A new Al Jazeera America documentary series, Borderland, premieres today, with the first episode featuring Tucson organization No More Deaths, Pima County Medical Examiner Greg Hess and other familiar border-associated folks. A screening and Q&A takes place this evening in the UA School of Journalism’s student lounge on the third floor in the Marshall Building at 845 N. Park Ave., from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m. (Someone will be at the west door to let people in.)
The screening starts at 6 p.m. followed by a TQ&A with one of the Borderland producers via Skype. Bring your own popcorn.
From Al Jazeera America:
Six Americans are tasked by a frontier medical examiner with retracing the footsteps of three dead migrants — three of the nearly 6,000 illegal immigrants who perished in the desert in the last 15 years while crossing from Mexico. Gathered at the morgue, the participants are handed three case files and told, “We’ve given them a name. You must give them a story.” The six, from all walks of life, first explore the issue on the U.S. side, embedding with law enforcement and Arizona ranchers angry at the cartels that now control not just the drug trade but the migrant routes as well. Then, split into three groups, they head for Mexico and Central America, learning about the lives of the migrants they’ve been asked to follow. In a twist, the medical examiner instructs the six to work their way back to the United States alongside real migrants by whatever means necessary … on river rafts, on foot through gang-controlled jungle and, once regrouped, on top the infamous cargo train known as La Bestia. Finally, from cartel-held Sinaloa state, they attempt the journeys that proved fatal to their assigned migrants — a dangerous trek through the hot badlands. They’ll live. But will they learn?
From a recent New York Times reviewhttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/arts/television/borderland-is-to-debut-on-al-jazeera-america.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1:
“Borderland” is exploitative in a good way, using the ignorance of ordinary Americans to enlighten viewers about a problem so intractable that it’s often easier not to look.
This article appears in Apr 10-16, 2014.
Thank goodness we have Al Jazeera to inform us ignorant Americans.
This is a great documentary. Truly unbiased.
As are all of what Al Jazeera does.
Unlike what the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the AZ Republic do.
Worth watching, IMHO.
Watched it on Al Jazeera Sunday night and it was well done, and I think it may sway some of the open border activists to understand why we should keep people from crossing.
Perfect propaganda. Do we open our borders to all the poor from violent countries, or just Latinos. I say secure our borders. Take a tour of cities like Detroit and tell me why we should be using our resources for ILLEGAL border crossers.
Perfectly biased documentary. Guess we should just open our borders for people from poor or violent countries. The U.S. Has become a suburb of South America. Guess people don’t want to look at the poor people living with violence in cities such as Detroit. Tired of ILLEGALS demanding their rights to this country. CLOSE and SECURE our BORDERS!