerability of a local government, targeted by national anti-immigration networks using the Internet to frighten and intimidate lawmakers and citizens. Alarmed by a climate of fear and racial division, residents form a resistance using YouTube videos and virtual townhalls, setting up a real-life showdown in the seat of county government. But the ferocious fight to adopt and then reverse this policy unfolds inside government chambers, on the streets, and on the Internet: 9500 Liberty provides a front row seat to all three battlegrounds.

Moderated by Danny Navarro

April 2nd, 11:15–12:15 · Newcomb Hall Room 480

View the extended trailer for 9500 Liberty.



This event is part of the Media, Democracy & Diversity Conference April 2nd. For a full conference schedule visit the conference website.

Hosted by the University of Virginia Department of Media Studies, in collaboration with the Asian Student Union, and the Latino Student Alliance.

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MOVABLE TYPE is an undergraduate digital journal of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. We hope to attract work from all schools and fields here at U.Va and compile pieces that insightfully examine our current media system or demonstrate the ways in which students are practicing media. Whether you have written a paper on audience behavior, analyzed political advertisements, or produced a documentary on Internet privacy, your submissions are welcome! We accept academic papers, podcasts, videos, culture jamming, comics...the list goes on.

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